The origins of the word 'Ramadan'

[Sally]

I truly feel sad that these people have to fast for an entire month, especially during the hot days of summer in a desert-like area. To me, this was a way to control people. I realize many Muslims would disagree with me, but this is the way I see it. A week of fasting would have been enough.





Akram Belkaid

The origins of the word 'Ramadan'
Economic activity is at its lowest levels during the month of Ramadan [Getty]

Date of publication: 19 June, 2016

Comment: Akram Belkaid explains where the word 'Ramadan' originally derived from and what this holy month means for Muslims.


The word 'Ramadan' originally meant the ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar, also known as "Hegira". The starting point of this calendar, that’s to say the founding date of the Muslim era, marks the emigration – Hijri or Hegira – of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, on September 13, 622.

The month of Ramadan, which began this year on June 6, 2016, begins with the appearance of the crescent moon, and is that of the year 1437.

A semantic shift means that the word is now also used to refer to the month of fasting that accompanies it. This has led to expressions such as "doing Ramadan", meaning "observing the fast of Ramadan".

This is something that applies to many Arabic speakers, especially in North Africa where the word’s implicit meaning is to fast. Anecdotally, in North Africa "fasting for Lent" is still sometimes said to mean fasting during Ramadan.

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The origins of the word 'Ramadan'

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - an' Jefferson didn't have jihadis sworn to 'Death to America'...

Trump just ended a long tradition of celebrating Ramadan at the White House
Saturday, June 24, 2017 - In the early days of December 1805, a handful of prominent politicians received formal invitations to join President Thomas Jefferson for a White House dinner.

Such entreaties were not uncommon: Jefferson frequently hosted lawmakers for political working dinners at the White House, almost always commencing them about 3:30 in the afternoon, shortly after the House or Senate had adjourned for the day. But this gathering, scheduled for Dec. 9, would be slightly different. "dinner will be on the table precisely at sun-set - " the invitations read. "The favour of an answer is asked."

The occasion was the presence of a Tunisian envoy to the United States, Sidi Soliman Mellimelli, who had arrived in the country just the week before, in the midst of America's ongoing conflict with what were then known as the Barbary States. And the reason for the dinner's later-than-usual start was Mellimelli's observance of Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims in which observers fast between dawn and dusk. Only after sunset do Muslims break their fast with a meal, referred to as an iftar.

President Donald Trump speaks during a rally, Wednesday, June 21, 2017, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.​

Jefferson's decision to change the time of the meal to accommodate Mellimelli's observance of Ramadan has been seized on by both sides in the 21st-century debate over Islam more than 200 years later. Historians have cited the meal as the first time an iftar took place in the White House - and it has been referenced in recent White House celebrations of Ramadan as an embodiment of the Founding Father's respect for religious freedom. Meanwhile, critics on the far right have taken issue with the characterization of Jefferson's Dec. 9, 1805, dinner as an iftar.

Whatever Jefferson could have foreseen for the young country's future, it appears the modern-day White House tradition of marking Ramadan with an iftar dinner or Eid celebration has come to an end. Ramadan, which falls on the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, started on May 27 this year and ends at sundown Saturday. Muslims around the world will mark the end of the holy month by celebrating the holiday Eid al-Fitr, the "feast of breaking of the fast."

For the first time in nearly two decades, Ramadan has come and gone without the White House recognizing it with an iftar or Eid celebration, as had taken place each year under the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations. In recent weeks, several former White House staff members told The Post they would usually begin planning an iftar "months in advance" and didn't anticipate the Trump White House could pull something off before the end of Ramadan.

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