Further reading: Frederick Denny and Earle Waugh,
eds., The Shaping of an American Islamic Discourse: A
Memorial to Fazlur Rahman (Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars
Press, 1998); Fazlur Rahman, Islam (Chicago: Uni-
versity of Chicago Press, 1979); ———, Islam and
Modernity: Transformation of an Intellectual Tradition
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990); ———,
Prophecy in Islam: Philosophy and Orthodoxy (1958.
Reprint, Chicago: University of Chicago Press; Mid-
way Reprint, 2003); ———, Revival and Reform in
Islam: A Study of Islamic Fundamentalism, edited by
Ebrahim Moosa (Oxford: Oneworld, 2000).
Ramadan (also Ramazan; Puasa in
Indonesia and Malaysia)
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic cal-
endar—a time of obligatory Fasting for all able
Muslims, and an important time for commemo-
rating Islamic sacred history. The month-long
fast is the fourth pillar of Islam and requires
abstaining from all food, drink, and sexual activ-
ity during daylight hours. At the end of each
day, the fast is broken with a light meal called
iftar (breakfast). It is a month that fosters com-
munal solidarity and individual piety. mosqUe
attendance increases at this time, and many
Muslims fulfill their charitable obligations. In
addition to ritual fasting, daily prayer, and acts
of charity, observant Sunni Muslims also perform
supererogatory prayers known as tarawih at night
throughout the month. The Shia do not accept
this form of prayer.
The onset of the month-long fast is deter-
mined visually when the new moon is sighted
at the end of the eighth month, Shaaban. Simi-
larly, the month ends with the sighting of the
new moon of the 10th month, Shawwal, and
the three-day feast of id al-Fitr (the breakfast
feast). First occurring during the summer on
the pre-Islamic Arabian solar calendar, Ramadan
became a lunar month with the advent of Islam,
advancing 11 or 12 days each year relative to the
solar calendar.
APProxImAtE rAmADAn StArtIng DAtES
2008–2013
2008 September 1
2009 August 21
2010 August 11
2011 August 1
2012 July 20
2013 July 9Ramadan is esteemed to be the holiest month of the
year. This is partly because of its connection with
the revelation of the qUran. Muslims maintain that
the entire holy book was revealed to mUhammad on
the night oF destiny (Laylit al-Qadr), which falls
during the last few days of the month. To facilitate
memorization and recitation, the Quran has been
divided into 30 equal parts, one for each day of this
month. People are encouraged to gather to listen to
nightly recitations of the Quran and improve their
own knowledge and memorization of the scripture.
Also, it is widely held that God is most receptive
to people’s prayers at this sacred time, especially in
the last few days of the month. Another reason for
the month’s special status is its historical connec-
tion with the first victory of Muslims against their
Meccan enemies at Badr in 624, two years after
the hiJ ra (emigration) to medina. The chapter of
the Quran that has the most detailed instructions
for the fast, al-Baqara (Q 2, The Cow), is one
that is thought to have been revealed at this time.
Some Euro-American historians of religion have
plausibly argued, based on critical readings of the
Quran and early Islamic historical texts, that the
connection of Ramadan observances with both the
revelation of a holy book and victory over enemies
is patterned after pre-Islamic fasting and feasting
traditions, especially Jewish observance of Yom
Kippur and Passover, which are connected with the
revelation of the torah to Moses and deliverance
from the pharaoh of egypt.
Other events in Islamic sacred history that
occurred during Ramadan include the death of
khadiJa (Muhammad’s first wife) in 619, the birthK 580 Ramadan