Historic Ramadan Battles and Victories

Historic Ramadan Battles and Victories

Dr. Omar Suleiman

Introduction

I want to welcome you all to the final session before we start the month of Ramadan. I ask Allah to allow us to meet the month of Ramadan, the month of forgiveness and mercy with open hearts and with acceptance and I ask Allah that it also be a month of relief for our brothers and sisters in Gaza and all over the world. Allahumma ameen.

So I wanted to do something special tonight to depart a bit from the typical weekly class that we do on the biographies of the companions of the first and I wanted to address the historical background of Ramadan as it relates to some of the most historical triumphs and trials that our community has ever faced, that the Ummah has ever faced. So basically studying the famous incidents that took place in this month of Ramadan as they pertain to great victory and to great loss and I think that one of the reasons why this becomes so important to us is that obviously with Gaza happening in the background, there is a depressed mood within the community, a sense of despair that is overtaking many and it's hard to contextualize all of that in the history of our Ummah and I think inshallah tonight will be a great help as we go through some of those incidents.

The Nature of Ramadan in Islamic History

So it's a month that is distinguished obviously by its worship, it's a month that's distinguished by our sense of discipline and it's also a month that is distinguished by victory and so some of the greatest triumphs in Islamic history have in fact come during this particular month of Ramadan. And so I want to start off with the following.

There is the month of Ramadan as it relates to personal trial and tribulation and there is the month of Ramadan as it relates to community victory and so those two things are important to distinguish from one another.

This is a month in which we see many of the most difficult days of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam at a personal level but it's also a month in which we see some of our greatest moments and greatest moments of hope particularly in his era sallallahu alayhi wasallam.

Divine Timing and Blessed Days

I also want to make one other distinguishing fact, there is a difference between Ramadan before fasting was legislated and Ramadan prior to that. Now Allah has made it as such that blessed days coincide with blessed incidents and important and significant moments in our history even before those days are honored by acts of worship.

So for example the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah, they're also known as the ten days of Moses, the ten days of Musa alayhi wasallam when he went up to speak to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and he received the commandments. So those ten days coincide with the ten days of Dhul Hijjah, coincide with the days of Ibrahim, coincide with the days of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. So they coincide naturally by the divine scheme.

Likewise when it comes to the revelation of the books, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam talking about the descent of the Torah, the descent of the Gospels, the descent of the Psalms, the Zabur, all in the month of Ramadan, coinciding with the month of Ramadan even if people did not know them to be descending in the month of Ramadan. And so many things happened before the legislation of fasting the month of Ramadan.

The Legislation of Fasting

When did the legislation of fasting of Ramadan come? What year was it? The second year after Hijrah. The second year after Hijrah, fasting was prescribed upon you.

However, before fasting is prescribed in the month of Ramadan, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam obviously received revelation in the month of Ramadan in which he went to his wife Khadija radiyallahu ta'ala anha and she grasped him sallallahu alayhi wasallam, she embraced him as he was shook by the experience of receiving revelation.

Personal Trials in Ramadan

The Death of Khadija and Abu Talib

But it's also the month that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam buried Khadija radiyallahu ta'ala anha. So Khadija passed away, radiyallahu anha, the wife of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, on the tenth day of Ramadan before the legislation of fasting in Ramadan.

And this is of course one of the most difficult moments of the life of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, if not his most difficult moment, when he goes into the grave to receive the body of Khadija radiyallahu ta'ala anha, his emotional support, his loving wife who stood by him every step of the way in the face of that persecution. And then his uncle Abu Talib within days passes away, also in the month of Ramadan, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam has to deal with the heartbreak of everything that surrounded the death of Abu Talib, and Abu Talib being the physical protection of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, no longer there to protect him from his enemies. And of course that was the year of grief, amul huzun, where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was also humiliated and persecuted and beaten by the people of Ta'if.

The Martyrdom of Ali ibn Abi Talib

It's also the month in which, for example, on a personal level, again, and of course this has a community element as well, Ali ibn Abi Talib radiyallahu ta'ala anhu was murdered, martyred on the 17th day of Ramadan, 40 years after hijrah, in Kufa. May Allah be pleased with him. Amir al-Mu'minin. Tragic, right? He prayed Salat al-Fajr and he was killed by the Khawarij on that day of Ramadan.

But again, if you were to ask Ali radiyallahu ta'ala anhu about being martyred on a day of Ramadan after Salat al-Fajr, then that is a realization of a different spiritual rank for him as well, and that is the hope and the optimism of the believer as they combine tragedy with understanding of the afterlife, right? And those two things go together.

The First Ramadan with Fasting: Battle of Badr

Now when we move into the actual post-Ramadan victories and battles and triumphs, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam receives the command two years after hijrah:

"Fasting has been prescribed upon you as it was prescribed on those who came before you so that you may become God conscious."

So the command to fast is in the month of Ramadan, shahrul Ramadan, and it was also in the second year after hijrah that Allah reveals:

"That fighting has been prescribed upon you even though you hate to fight."

The Circumstances of Badr

So when is the first year that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and the companions have to experience Ramadan? Or what are the circumstances of the very first Ramadan in which you have Siyam? It's actually the Battle of Badr. The Battle of Badr takes place right with the revelation of the fasting of Ramadan, and of course if you were to think about the circumstances of the Battle of Badr, the Muslims are caught off guard in the sense that they were not expecting a full out battle.

A thousand of them with their full army gear against Muslims who didn't have armor, who didn't have horses, who didn't have the proper weapons to defend themselves, and this is turning up, or this is looking like it's going to be a massacre.

The Night of Prayer

And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam does what on this precious night of Ramadan? It's the 17th of Ramadan. The 16th day of Ramadan, the 17th night of Ramadan, the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him spends the entire night in prayer, asking Allah to support him and to give him victory.

Divine Intervention

And on that day, the first Ramadan that they are in a state of observing the month of Ramadan, on that day Allah sends angels to fight alongside the believers against the Meccans, and I want you to think about the descent of the angels in Ramadan, how much we talk about the angels descending upon the gatherings of Ramadan. Imagine the angels descending on the believers in their first Ramadan when they are properly observing the month of Ramadan.

Yawmul Furqan - The Day of Criterion

Then you fast forward, and so the battle of Badr is known as Yawmul Furqan, the day of the criterion, the day that separated truth from falsehood. It was the day that Allah made things clear, and it was the day that all of those, the pharaoh of this ummah, the Fir'aun of this ummah, Abu Jahl, and all of those that had tortured and tormented the Muslims for over a decade had finally been defeated.

And there is a sense of divine protection and a psychology of the Muslims that is shaped from that first Ramadan and from that first great victory that comes in the month of Ramadan during the battle of Badr. That they understand truly in:

"So long as you support the cause of Allah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will support you and He will make firm your feet."

The Battle of Uhud and Ramadan Preparation

Fast forward to the year, three years after Hijrah, and the battle of Uhud happens. Every Ramadan was different for the Muslims. It was never ordinary, if that makes sense.

It was in the last days of Ramadan that the Muslims got word that the Meccans were coming from Mecca to basically finish off the job and to carry out an act of vengeance for the battle of Badr. And so imagine, you're in your first last ten nights in the masjid of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم everything is going smooth, and then the word comes to you that the Meccans have now galvanized an army of over three thousand, and they are coming with the intention to drink wine over your corpses, to mutilate your bodies, and to shout a day for a day, that we've come back to kill you because of the defeat of Badr.

The Martyrs' Last Ramadan

And one thing that I'm just thinking about, isn't it something that the shuhada of Uhud, the martyrs of Uhud, their last month of their lives was Ramadan? Hamza radiyallahu anhu, Mus'ab radiyallahu anhu, Abdullah ibn Jahsh, Abdullah ibn Haram, those incredible human beings. Imagine what the state of their faith was on that day of Uhud.

The Battle of Khandaq (The Trench)

Five years after Hijrah, they come to know once again that the Meccans are now planning a genocide in the true sense of the word. Mecca has developed the largest army in the history of the Arabs to plot on the Muslims in Medina and to surround them from all directions and to finish them once and for all.

Building the Trench in Ramadan

And the Muslims did what to protect themselves? They built a trench. They literally built a khandaq, a trench around Al Medina Al Munawwara to protect themselves from this genocide. Now the actual siege of Medina started five days after Eid.

But the construction, the building of the trench where everyone basically has to get in. This was a tactic that was taken from the Persians. Salman Al Farsi, Salman radiyallahu anhu, the Persian convert, says when the Romans used to attack us, we would build a trench to slow down the cavalry.

So can you imagine now in the last days of Ramadan, this is only their fourth Ramadan, they've already had Badr, Uhud experience and now khandaq. They were in the trench digging away and they had to work fast so that they could protect themselves from the onslaught of the people of Mecca. And in those moments you have the words:

"Oh Allah, there is no life except for the life of the hereafter. So forgive and have mercy upon the ansar and the muhajira, the people of Medina and the people of Mecca."

The Conquest of Mecca (Fatah Mecca)

Now subhanAllah, the opening of Mecca, coming back to Mecca after the Meccans broke the treaty of Hudaybiyyah, and coming back victorious with the same people that have murdered your relatives at your mercy.

The 23rd Day of Ramadan

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam marches into Mecca on what day? The 23rd day of Ramadan. The 23rd day of Ramadan.

So Badr and Fatah Mecca both happened in Ramadan and now you understand why the Muslims used to call this the month of victory. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam enters in on the 23rd day of Ramadan and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam puts his nose to the back of his animal and he says, there is no blame upon you today. I will say to you what my brother Joseph said:

"There is no blame upon you today. May Allah forgive you."

The Act of Mercy

And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam gives amnesty to the people of Mecca and this act of mercy and this act of forgiveness in the greatest triumph of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam wins the hearts of thousands of people, including some of the staunchest enemies of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam who actually had many victims, much blood on their hands, who now came to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam in tears and in repentance like Ikrimah radiyallahu anhu who we talked about last week.

The Battle of Al-Qadisiyah

A few years later, the year 15 after hijrah, one of the most significant battles between the Muslims and the Persian Empire at the time, takes place known as the Battle of Al-Qadisiyah. The Battle of Al-Qadisiyah is being led by Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, the uncle of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, through his maternal line, a person who the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam held in great esteem.

The Discipline of Night Prayer

Some of the scholars wrote about Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas, they said if Sa'd was only created for the Battle of Al-Qadisiyah, his life would have been worth it. This takes place also in Ramadan, 15 years after Hijrah, just a few years after the death of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. It's very hard to get an accurate estimate of the army but the estimates are anywhere from 30,000 Muslims against 200,000 of the Persian Empire.

Laylatul Harir - The Night of Clamor

And then subhanAllah on Laylatul Harir, the third night, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas radiyallahu ta'ala anhu addresses the believers and he says to them:

"Listen, the group that's going to win this battle is the one that can stay for another hour, that can commit to it for one more hour. Victory is with patience."

And he's telling them that I need you to outlast them. The battle would take place from fajr until maghrib. From fajr until maghrib. Basically sunrise to sunset. And then right at sunset, both armies would mutually basically just put down their arms and go back to their camps.

The Perseverance of the Muslims

And subhanAllah, on that third night, he kept on repeating and he had al-Qa'qa' ibn Amr radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, whose voice was like a thousand men, to keep on yelling out:

"Victory is with patience."

By the way, what is fasting called?

Allah literally calls fasting the act of patience. Victory comes through patience. So stay committed.

And on that night, the army of Sa'd radiyallahu ta'ala anhu continued from fajr until fajr. You understand that? In Ramadan. And that was directly, and you'll find historians write about that, because of the sleep discipline that the Muslims had because they would pray at night.

They went from fajr to fajr until victory was given to them. Rustam of Persia was killed and this became really a historic turn of events when it came to the Muslims and the Persian empire.

The Conquest of Andalus

Fast forward, 92 after hijra. This is Ramadan, once again. And this is when Islam reaches Europe. So you have at this point now the historic battles between Tariq ibn Ziyad, the great commander from North Africa, and you have of course the army of Roderick and the historic battle of Andalus, which of course is today Spain.

Against Overwhelming Odds

And it was an army of 12,000 versus 90,000. And Allah gives them victory on that day against 90,000, an army of 90,000 against Roderick.

And this becomes once again in the month of Ramadan a moment in which you have the golden age of Al-Andalus, which is about 700 years then of Islam in Spain, up until of course the Spanish Inquisition.

Islam Reaches India

So Islam reaches Spain, reaches Europe in Ramadan, it reaches India under Muhammad ibn al-Qasim al-Thaqafi in the year 92 after Hijrah, so literally one year after, one year after in the month of Ramadan, it reaches under Muhammad ibn al-Qasim al-Thaqafi in Sindh.

The Battle of Hattin and Liberation of Jerusalem

And of course we come to a victory that is especially relevant to our day-to-day and that is on the 27th night of the year 584 after Hijrah, Ramadan the 27th night, Salah ad-Din al-Ayubi rahimahullah, the great commander who is even revered by non-Muslim sources for the way he responded to the brutality of the crusaders.

The Night Before Battle

The battle of Hattin, the famous battle of Hattin takes place on the 27th night of Ramadan, subhanAllah, that night and Salah ad-Din was able to beat the crusaders back out of Syria and many places that were surrounding Palestine.

Salah ad-Din does something very famous, he goes and he checks on the tents of his troops the night before and what did he want to make sure was happening before he initiated a battle against the crusaders which would lead the way to opening Jerusalem once again after almost a century of no adhan? He goes through his tents and he makes sure that they're all up and they're praying at night, he says now we're ready.

The Entry into Jerusalem

And when Salah ad-Din enters into Jerusalem also in Ramadan, subhanAllah, Salah ad-Din says I'm going to say to you because the crusaders were expecting once again that the women would be treated the way that the Muslim women were treated, that there would be great brutality, great revenge, he enters in and he says I'm going to say the same words that the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him said when he entered into Mecca and he quoted of course Yusuf peace be upon him, the Prophet Joseph:

"There is no blame upon you today."

And he gives them safe passage and he negotiates the release of the final spans of Jerusalem, of Al-Quds setting again a legacy, a legacy of what Islam actually looks like and this was the 27th night of Ramadan.

The Mongol Threat and Battle of Ain Jalut

We're now in the year 1260 Gregorian, 658 after Hijrah, it is once again the 27th night of Ramadan, once again the 27th night of Ramadan. The greatest destruction that was visited upon the Muslim world was actually not at the hands of the Crusaders, it was at the hands of who? The Mongols.

The Scale of Destruction

The Mongols destroyed most of the Muslim world and murdered so many that the history books cannot even agree upon how many millions were massacred by the Mongols. They literally piled up stacks of skulls, they threw all of the books or many of the books of Islamic history and that's why you read about books that are written that don't exist with us anymore.

The Impossible Victory

What happens the 27th night of Ramadan as well, the year 658 after Hijrah, is the battle of Ain Jalut, literally named after Goliath, which is incredible, right? Because you