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Where does "Ramadan" (really) come from?

2023-03-23T06:16:45.958Z


As Ramadan begins this Thursday, March 23, Le Figaro invites you to discover the origin of the name given to this month of Muslim fasting.


Along with the profession of faith, prayer, almsgiving, and the pilgrimage to Mecca, it is one of the five pillars of Islam.

"Ramadan", also written "ramadhan" in the Maghreb, corresponds to the ninth month of the Muslim calendar, lunar calendar called "Hijri" (from the Arabic "hijra", "expatriation, exile"), which refers to the departure of Muhammad for the oasis of Medina, in 622 of the Christian calendar.

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This is the period during which nearly one billion eight hundred million believers in the world adhere to a rigorous fast from sunrise to sunset - eating, drinking, smoking, wearing perfume and having intercourse. sex is prohibited.

And the end of which gives rise to a religious festival, called Eid el-Fitr.

From “heat” to “din”

The word “Ramadan” appears in the 15th century in France, in the

Treatise on the Passage to the Holy Land

(1420) by Emmanuel Piloti, a Venetian merchant.

Derived from the Arabic "ramadan", of the same meaning, the term is itself derived from "ramida", "to be heated by the sun, to be hot", because at the time when it was instituted, before the Adoption of the lunar calendar, indicates the French Academy, this month was located in summer.

It was in 610 that the angel Gabriel appeared to the Prophet Muhammad and revealed to him the sacred book of the Koran.

As explained to Le

Figaro

Maati Kabbal, head of the cultural action department of the Arab World Institute (IMA) in Paris,

“Ramadan refers to the heat wave of Arabia.

It therefore reflects both a psychological situation, but also a geographical situation.

Read also“Ramadan was born of pagan influences, Christianity and Judaism”

It was in the 19th century, with the development of the literary and artistic movement of Orientalism, that “Ramadan” took root in the French language.

In 1829, in

Les Orientales

, Victor Hugo uses the word in its Turkish form:

"Has any ramazan broken the austere fast?"

.

Similarly, Guy de Maupassant wrote in 1884, in

Au soleil

, his account of his trip to Algeria:

“I was amazed and asked: “Well, what is it?

− It’s Ramadan,” she said.

It was also at this time that the "Ramdam", a variant of "Ramadan", appeared in Algeria.

In popular parlance, and this through military slang, the term has become synonymous with "din", "uproar".

We can read in the Trésor de la langue française that its meaning comes from the fact that in the eyes of many non-Muslims, the most characteristic aspect of Ramadan was the intense and noisy nocturnal activity following the days of fasting during this month. .

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2023-03-23

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