Ramadan in History- Part 2

by Dr. Abdullah Hakim Quick

In 6 A.H., Zayd ibn Haritha was sent to Wadi al-Qura at the head of a detachment to confront Fatimah bint Rabiah, the queen of that area. Fatimah had previously attacked a caravan led by Zayd and had succeeded in plundering its wealth. She was known to be the most protected woman in Arabia, as she hung fifty swords of her close relatives in her home.

Fatimah was equally renowned for showing open hostility to Islam. She was killed in a battle against these Muslims in the month of Ramadan.

Such was the month of Ramadan in the time of the Prophet (may the Blessing and Peace of Allah be upon him). It was a time of purification, enjoining the good, forbidding evil, and striving hard with one’s life and wealth. After the death of the Prophet (may the Blessing and Peace of Allah be upon him), Muslims carried on this tradition and Allah used the true believers to affect the course of history. Ramadan continued to be a time of great trials and crucial events.

Ninety-two years after the Hijrah, Islam had spread across North Africa, Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen and Syria. Spain was under the tyrannical rule of King Roderic of the Visigoths.

Roderic had forced his six million serfs and persecuted Jews to seek the aid of the Muslims of North Africa in order to be delivered. Musa ibn Husair, the Umayyad governor of North Africa, responded by sending his courageous general Tariq ibn Ziyad at the head of 12,000 Berber and Arab troops In Ramadan of that year, they were confronted with a combined Visigoth army of 90,000 Christians led by Roderic, himself, who was seated on a throne of ivory, silver, and precious gems and drawn by white mules. Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) manifested a clear victory over the forces of disbelief. Not only was Roderic and his forces completely annihilated, but Tariq and Musa succeeded in liberating the whole of Spain, Sicily and of France. This was the beginning of the Golden Age of Al-Andalus where Muslims ruled for over 700 years.

In the year 682 A.H., Salahuddin al-Ayyubi, after battling with the Crusaders for years, finally drove them out of Syria and the whole of their occupied lands in the month of Ramadan. The Muslim world was then destined to meet one of its most frightening challenges.

Taken from Benefit of the Day- Ramadan 1429