How Ramadan and Eid became sacred Muslim rituals

By about 615, the Meccans started showing opposition to his mission. They started torturing some of the slave-converts. The families of some of the converts tried to convince them to give up the hostile creed. Other converts were locked up, to prevent them from joining Muhammad’s congregations. Yet, Muhammad’s hostility did not cease. These led the Meccans to impose sanctions against him and his community, socially excommunicating them, in 617. This period brought hardship to Muhammad and his supporters. The sanction was withdrawn after two years in 619.

Muslims go to Medina

Even with the sanctions removed, preaching for Muhammad became almost impossible. His mission stagnanted as the Meccans steadfastly rejected his faith. Seeing no hope for success in Mecca, he unsuccessfully tried to relocate to Taif in 619. Next year, he attempted to preach his creed to a group of citizens from Medina, who had come to Mecca for the pilgrimage. A few converted. He wanted to move to Medina with them, but these new converts persuaded him to postpone the plan because of an ongoing blood-feud in Medina. The converts returned to Medina without Muhammad and were able to draw a few more people to Islam.

The next year, they returned for the pilgrimage and 12 people, including previous six, made a pledge to Muhammad’s creed. Muhammad sent a disciple, Abu Musab, to Medina to teach these new converts in Islam. During next pilgrimage (622), Musab returned with 73 converts.

Muhammad was now ready. He urged his converts to ensure his safety. This promise was given and Muhammad sent his disciples from Mecca to Medina in small batches over the next two months before he himself went with his closest friend Abu Bakr arriving in Medina in June 622.

Muhammad adopts Jewish rituals, including fasting

During the first 13 years of Islam in Mecca, neither Allah nor Muhammad prescribed fasting for Muslims. At Medina, Jews were the dominant, wealthy community, which brought Muhammad in close contact with a monotheistic creed.

Noticing the Jews fasting, Muhammad enquired about the reason. They replied: “it was in memory of Prophet Moses' escape from the hands of the Pharaoh and latter's destruction in the Red sea." Muhammad said to his converts: “We have greater rights in Moses than they (Jews).” Thus, fasting entered the Muslim creed.

He adopted a number of Jewish rituals, including fasting of Ashor, circumcision and praying towards Jerusalem.

Muhammad tried to convince the Jews to embrace his new religion. Allah revealed many verses affirming the Jewish and Christian scriptures and demanded that the Jews accept Muhammad as their new Prophet, who was predicted to come in the Torah (Old Testament).

But the Jews found many inconsistencies in Muhammad’s revelations. With a few exceptions, they stubbornly stayed away from Islam. But the idolaters of Medina embraced Islam in greater numbers.

Instead of accepting Islam, the Jews started pointing out various inconsistencies, inaccuracies and logical fallacies in Islamic revelations which badly angered the merciful Prophet. Seeing no hope of drawing the Jews and Christians to Islam, Allah decided to part ways with them, revealing:

"And the Jews will not be pleased with you, nor the Christians until you follow their religion. Say: Surely Allah's guidance that is the (true) guidance. And if you follow their desires after the knowledge that has come to you, you shall have no guardian from Allah, nor any helper" (Quran 2:120).

The first Ramadan and Eid

In late 623, angry Muhammad started denouncing many of the Jewish customs he had adopted and ordered assassinations of those critics and poets who mocked his creed.