The month of Ramadan is one of fasting in Islam. In its injunctions for this month, the Quran has this to say:

O believers, fasting has been prescribed for you, just as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard yourselves against evil. (2:183)

In modern times, all the religions of the world have been subjected to a thorough study. This study shows that no major or minor religion of the world is without the concept of fasting, of one type or another. A western sociologist has observed: ‘It would be difficult to name any religious system of any description in which it is wholly unrecognized.’

However, in the Arab tribes of ancient times, there existed no practice of fasting. Philip Hitti, author of History of the Arabs writes:

We have no evidence of any practice of fasting in pre-Islamic pagan Arabia.

In modern times, all the religions of the world have been subjected to a thorough study. This study shows no major or minor religion of the world is without the concept of fasting, of one type or another.

In view of this research, we learn that the pronouncements of the Quran on fasting are more than just an expression of religious obligation: they also carry the proof of prophethood. Fourteen hundred years ago, prior to the age of communication and information, it was not generally known that the practice of fasting was to be found, in one form or the other, in all the religions of the world. This serves as a proof that the Prophet was a messenger of God, since none but God could tell him of this reality, till then existing only outside his society.