The truth about fighting during Ramadan - Egyptian troops broke fast to launch Yom Kippur War
No fighting during Ramadan?
Joe Biden has repeatedly referenced the Muslim month of Ramadan as off-limits for fighting:
“There’s gotta be a cease-fire because Ramadan — if we get into a circumstance where this continues through Ramadan, Israel and Jerusalem, then you got — it could be very, very dangerous” [emphasis added.]
Legacy media has also pushed the idea that Ramadan is not a month for fighting, prodding Biden to address Ramadan with questions like, “Do you think there'll be a ceasefire deal by Ramadan?”
Islam does forbid fighting, except in extreme need during a defensive war, during four months (the 1st, 7th, 11th, and 12th months of their lunar calendar), but Ramadan, the 9th month, is not one of them:
There are four months that are seen as particularly sacred for worshippers. These are Muharram, Rajab, Dhul Qida and Dhul Hijjah.
These months are revered and fighting a war is prohibited in them, except in circumstances of extreme self-defence.
The New York Sun addressed the erroneous propaganda surrounding Ramadan:
An erroneous perennial refrain heard from Washington — that it is forbidden, haram, or at least unwise to fight during Ramadan — is making its return as the ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar approaches . . .
A chorus of Washington foreign policy professionals has for years preached that wars and Ramadan do not go together. At times the argument is that fighting is forbidden in the Muslim religion during the holy month.
As Ramadan approached in November 2001, weeks after the September 11 attacks, American diplomats, allies in Europe, and Muslim countries urged President Bush to stop the war. “The enemy won’t rest during Ramadan and neither will we,” Mr. Bush retorted. “We’re going to pursue this war until we achieve our objective.”
He had a point. As the Middle East Media Research Institute notes in a recent research paper, “jihad organizations regard Ramadan not only as a month of abstention and worship, but also as the month of jihad and martyrdom” [emphases added.]
The Ramadan War
In fact, in 1973, when Ramadan coincided with the Jewish holy month of Tishrei, Egypt and Syria picked the most sacred day of the Jewish calendar to launch a surprise attack it what became known in the West as the Yom Kippur War. The Times of Israel described the breaking of the Ramadan fast by Egyptian soldiers before their 2 p.m. attack, several hours before sunset would normally mark the end of the fast:
[T]he Egyptian high command repeated its previous order to break the Ramadan fast. Clerics ruled it permissible also to smoke. Sadat could see no one in the command center doing either. He ordered tea and lit up his pipe and soon others were doing the same. All eyes now were on the clock [emphases added.]
In the Arab world, the Yom Kippur War is actually known as Harb Ramadan, or the Ramadan War, commemorating the timing of the attack.
Ramadan wars in history
The New York Sun notes additional offensive attacks Muslims have initiated during Ramadan.
Clearly, no mysterious writ of the Koran forbids believers from fighting wars during that month. After all, Prophet Muhammad led his followers to the battle of Badr during Ramadan in the year 624 of the common era. In modern times, Muslim countries and jihadists often use that month to launch wars. [emphases added.]
Biden misdirected?
The New York Sun concludes that Biden is pressuring the wrong side as Israeli hostages remain in Hamas dungeons:
Mr. Biden’s use of the holy Muslim month to lean on Israel to lay down its arms is therefore being directed at the wrong side of the war: Ramadan or no Ramadan, Hamas has rejected any of the American, Qatari, and Egyptian pleas to release hostages in return for a cease-fire. [emphases added.]
Rules for thee but not for me
Further compromising the integrity of Biden's demands about Ramadan is the fact that Hamas launched the current war, almost fifty years to the day from the October 6, 1973 Yom Kippur attack, also during the Jewish holy month of Tishrei, on the holy day of Simchat Torah, which also coincided with the holy Jewish Sabbath.
A Ramadan present for Gazans
While Hamas demands a cease fire for Ramadan, and beyond, many Gazan civilians might prefer to see expanded Israeli attacks on the totalitarian regime guilty of “serious human rights abuses including abductions, torture and extra-judicial killings of Palestinian civilians.”
Particularly now, in the midst of war, Gazan civilians have been documented cursing Hamas and pleading with Israeli troops not to abandon them to the terror group.
When exactly does Ramadan begin and end
The Jewish nation has been using a combined solar-lunar calendar for over three thousand years, since around 1313 BCE, in which each month begins with an actual witnessing of a new moon. The witnessing of a new moon was replaced with a fixed calendar when Israel's Sanhedrin (Supreme Rabbinical Court) was about to be disbanded, around 17 centuries ago.
When Muhammad established Islam some two hundred years later, in about 610 CE, he also adopted a lunar calendar that included a holy month, Ramadan, and he required that the months be determined by a witness to a new moon. He also passed down a tradition of dawn-to-dusk fasts throughout that month, as opposed to the one full-day fast of Yom Kippur. Many Muslims still rely on the actual witnessing of a new moon:
Some follow a set lunar calendar, while others use astronomical observations to announce the arrival of the new Moon. There are also those who mark the new month only after personally seeing a crescent Moon in the sky.
Some Muslims use telescopes to confirm the sighting of the new Moon to determine the Eid al-Fitr [the end of Ramadan].
So Eid dates differ around the world, though they are usually within one or two days of each other.
For example, authorities in Saudi Arabia - the birthplace of Islam, and dominated by Sunni Muslims - announce the start and end of Ramadan depending on testimonies of members of the public who observe the Moon by sight [emphasis added.]
Thus, it is still not certain when Ramadan will officially begin this year, though it is expected to be announced as beginning on Monday, March 11th. Likewise, its end is not yet certain, but is expected to finish on Tuesday, April 9th. Each day's fast is broken at sunset with a meal known as Iftar, pictured at the top of this article.
Yom Kippur and Ramadan
The 11-day disparity between the length of 12 lunar months and a solar year is made up on the Jewish calendar by the addition of an entire month about once every three years in order to meet the Biblical requirement that the Holy Days fall in their assigned seasons.
Lacking the periodic addition of an extra month, Ramadan moves through the solar year, beginning about 11 days earlier on the solar calendar each year. Thus, unlike 1973, Ramadan will not coincide with Israel's holy month this year, which, as mentioned, was when the October invasion occurred.
Check back for our continuing coverage of Hamas and Israel as we look at the Israeli officials behind the intelligence failures of October 7th, their role in bringing Hamas to power, and the way in which they are managing the war.
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