Muḥammad taught that the devil and his angels listen at the gates of heaven for scraps of information regarding the things of futurity, and when detected by the angels of heaven they are pelted with shooting stars. Abraham is also said to have driven the devil away by pelting him with stones, which legend is expressed in the throwing stones at the pillars at Minā. [[PILGRIMAGE].]
RAJM (رجم). “Lapidation.” [[STONING TO DEATH].]
RAKʿAH (ركعة). From Rukūʿ, “to bow, to prostrate one’s self.” A section of the Muḥammadan daily prayers. [[PRAYERS].]
RAMAẒĀN (رمضان). The ninth month of the Muḥammadan year, which is observed as a strict fast from dawn to sunset of each day in the month. The word Ramaẓān is derived from ramẓ, “to burn.” The month is said to have been so called either because it used (before the change of the calendar) to occur in the hot season, or because the month’s fast is supposed to burn away the sins of men. (G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah, in loco.)
The observance of this month is one of the five pillars of practice in the Muslim religion, and its excellence is much extolled by Muḥammad, who said that during Ramaẓān “the gates of Paradise are open, and the gates of hell are shut, and the devils are chained by the leg, and only those who observe it will be permitted to enter at the gate of heaven called Raiyān.” Those who keep the fast “will be pardoned all their past venial sins.” (Mishkāt, book vii. ch. i. pt. 1.)
The express injunctions regarding the observance of this month are given in the Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 179–184]:—
“O believers! a Fast is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may fear God, for certain days. But he among you who shall be sick, or on a journey, shall fast that same number of other days: and as for those who are able to keep it and yet break it, the expiation of this shall be the maintenance of a poor man. And he who of his own accord performeth a good work, shall derive good from it: and good shall it be for you to fast—if ye knew it. As to the month Ramaẓān in which the Qurʾān was sent down to be man’s guidance, and an explanation of that guidance, and of that illumination, as soon as any one of you observeth the moon, let him set about the fast; but he who is sick, or upon a journey, shall fast a like number of other days. God wisheth you ease, but wisheth not your discomfort, and that you fulfil the number of days, and that you glorify God for his guidance, and that you be thankful. And when my servants ask thee concerning me, then will I be nigh unto them. I will answer the cry of him that crieth, when he crieth unto me: but let them hearken unto me, and believe in me, that they may proceed aright. You are allowed on the night of the fast to approach your wives: they are your garment and ye are their garment. God knoweth that ye defraud yourselves therein, so He turneth unto you and forgiveth you! Now, therefore, go in unto them with full desire for that which God hath ordained for you; and eat and drink until ye can discern a white thread from a black thread by the daybreak: then fast strictly till night, and go not in unto them, but rather pass the time in the Mosques. These are the bounds set up by God: therefore come not near them. Thus God maketh His signs clear to men that they may fear Him.”
From the preceding verses it will be seen that fast does not commence until some Muslim is able to state that he has seen the new moon. If the sky be over-clouded and the moon cannot be seen, the fast begins upon the completion of thirty days from beginning of the previous month.
It must be kept by every Muslim, except the sick, the infirm, and pregnant women, or women who are nursing their children. Young children, who have not reached the age of puberty, are exempt, and also travellers on a journey of more than three days. In the case of a sick person or traveller, the month’s fast must be kept as soon as they are able to perform it. This act is called Qaẓāʾ, or expiation.
The fast is extremely rigorous and mortifying, and when the Ramaẓān happens to fall in the summer and the days are long, the prohibition even to drink a drop of water to slake the thirst is a very great hardship. Muḥammad speaks of this religious exercise as “easy” (Qurʾān, [Sūrah ii. 181]), as most probably it was when compared with the ascetic spirit of the times. Sir William Muir (Life of Mahomet, vol. iii. 49) thinks Muḥammad did not foresee that, when he changed the Jewish intercalary year for the lunar year, the fast would become a grievous burden instead of an easy one; but Muḥammadan lexicographers say the fast was established when the month occurred in the hot season (see G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah).