Ramadhan PERSPECTIVES - Remembering the First Fast of Ramadhan and Eid

by Muzaffar Iqbal

Every year, the month of Ramadan brings with it reminders of the Ramadan when sawm (fasting) was first laid on the believers by a Divine Command brought to the Prophet of Islam in the second year after the Hijrah (migration of the Prophet from Makkah to Madinah).

This command, now in the Qur’an (2:183), was revealed when the nascent Islamic state was still in its formative period and the Muslim community of Madinah was facing grave perils.