The month of Ramadan in the Islamic Calendar has double significance for Muslims. It is not only a month of fasting, but Muslims also commemorate the first revelation of the Holy Quran 1400 years ago to Prophet Muhammad. The importance of this month is profound for Muslims and is considered the blessed month in the Islamic calendar.

While the importance and benefits of fasting are widely known, the revelation of Holy Quran has received less attention than it should have. After all, this Scripture governs all aspects of a Muslim?s life including fasting itself. Muslims believe the Holy Quran to be a divine source of knowledge. To emphasize its Divine Authorship, Prophet Muhammad called Holy Quran as the greatest miracle ? the pinnacle of all miracles.

So, the question arises ? what makes a Scripture divine ? Here is a list of a few important ones. First, Scripture should be free of errors and contradictions. When a Scripture has many errors and contradictions, it loses its credibility and the divinity of the Scripture will be thrown into doubt.

Language of revelation

This is based on the reasonable understanding that God does not make mistakes. Next, the revelation should teach good moral values and free of absurdities, if not, its authenticity would be brought into question.

The language of revelation should be a direct address from God to mankind. For the test of divinity to stand, this is common sense. If the language gives a hint of an intervention of a third person, then the Scripture can be subjected to many errors and contradictions and the divine source would be questionable.

But above all, the divine revelation should not contradict well-proven scientific facts. In my humble opinion, I consider the latter to be truer and easily verifiable test of divine source. Scientific facts are universal knowledge and can be used to measure old scriptures for its true origin-divine or not.

But the Holy Quran is not a book of science, and this, in spite of so many verses that incite people to think, observe, rationalize, and to use sound judgment. Nor is it a book of philosophy. It does not propound the Theory of Relativity or Quantum Mechanics, or other scientific facts that were recently discovered.

To look for scientific treatises in the Quran or indeed in any scripture, is futile. But the basic fundamentals of sciences, revealed fourteen centuries ago, are laid out which point to and validate the source of this knowledge as divine.

There are many branches of sciences Holy Quran reveals. I have chosen to highlight the fascinating subject of astronomy. Here are two samples: (1) Creation of the Universe, (the Big Bang) and (2) Gaseous mass before creation of galaxies. The creation of the Universe is explained by astrophysicists in a widely accepted phenomenon, popularly known as the "Big Bang". According to the "Big Bang" theory, the whole universe was initially one big mass (Primary Nebula) and a mighty secondary separation (Big Bang) resulted in the formation of Galaxies.

These then divided to form stars, planets, the sun, the moon, etc. The origin and the complexities of the Universe are so unique that the probability of it occurring by "chance" is zero. The Quran explains the origin of the universe in its own inimitable style:

?Do not the Unbelievers see that the Heavens and the Earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before We clove them asunder?? ( AL-Quran 21:30)

The striking congruence between the Quranic verse and the ?Big Bang? is inescapable! How could a book, which first appeared in the deserts of Arabia 1400 years ago, contain this profound scientific truth ?

?Big Bang?

Scientists say that celestial matter was initially in the form of gaseous matter before the galaxies in the universe were formed. The following Quranic verse refers to this state of the universe: ?Moreover, He comprehended in His design the sky, And it had been (as) smoke: He said to it and to the Earth: ?Come ye together, willingly or unwillingly? They said: ?We do come (together), in willing obedience.? (AL-Quran 41:11)

Again, this fact is a corollary to the ?Big Bang? and was not known to the Arabs during the time of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). What then, could have been the source of this knowledge?

What does the Holy Quran say about Ramadan ? Ramadan means fasting which is mandatory on every Muslim who is sane, and has reached adulthood. The following exemptions apply: (1) The insane (2) Children who are not adolescent yet (3) The elderly and chronically ill for whom fasting is unreasonably strenuous; but such persons are required to feed at least one poor person everyday in the Ramadan period for which he/she has missed fasting (4) Pregnant women may postpone the fasting at a later time (5) Women during the period of menstruation of post child birth confinement.

The things which invalidate fast are of two kinds. The first one requires Qada (only making up missed days) , the other one not only requires Qada but also Kaffara (a penalty). The following are things that require Qada only (1) Eating or drinking intentionally. This includes non-nourishing items taken by mouth; (2) The beginning of menstruation or post-child birth bleeding even in the last moment before sunset; (3) Ejaculation for reasons other than sexual intercourse; (4) Intending to break the fast before sunset even if one changes his mind, since intention is one of the prerequisites of the validity of fasting; (5) Eating, drinking or having intercourse after dawn on the mistaken assumption that it is not dawn yet. Similarly, engaging in these acts before Maghrib on the mistaken assumption that it is already sunset

Things that not only require Qada but also Kaffara are the following: Sexual activity during fasting (dawn to dusk). The penalty is to fast an additional period of 60 continuous days. If one is not able to do so then he must feed 60 poor people ? one average meal each.

Before the days of the Prophet Mahomed, slavery was a common practice in the Arab world. Islam eliminated slavery from the society in a very short period of time. A useful approach was to allow people free of a slave as a charity or as a penalty for a sin. Thus during the time of the Prophet, setting a slave free was the penalty one must pay as a Kaffarah, if he or she had a slave.

Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam and a sacred time of the year for the world?s nearly two billion Muslims. It is a time of purification of the soul where Muslims see no evils and speak no evils.

Ahmad MACKY