ṢAWM in Islam signifies fasting, an act of worship that consists of religiously intended abstention from eating, drinking, and sexual intercourse from dawn until dusk. Muḥammad introduced it in AH 1 (622 CE) by fasting and asking his followers to fast on ʿᾹshūrāʾ, the tenth day of the month of Muḥarram, in deference to the Jewish practice. The following year came the Qurʾanic revelation (surah 2:183ff.) whereby the ʿᾹshūrāʾ fast was replaced by the fast of Ramaḍān.

The Qurʾān indicates that fasting is an inalienable part of the religious life of people, since it was prescribed for Muslims as well as "for those before you," in order "that you become pious" (2:183). The earmarking of Ramaḍān, the month in which "the Qurʾān was sent down" (2:185), for fasting seems to be a recognition of the centrality of the Qur...