What does Ramadan remind us of? Fasting, late night prayers, charity… Yes, all this and more. However, Ramadan should also remind us of the event with which it all began. Islam, the Qur’an and the beginning of the message of the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) all started on a beautiful night in Ramadan. Allah subḥānahu wa ta'āla (glorified and exalted be He) says, “Indeed, We revealed it [the Qur’an] during the Night of Decree.”[1] In another verse, Allah subḥānahu wa ta'āla (glorified and exalted be He) says, “Indeed, We sent it down during a blessed night.”[2]
Yet, not only did Islam begin in this month, it began with a single commandment. It was not a commandment to pray, give charity of even fast in Ramadan; all of these would come much later. Rather, it was a command to learn and seek knowledge, to read.
The Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) before Islam used to like to seclude himself in the Cave of Ḥirā’, he would end up spending days at a time there, only returning when he needed to restock his supplies. It was on one such night in the cave that the angel Jibrīl (Gabriel) came to him with an order. It is amazing that this order is perhaps one that we all too often overlook and neglect. We forget that our religion began with it. It was an order to read and learn. Allah subḥānahu wa ta'āla (glorified and exalted be He) says, “Read in the name of your Lord who created.”[3]
Let us pause and reflect on this. We who are Muslims know that in our religion we have five pillars, knowledge and learning is not one of them. We know that we have duties and responsibilities as people, again learning and knowledge is not necessarily one of them. However, Islam began with the command to learn. Remember the context of this verse and the time at which it is being revealed. It is revealed in Makkah, where the Arabs were for the most part, an illiterate people. It was revealed to a nation that was seen as being ignorant and backward by the other surrounding empires of the time.
Then, why is knowledge given this pride of place? The Quraysh were the descendants of the Prophets Ibrāhīm and Ismā’īl [as]. They were custodians of the Ka’bah, they lived next to Ṣafā and Marwah, drank from Zamzam, were familiar with the holy sites such as Minā. They were a people who should have, because of all of this, inherited the true monotheistic religion of their great forefathers.
Instead, they did not, and they did not because knowledge had been replaced with ignorance, culture had uprooted Allah’s commands and pride and arrogance had taken the place of piety and humility. Thus, the Makkans surrounded and filled the Ka’bah with 360 idols. They would insist people made ṭawāf naked if they could not afford buy new cloth from Makkah, and they refused to go out to ‘Arafah because it was beyond the sanctuary. All this, because they had lost knowledge over time.
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