An explanation of Ramadan

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Salibi said:
My books singled out Syriac Christianity as the source of inspiration for the architecture of Muslim mosques.

Of course they must have all taken bits and pieces from each other. You know humans.
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Of course. Although Mosque architecture was developed by Muslims after the Prophet Muhammad (S). As for what the Prophet (S) supposedly adopted from Jews & Christians, I know what some of the posters here are trying to do by mentioning this, but it doesn’t really make a difference. The act itself is not the end, rather these acts are symbolic, and the Prophet (S) was inspired by God to incorporate these actions when setting up rites & rituals.
 
@SalamKhan

I was looking through my friend’s bookshelf and turns out the sly scholar’s got Dalrymple’s book. Here’s the relevant page, the stuff about prostrations and architecture is in the first paragraph.

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Dalrymple’s a RC, but that didn’t stop him from basically calling us Maronites “Arabs who desperately want to be French” a few chapters down the road. If I had the guy’s email I would have rattled off an angry message explaining to him exactly why Maronites are not Arab.
 
Oh really! I don’t mean to imply that Islam is a copycat religion. I’m merely having a discussion. I can stop if you like.
 
I wasn’t referring to you my friend, but rather to the two other posters who mentioned that the Prophet Muhammad (S) adopted Ramadan from Lent. The way I see it, there is no ‘winning’ in this kind of discussion. These people will criticise the Prophet (S) as a plagiariser if he adopted anything from the Judeo-Christian tradition, but at the same time will also criticise him for deviating from the Abrahamic line if he brought anything alien to their tradition. What is the name of that book BTW?
 
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Well, one similarity to Judaism I can’t help but observe involves that of Halal food compared to Kosher food. Although there are certain variations, the similarity in the details as well as the overall justification is striking. Any thoughts about this?
 
SalamKhan said:
And so God sancitifies certain human beings to comprehend the entirety of the divine guidance, and inspires them to teach the rest of humanity to worship God, through symbols & parables about their origins & their eventual return to God, calling them towards peace & justice, setting up rites & rituals to establish harmony in the universe, and to set prohibitions in order to help control their natural desires.
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And so even when we’re not fasting:
SalamKhan said:
We have certain prohibitions regarding food, drink, and sex. Human beings who follow their intellect, and learn to control their desires, are considered to be better than the angels, because the angels lack desires & have no choice but to follow their intellect, whereas these humans follow their intellect despite their natural desires. On the other hand, human beings who abandon their intellect, and become slaves to their desires, are considered worse than animals, because animals lack intellects & have no choice but to follow their desires.
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As for why there are differences between the law of Moses, and the law of Muhammad? We believe that Prophets have been given the authority to supersede any rite, ritual or prohibition set up by a previous Prophet, with something similar (with the same purpose) or something even better (as they have comprehended the entirety of the divine guidance). God inspires Prophets to do this, in order to test their followers’ obedience, to separate the genuine gold from the fool’s gold, to separate the true followers from the hypocrites.
 
It’s “From the Holy Mountain,” by William Dalrymple.

Interestingly enough, Dalrymple claims that the ancient Byzantine monks would have been more at home in a modern day mosque, with its prostrations, fasting practices, and architecture, than in a modern day Latin church.
 
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Thank you for sharing. I know some people(Catholic) who are also observing the Ramadan fast with their Muslim friends and also for God
 
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