The history of the Ramadan tables official and civil banquets and literary and artistic traditions : Ahmed Mouloud Akah

The sheikh of Egyptian historians, Taqi al-Din al-Maqrizi (d. 845 AH / 1441 AD) describes to us the strange behavior of a great military commander in the Ayyubid army, Lulu’ al-Hajib al-Armani (d. 598 AH / 1202 AD) in distributing food in Ramadan; He says in his book 'Al-Moawa'at wa'l-I'tibar':

“He used to separate twelve thousand loaves every day with food pots, and when the month of Ramadan came, that was weaker, and he was wet ( emptying) to separate from noon every day to about the last evening prayer, and he would put three boats the length of each boat twenty-one cubits full of food. And the poor enter groups while standing tight in the middle as if he was a shepherd, and in his hand a ladle and in the other a jar of ghee, and he repaired the ranks of the poor and brought them food and wadak ( melted fat), and he began with men, then women, then boys, and the poor - with their many - were not crowded because they knew that Favor envelops them, and if the need of the poor ends, he spreads a blanket to the rich, and kings are unable to match it!!

The source of the wonder of this leader’s deed does not lie in feeding people, but rather in his personal erection to serve, tugging in the middle like any other person working in his service, so he seemed - despite the highness of his position - as if he was one of the common people organizing the entrants and emptying the food from the pots!! Thus emphasizing the fact that giving oneself in serving the guests is part of the originality of generosity and warm hospitality.

And this picture, which was so ably drawn by the historian Al-Maqrizi, sums up exactly what this article wants to say in the "History of the Ramadan Tables", those tables that reflect the response of Muslim societies to the guidance and prophetic guidance; The Messenger of Islam “encouraged the food of the poor” and commanded the believers to “feed food”, and in practice he was the first to launch the supplications for suhoor and iftar, making this a Sunnah to remain in his nation.

Thus, the month of Ramadan was associated in Islamic life with a set of characteristics and phenomena that established early the idea of ​​gathering at tables in the month of Ramadan in order to deepen solidarity and compassion. The economic dimensions remained one of the most prominent features that depict the social scene in Ramadan, embodying the realism of the message of Islam in focusing on the nutritional necessities of man, which is the basis for the phenomenon of “Ramadan’s Asmat” or what we call in our time today: “The Tables of the Most Merciful”.

In addition to the devotional and compassionate dimension in it; This phenomenon - sometimes and in some of its implications - reflected a political position. Throughout history, Muslim leaders used to love the masses of people with these tables. The neighborhoods of cities, institutes of knowledge, people’s corners, and travel routes are not free of those who carry provisions and give food among the masses of fasting people, and the call to prayer was called in Passing from the streets: “Iftar, may God have mercy on you”!! One of the senior ministers forcibly prevented anyone entering after the afternoon prayer in Ramadan from going out until he broke his fast at his table!!

In this article; We highlight various formulas that reflect the strength of the compassionate tendency that prevails in Islamic civilization in Ramadan, reveal the mechanisms and objectives of managing its tables throughout the history of Muslims, and present the economic and management methods produced by Islamic societies to interact with living conditions and cover the needs of the most vulnerable groups in this blessed month, which The teachings of Islam linked it to the virtues of spending and the doors of generosity and giving, and what this means of sinning and criminalizing the existence of the hungry, the deprived, and the miserable poor.

Prophetic curriculum

The blogs of the Sunnah and the Prophet’s biography documented the benefits of breakfast tables during the era of the Messenger, and I mentioned them starting with the nutrients that most support the health of the fasting person when she told us that the Messenger, peace be upon him, “would break the fast with wet foods before he prayed, and if he did not find dates, then we should eat breakfast.” (Narrated by Ahmad in his Musnad and Abu Dawood in his Sunan). Modern medicine has confirmed the energy and vitality that dates and water give the fasting person after the stressful hours of fasting.

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, enacted the Sunnah of the Companions to organize invitations for breakfast and suhoor; Imam al-Bukhari (d. 256 AH / 870 AD) - in his Sahih - narrated on the authority of Zaid bin Thabet al-Khazraji (d. 45 AH / 666 AD) that he “said: We had breakfast with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and then he rose to pray.” ; (Sunan al-Tirmidhi). Thus, "gathering people for food and helping the poor with feeding during the month of Ramadan is one of the laws of Islam." According to Imam Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH / 1328 AD) in 'The Great Fatwas'.

The imam, the foundation of the Sunnah, Abu al-Qasim al-Taymi al-Asbahani (d. 535 AH / 1140 AD) - in his book 'Targheeb wa al-Tarheeb' - mentions to us a part of the experience of community partnership that the companions used to adopt at the advent of Ramadan; It is narrated on the authority of Anas bin Malik (d. 93 AH / 713 AD) that he said: “When the companions of the Messenger of God - ﷺ - if they began Sha’ban, they would pour out the Qur’an and display it, and the Muslims would give zakat on their money to strengthen the needy and the weak to fast the month of Ramadan!!”

Invitations to host fasting people were also familiar in the community of the Companions, to the extent that among those invited to it were the young companions, as in the impact of Ibn Abbas (d. 68 AH / 688 AD), which was narrated by Abdul Razzaq al-San’ani (d. 211 AH / 826 AD) in his book “The Workbook”: “Omar invited me to (Al-Faruq d. 23 AH / 644 AD) Should I take suhoor with him.”

In the historical course of the procedures and the nature of the Ramadan tables; We stand on the general elements of the daily food of the Companions at breakfast. Imam Ibn Hizam (d. 456 AH/1065 AD) tells us about “the breakfast of Omar [Al-Faruq] in the presence of the Companions on milk.”

Also, the choices for dietary diversity and the preferences among those who fast appeared early. Imam Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751 AH / 1350 AD) tells us - in 'Zad al-Ma'ad' - that it was the custom of Abdullah "Ibn Omar (d. 73 AH / 693 AD) [that] - if it was Ramadan - he did not miss meat", that is, he made it a major ingredient On his Ramadan table.

Imam Ibn Katheer (d. 774 AH / 1372 AD) narrates a detailed account of the breakfast table of the great companion Abdullah bin Al-Zubayr (d. 73 AH / 693 AD) that includes healthy explanations for its nutritional components, and he says that “when he broke the fast, he was the first thing to break the fast. A bitter vegetable juice. In another narration: As for milk, it cuts off thirst and thirst.

Official responsibility

The era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs did not pass until the state began to take it upon itself to help people to perform their fasting, and the roles of society's notables and the palaces of princes and ministers - in various metropolises of Islam - allocated a part of its charitable activities to spend on breakfasting fasting people during Ramadan.

Here, Imam al-Tabari (d. 310 AH / 922 AD) - in his history - tells us that when Othman bin Affan (d. 35 AH / 656 AD) took over the caliphate, he took the initiative, "and put Ramadan food, and said: [It] is for the worshiper who stays behind in the mosque, the wayfarer, and the sinners ( the poor) of the people in Ramadan.

And Ibn Ibak al-Dawadari (d. after 736 AH / 1335 AD) - in 'Kinz al-Durar' - narrates that "Ubaid Allah bin Al-Abbas bin Abdul-Muttalib (d. 58 AH / 679 AD) was  the first to break the fast of his neighbors in the month of Ramadan, and the first to set tables on the way and called to his food in Islam.

However, we find from the historian Ibn Saad (d. 230 AH / 845 AD) - in “The Greater Classes” - that breaking the fast of fasting people in mosques became a stable habit during the time of the Companions. “In Ramadan, [the fasting people] were given drinks in the mosque of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace,” perhaps he meant what the Rashidun Caliph Uthman did.

The Umayyads followed the path of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs in feeding the fasting people; This historian al-Azraqi (d. 250 AH/864 AD) informs us - in 'Akhbar Makkah' - that the founder of the Umayyad state Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan (d. 60 AH/681 AD) bought - from the Al-Mu'amel Al-Adawi family - a house in Makkah Al-Mukarramah and called it "Dar Al-Marajil", meaning food pots. “Because it had pots of zero ( copper) in which the food of the pilgrim ( pilgrims) and the food of the month of Ramadan were cooked,” which is divided among the needy.

Despite Al-Azraqi’s account of Muawiyah’s primacy in this tradition; Abu Hilal al-Askari (d. 395 AH/1006 AD) asserts - in his book 'Al-Awael' - that the first "who established a meal ( what is offered to people) in the month of Ramadan is Al-Waleed bin Abd al-Malik (the Umayyad caliph, d. 95 AH / 715 AD)."

And about the colors of foods that are served to people in Ramadan during the Umayyad era; Abu al-Hasan al-Baladhuri (d. 279 AH / 892 AD) - in his book 'Ansab al-Ashraf' - narrates that the Umayyad governor of Iraq al-Hajjaj al-Thaqafi (d. 95 AH / 715 AD) used to "feed - in the month of Ramadan and others - every day a thousand brothers ( table table)," On each Juan: forty loaves and a bowl ( a bowl) of porridge, barbecue side, rice, fish, vinegar and vegetables, and [the pilgrims] were carried in a chair and went round to the two brothers ( the plural of two brothers), so he looked at the food and said: Do you miss something or say something short? : no".

Institutional framework

In the Abbasid state; The official celebration of the phenomenon of feeding in Ramadan developed to the level of an institutional celebration, so separate places were set up for it, called “hospitals,” where they would host fasting people to feed them in an atmosphere of respect and honor.

The historian Ibn al-Atheer (d. 630 AH / 1233 AD) transmits - in his book 'Al Kamil' - that the Abbasid Caliph Al-Nasir Li-Din Allah (d. 622 AH / 1225 AD) ordered in Ramadan 604 AH / 1207 AD "to build houses in the shops ( neighborhoods) in Baghdad for the poor to break their fast, It was called “guesthouses”, in which mutton was cooked, and good bread was cooked. This was done on both sides of Baghdad ( Al-Rusafa and Karkh), and he made in each house someone who trusted his honesty, and he gave each person a cup full of stew and meat, and manna ( 'manna') An old man equal to approximately 40 grams) of bread, and he used to break his fast every night with his food, an incalculable abundance!!

So did his grandson, Caliph al-Mustansir (d. 640 AH / 1242 AD); Ibn Shamael al-Baghdadi al-Hanbali (d. 739 AH / 1338 AD) - in the 'Observatories for Seeing the Names of Places and Bekaa' - said that he had endowments "on the "mans of the host" ( guesthouses) that he established in Baghdad shops for breakfast of the poor in the month of Ramadan."

It seems that the tradition of official spending on the breaking of fasts was available to the various strata of society, although attempts were made to exclude some tribes and groups from it, perhaps because they did not need it urgently. Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Kindi al-Masri (d. after 353 AH / 964 AD) - in the book 'Walis and Judges' - tells us that the Judge of Judges in Egypt Al-Harith bin Miskin Al-Maliki (d. 250 AH / 864 AD) "prevented Quraish and the Ansar from giving them anything of Ramadan food"! !

And when the phenomenon of independent states spread in the Abbasid state, starting from the end of the second century AH / eighth century AD; The princes of these states used spending in Ramadan and holding public tables as a way to strengthen their ties with their subjects, and to consolidate their political legitimacy among the masses of their people.

In this regard, the historian Izz al-Din Ibn Shaddad (d. 684 AH / 1285 AD) - in the book 'Al-A'laq al-Khaira' - states that Prince Saif al-Dawla al-Hamdani (d. 356 AH / 967 AD) "had [the village] of Qalofeh as a fief by drawing the Ramadan table", and he used to spend from the proceeds of The agricultural yield of this village, which was located north-east of Diyarbakir in Turkey today, is based on what is offered to those fasting at the Ramadan tables in its capital, Aleppo.

And in the same way; The kitchens of the official leaders, whose work is directed in Ramadan in this direction, appeared. In the book 'Al-Mawwa'at wa al-Itibar', the historian al-Maqrizi (d. 845 AH / 1441 AD) mentions that one of these kitchens in Fatimid Egypt "was coming out [from it] the duration of the month of Ramadan: one thousand and two hundred." Pots of all kinds of food, scattered every day on the fee-payers ( employees) and the weak.

Multiple arrangements

The process of this official feeding of the fasting people was not interrupted, but rather took a number of forms and formulas; The projects for distributing iftar for the fasting person were accompanied by the activities of holding hostels in the palaces of government, with some measures taken that sometimes limit the opening of the official Ramadan council to talk about personal interests.

Al-Baladhuri tells us - in 'Ansab al-Ashraf' - that "a people used to break their fast with Hisham [bin Abd al-Malik, the Umayyad caliph (d. 125 AH / 744 AD)] in the month of Ramadan, and a man from them asked him for something. the month?".

And some Muslim caliphs worked on introducing his approach to the nature of spending on his breakfast, and this is what was stated in the book “The Good Companion” of Imam Al-Muafa bin Zakaria Al-Nahrawani (d. 390 AH / 1001 AD) from the words of his updated Sheikh Hashem bin Al-Qasim al-Hashimi (d. 319 AH / 931 AD):

“I was in the presence of Al-Muhtadi (the Abbasid Caliph, d. 256 AH/870 AD) one evening, when the sun was about to set and I set out to leave, in the month of Ramadan, and he said to me: Sit! He called for food, and he brought a dish of khalaf ( made of khalaf/willow wood) on it loaves of pure bread, and there were vessels in some of them salt and some of them vinegar and some of them oil, and he said [] !!; This and Al-Muhtadi was at the time a caliph whose authority extended between China and Morocco!!

It is close to the position of the Caliph Al-Muhtadi, which historians used to compare in the Abbasids with Omar bin Abdul Aziz (d. 101 AH / 720 AD) in the Umayyads; What Imam Ibn Katheer narrated - in 'The Beginning and the End' - that the scholarly Mujahid Sultan Nur al-Din Mahmud Zangi (d. 569 AH / 1173 AD) revered Sheikh Omar al-Mulla al-Mawsili (d. 570 AH / 1174 AD) who "was one of the righteous and ascetic, and Nur al-Din used to borrow From him every month of Ramadan he would not break his fast, so he would send him crumbs and chips and he would break his fast with it!!

The phenomenon of “Al-Rahman’s Tables” in Ramadan was accompanied by mechanisms for implementing its arrangements. This modern historian Ibn Asaker (d. 571 AH / 1175 AD) informs us - in the 'History of Damascus' - that Malik bin Touq Al-Taghlibi (d. 260 AH / 874 AD) was the Emir of Damascus. The green door ( the seat of the emirate) after the sunset prayer: Iftar, may God have mercy on you, and the doors are open, so whoever wants to enter without permission and eat, no one is prevented from that and Malik bin Touq was one of the well-known generous people.

and successively the eras of the ages; The various countries of the Islamic civilization joined in this official interest in the tables of fasting people; Abu Mansour al-Tha’alibi (d. 429 AH/1039 AD) narrates - in 'Yatima al-Dahr' - on the authority of the Buwayhi minister al-Sahib Ibn Abbad (d. 385 AH / 996 AD) that he "does not enter upon him in the month of Ramadan after the afternoon prayer. He had, and his house was not free on every night of the month of Ramadan of a thousand souls breaking their fast, and his prayers ( his gifts), his alms and his sacrifices amounted to these months!

Zaheer al-Din Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Sarsi al-Hanbali (died 706 AH / 1306 AD) was the "President of Iraq" in the Mongol state after their conversion to Islam, "and he was distinguished by virility, presence, honor and rank. He used to break the fast in Ramadan every night a hundred poor and poor people"; According to Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani (d. 852 AH / 1448 AD) in his book 'Al-Durar Al-Latina fi A'ayan of the Eighth Hundred'.

Fatimid masterpieces

As for the Fatimid state in Egypt, it excelled in organizing official banquets during Ramadan, the two Eids, and what they used to call “the Mawlids,” making it one of its powerful propaganda tools to consolidate its political legitimacy among the Egyptians.

Al-Qalqandi (d. 821 AH / 1418 AD) - in 'Subh al-A'sha' - provides accurate details of the arrangements for the "Asmat that are served in the month of Ramadan", that is, the official tables in the Fatimid court between the fourth and twenty-sixth days of Ramadan annually, noting that the Fatimids " They did not have any general benefits except for the two Eids and the month of Ramadan.”

And about the arrangements of their Ramadan tables; Al-Qalqashindi says that “the Caliph [the Fatimid] used to arrange a samata in the gold hall in the palace every night, and summoned the princes to attend him every night on the shift ( the shift), [so] people would come from them every night so that they would not deprive them of breakfast in their homes throughout the month, The judge of the judges is not required to attend except on Friday nights out of respect for him, and the Caliph does not attend this table and if the minister attends, the Caliph sends him some of his food from which he eats in his honor, and perhaps he singles him out with some of his suhoor.”

Al-Qalqashini adds, revealing the preparation protocol and the status and ranks of the attendees at this high royal table. It is mentioned that “the minister comes and sits at the head of the table and this table was one of the greatest and best of the tables, and it extends from the front of the hall to two-thirds of it with types of food and luxury foods, and they leave from there after the last dinner an hour or two, and the merit ( the rest) of the table is spread out every night, and the fee-payers ( employees) guide him until he reaches most of the people” of Cairo’s population.

As for the components of the Fatimid Ramadan table, it seems that - similar to what al-Qalqashandi mentions about its counterpart on the two Eids - “a silver table known as the roundabout was erected on the chair, and on it were golden and Chinese vessels containing luxury foods that are only worthy of kings, and the public table is set up  and smelled flowers are spread over it, and bread is stacked on its sides and it is aged inside the tablecloth along its length in twenty-one bone dishes, in each dish twenty-one roasted lamb, and in each of them three hundred and fifty birds of chickens, broilers and pigeons!!

Next to the main dishes on the table, “[a bowl] is filled with a rectangle in height so that it is as tall as a tall man. Including seven chickens of liquid sweets and luxury foods!!

Al-Maqrizi also enumerates - in his “sermons and considerations” - the most prominent components of that Ramadan table. It is said that if its samarah is placed in the hands of the Fatimid Caliph at the time of breakfast or suhoor, “I brought jars of qatif, and jars of jellab ( rose water)…, then the table was filled with all of the animals and other things…, then Chinese dishes [of] garlands were presented. , And in his hands ( the caliph) sweet-tasting suhoor, and several types of juices and Suwaiq ( food made from wheat or barley flour) fine and groats ( coarse flour) Then he would have a golden tray filled with clumps in his hands!!

In-depth details

In fact, the mastery reached the point of distributing samples of foods, such as sweets, that the table revenues gave a special connection to the month of Ramadan. So we read the imam historian Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 654 AH / 1256 AD) who said - in his book 'The Regular' - speaking about the Buyihi Minister Fakhr al-Malik Abu Ghaleb al-Wasiti (d. 407 AH / 1017 AD): "And it is the law of separating sweets in the middle of Ramadan" for those fasting in Baghdad.

And Imam al-Dhahabi (d. 748 AH / 1347 AD) reported - in 'Birth of the Nobles' Flags' - that the honorable Sultan of Damascus Muzaffar al-Din Ibn al-Adil al-Ayyubi (d. 635 AH / 1237 AD) was "exaggerated in submission to the poor, visiting them and giving them", and it was his habit that he "sent in Ramadan with sweets to the places of the poor.”

In this context; Dessert dishes were what the sultans of countries provided to some of the homes of senior officials, as one of the basic elements of Ramadan tables. For example, in Fatimid Egypt, “every prince from the elite over the sultan has an arrangement of sugar and sweets in the month of Ramadan.” According to Al-Maqrizi in 'Al-Moawads and I'tibar'.

This Ramadan care may concern special classes of the elite of society, such as jurists; The Hanafi jurist Muhyi al-Din Ibn Nasrallah al-Qurashi (d. 775 AH / 1373 AD) - in 'The Shining Jewels in Tabaqat al-Hanafiyyah' - stated that the Hanafi jurist, Fatima bint Muhammad bin Ahmed al-Samarqandi (d. 581 AH / 1185 AD) "is the one who enacted the breaking of the fast in Ramadan for the jurists. In Halawiya, she had two bracelets in her hands, so she took them out and sold them and worked for the price for breakfast every night, and [the custom] continued to do so!!

This Fatima al-Samarqandiya was a great scholar in the city of Aleppo, the capital of the Zangid state, and she had a great influence on her ruler, the scholar Nur al-Din Zangi. Ramadan is stuffed with straws, and the jurists who are arranged in the school gather on them.” According to the tribe of Ibn al-Ajami (d. 884 AH / 1479 AD) in 'Treasures of Gold in the History of Aleppo'.

The Judge of Judges, the historian Ibn Khallikan (d. 681 AH / 1282 AD) - in 'Deaths of Notables' - tells us that Judge Ibn Shaddad al-Mawsili (d. 632 AH / 1235 AD) was known for his high status in the Ayyubid state. his school, for they used to attend the sultan’s councils and break their fast in the month of Ramadan on his salaah.”

Among the developments of the phenomenon of "Al-Rahman's Tables"; The idea of ​​taking official spaces designated for hosting in Ramadan emerged, as the historian Shihab al-Din al-Nuairi (d. 733 AH / 1333 AD) narrates - in 'Nahyat al-Arab' - that Sultan al-Kamil al-Ayyubi (d. 635 AH / 1237 AD) "built a hall in the Citadel of the Mountain ( the seat of power in Cairo) He sits in it with the jurists and the righteous during the month of Ramadan. He called it “Ramadan Hall”, and it is now ( the eighth century AH / 14th CE) among the royal treasuries.

Attending these Ramadan feasts was not limited to jurists, as is understood from some of the historical texts contained in them, but was often a meeting place for other classes of poets, writers and others.

Among this is what Ibn Khalilkan mentions that he attended one night the two poets Abu Al-Fawares Ibn Saifi Al-Tamimi (d. 574 AH / 1178 AD), nicknamed “Al-Hais Bays and Ibn Al-Fadl (Hebat Allah Ibn Qattan Al-Baghdadi, d. 498 AH / 1105AD)  Ali Al-Samat at the Minister [Abbasid in Baghdad] in The month of Ramadan.”

Huge budgets

Although the central region of the geography of the Islamic world received full coverage of its Ramadan feasts in historical blogs, its counterparts in the peripheral regions have never missed the monitoring of these blogs.

This “Sheikh of the Travelers” Ibn Battuta (d. 779 AH / 1377 AD) documents for us on his journey the atmosphere of Ramadan hospitality for the Emir of the Turkish city of Akridor, saying: “The month of Ramadan shaded us with him, and he used to sit every night of it on a mattress sticking to the floor without a bed, and resting on a pillow. The faqih sits next to him, the heads of his state and the princes of his presence comfort us, then food is brought.”

Ibn Battuta describes the system of serving Ramadan table components to this sultan, saying: “The first thing that he breaks with porridge is in a small plate ( a bowl), on which lentils are watered with ghee and sugar, and they serve porridge as a blessing, and they say: The Prophet, peace be upon him, preferred him over all other food, so we start [with it]. ] to the Prophet’s preference for him, then all other foods are brought, and this is what they did on all the nights of Ramadan.”

And an expression of the wide activity of Ramadan tables kitchens and the size of the budgets spent on them; Imam Ibn Katheer informs us - in 'The Beginning and the End' - that the "Sultan Alp Arslan (d. 465 AH/1074 AD) nicknamed the 'Sultan of the world' .

Bahaa al-Din al-Jundi (d. 732 AH / 1332 AD) - in his book 'The Behavior in the Classes of Scholars and Kings' - tells us that the administrator of the successful state in Zabid, Yemen, Minister Sorour al-Fataki al-Habashi (d. 551 AH / 1156 AD) "was that his expenditures and alms expanded in Ramadan more than the limit and description." , so that the job of his kitchen every day of Ramadan was one thousand dinars ( today approximately 200 thousand US dollars).

Al-Maqrizi mentioned - in his book 'Al-Muqaffa Al-Kabir' - that during the reign of the Fatimid minister al-Ma'mun al-Batahi (d. 519 AH / 1125 AD) "the alimony on the month of Ramadan for twenty-nine nights amounted to sixteen thousand four hundred and thirty-six dinars ( today approximately 3.3 million US dollars) ".

Al-Maqrizi adds that the terms of disbursement of this budget are for the Iftar and Suhoor tables, as for “spending - in the month of Ramadan - by drawing alms and fees, and the absolute expansion by drawing ( for) the courtiers and princes, and alms of food at the door, deeds and fitrah, and the garments specializing in the offence and Eid; [the amount] is what Over sixty thousand dinars, and one hundred thousand dinars ( today approximately 20 million US dollars)" in some seasons.

Al-Maqrizi also tells us - in “Prayers and Attitude” - about the Ramadan tables that were set up by the Fatimid military leader and then the Ayyubid Lulu’ al-Hajib Armenian (d. 598 AH / 1203 AD) before and during Ramadan, which were good for the poor and the rich alike!

He says, "He used to separate twelve thousand loaves every day with food pots, and when the month of Ramadan came, that was weaker, and he was wet ( emptying) to separate from noon every day until about the last evening prayer, and he put three boats the length of each boat is twenty-one cubits full. For food, the poor enter groups while standing tight in the middle as if he is a shepherd, and in his hand is a ladle and in the other a jar of ghee, and he repairs the rows of the poor and brings them food and wadak ( melted fat), and starts with men, then women, then boys, and the poor - with their many - were not crowded Because they know that favor prevails over them, so if the need of the poor ends, he spreads a blanket to the rich, and kings are unable to match it!!

As for Mamluk Egypt; Al-Maqrizi narrates - in his book “Al-Suluk” - that the Mamluk Sultan Al-Zahir Barquq (d. 801 AH / 1398 AD) used to “during the days of his emirate and his sultanate every day of the month of Ramadan [slaughter] twenty-five cows, giving them alms - after they were cooked with thousands of loaves of bread.” Al-Naqi - on the people of mosques, the scenes, the khawanak ( plural khankah / khanaqah: zawiya and school of Sufism), ribat and the people of prisons; for each person a pound of cooked meat and three loaves of pure wheat ( wheat), except for what was separated in the zawiya [of the Sufis] of lamb, Each day he shall give fifty pounds and several loaves of bread to each corner, and among them shall be given more than that according to their condition.”

Wide celebration

The palaces of government were not the only habitat that welcomed the fasting people, and carried out the tasks of hosting them throughout Ramadan; Public figures, opinion leaders and society have had - since an early age - their contribution in this field, to a level that is no less than that of its counterparts among statesmen.

This narrator Abu Naim Al-Asbahani (d. 430 AH/1040AD) informs us - in the 'History of Isfahan' - that "Hammad bin Abi Suleiman (Kufi jurist, d. 120 AH / 739 AD) used to break the fast of every person." As for the narration of Al-Shajari Al-Jurjani (d. 499 AH / 1106 AD) - in 'The Order of Al-Amali al-Khamisiyyah' - it states that Hamada - a sheikh of Imam Abu Hanifa (d. 150 AH / 768 AD) - used to "break the fast every night in the month of Ramadan, five hundred people, and if the night of al-Fitr is as a shareholder." garment by garment, and gave them a hundred hundred"!!

Al-Jahiz (d. 255 AH / 869 AD) - in 'The Misers' - narrates that "Musa bin Jinnah invited a group of his neighbors to break their fast with him in the month of Ramadan." Whatever the imaginary dimension in this text, on the Al-Jahiziyah method; It provides us with a list of the food items that were prepared by the owners of Ramadan tables in the era of Al-Jahiz, and one of them used to present to his guests “Bahta ( rice with milk and ghee) or Bjwathaba ( bread with barbecue fat) or with porridge, or some of what goes in the throat and is not sweetened with water, nor It requires chewing, and it is hand food, not hand food!!

In the Islamic West; The historian of literatures of Andalusia al-Maqri al-Tilmisani (d. 1041 AH / 1631 AD) mentions - in “Nafh al-Tayyib” - evidence that the Ramadan tables held by community notables were open to everyone, including those with needs.

We find him transmitting a hadith to one of the sons of the judge of the judges of Andalusia Munther bin Saeed Al-Balouti (d. 355 AH / 966 AD) in which he says: “We sat one night - one of the nights of the great month of Ramadan - with our father to break the fast in his Al-Barani house, so if a questioner says: Feed us from your dinner, God Almighty will feed you from the fruits of Paradise.” "!

Following al-Balouti’s approach, other judges followed Andalusia. Among them is the judge of Malaga Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Nabahi (d. 463 AH/1072 AD), whose relative, the historian Abu al-Hasan al-Nabahi (d. 793 AH / 1391 AD) - in 'History of the Judges of Andalusia' - says that "every Ramadan he followed the example of his son-in-law, the judge in Cordoba Ahmed bin Ziyad ( Al-Lakhmi (died 326 AH/938 AD), and he prays in his house next to the mosque. Ten jurists from a group of people, break their fast every night with him, study the Book of God among them and recite it.”

The women’s role continues to have a presence and a basic impact in terms of managing Ramadan supplies and table arrangements, due to their skill and experience in this regard. Home kitchens have made a great contribution to it since the first Ramadans in the history of Islam.

It came in “Al-Sunan Al-Kubra” by Imam Abu Bakr Al-Bayhaqi (d. 458 AH/1067AD): “On the authority of Zaid bin Wahb (Al-Juhani, the companion, circa 83 AH/703AD) he said: While we were sitting in the mosque of Medina in Ramadan and the sky was cloudy, we saw that the sun had set. And we had reached the evening, so Asas ( plural of ass: a large bowl) brought us milk from the house of Hafsa (the daughter of Omar, the mother of the believers, d. 41 AH / 662 AD), so Omar drank and we drank.

The sources also tell us stories about the role of women in preparing Ramadan meals; In the book 'Al-Musannaf' by Imam Ibn Abi Shaybah (d. 235 AH/849AD): "On the authority of Abu Amr al-Shaybani (d. 95 AH/715 CE) who said: "Abdullah bin Masoud saw: AH 6AH/AD 32 AD) with these dirhams? He said: This is O Abu Abd al -Rahman, the third of them ( today is approximately 40 US dollars) I want to buy it with a thickness of the rituals, so he said: He said: Yes. He said: Go and give her to your wife, and order her to buy a living dirham every day!

Ramadan literature

The preparatory aspect of Ramadan foods leads us to talk about the types of foods that are common in this holy month. Ibn Fadlallah al-Omari (d. 749 AH / 1348 AD) informs us - in 'The Paths of the Eyes' - of the priority of the relationship of kunafa sweets with the month of Ramadan, and he says that "Mu'awiyah (d. 60 AH / 681 AD) was very hungry in Ramadan, so he complained about this to Ibn Uthal, the doctor (Christian). about 60 AH / 681 AD), so he took the konafa for him and he used to eat it at suhoor, so he was the first to take it!

Then the knafeh remained a popular element in the list of Ramadan foods, until reciting it became a familiar one in literary texts, as was reported by Al-Ghazali Al-Baha’i (d. / 1273 AD):

God watered the

knafs of kunafa by syrup ** and gave them permanent sugar, and cursed the times of pickles, they ** pass without benefit and are counted from my life!!

Ramadan kunafa spread after that in many countries, and it was associated in people’s minds with the month of fasting, to the extent that the scholar Jamal al-Din Yusef bin Zakaria al-Ansari al-Sanbaki (d. 987 AH / 1579 AD) was surprised when he saw it being sold at a time other than Ramadan, and he said: “I did not think that kunafa worked except in Ramadan"; According to Najm al-Din al-Ghazi (d. 1061 AH / 1651 AD) in 'The Walking Planets in the Biography of Notables of the Tenth Hundred'!!

And what expresses the nobility of sweets such as kunafa and Qatayef and their centrality in Ramadan tables is that Imam Al-Suyuti (d. 911 AH / 1505 AD) dedicated a book to talk about them, whose title was: “Manhal Al-Latif in Kunafa and Qatayef”!!

Al-Suyuti was not unique in his attention to the good neighborliness between Qatayef and Kunafa, especially on the rug and tablecloth of Ramadan. Rather, he repeats with this what a number of poets have preceded him. As one of them said - as was reported by Al-Ragheb Al-Isfahani (d. 502 AH/1108 AD) in 'Lectures of the Writers' - praising the place of Qatayef among the components of the Ramadan tables: The

most delicious thing for fasting ** Among the sweets in food are pieces that were cross-woven and

woven ** The pioneers of Al-Dur in the system

hypnotizes on the south * * In the jam, like a sleeping girl

Among the beautiful “Literature of Qatayef” is what was deposited by the Egyptian writer Shams al-Din al-Nawaji (d. 859 AH / 1455 AD) in his book 'Al-Shifa fi Badi' al-Kifa'; He said: He

has gone astray to eat the one who wraps the qatayef ** and goes down without

the kunafa, so how many flies at night for the tasting kunafa ** and for it at night is more gifted than the kittens!!

It seems that the link between sweets and Ramadan has been established since the beginning of Islam to the extent that they are allocated to children to encourage them to contribute to the revival of Ramadan nights. Al-Bayhaqi (d. 458 AH / 1067 AD) - in 'Sunan al-Kubra' - stated that "Aisha (d. 58 AH / 679 AD), may God be pleased with her, said: We used to take boys from the scribes to lead us in the month of Ramadan, so we would make them al-Qaliya and khushkanj ( bread stuffed with almonds and sugar). )".

Group breakfast

As an expression of that presence, Islamic societies excelled in making these Ramadan foods. Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti (d. 1240 AH / 1824 AD) - in 'Ajeeb al-Athar fi al-Tarajim wa al-Akhbar' - tells us about "the custom in Ramadan of making cakes and wafers known as Sahir".

Al-Jabarti notes that the organization of some statesmen’s “tables of the Most Merciful” may have aroused the sensitivity of the officials higher than them in a position, so they used it as a pretext to undermine them or isolate them from their jobs, claiming that they sought to build centers of societal power - especially from scholars - to help them in their quest to take over the reins of power!!

Al-Jabarti gives an example of this, that Muhammad Effendi Al-Wadanli (d. 1225 AH / 1810 AD) was “overseer of the missions of the state” during the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha (d. 1265 AH / 1848 AD) over Egypt, and it was his habit to “send several nights of Ramadan every night A bowl ( plural bowl) filled with porridge and meat to the poor in the Al-Azhar Mosque!

Al-Jabarti adds that one day, "Katkhuda ( Governor of Cairo) came to visit the Husseini scene on the afternoon of Ramadan, then rode to his house before sunset, and on his way came across several large covered bowls that the men carried, so he asked about it and they told him that [Al-Wadanli ] He sends it every night of Ramadan to the poor of the Al-Azhar mosque, and it contains porridge and meat, so he resented that and made the Pasha [Muhammad Ali] known that he sympathizes with people and woos them with your money and so on!!

The official efforts regarding the tables and tables in Ramadan remained part of expressing the Islamic societies’ view of the importance of joint efforts and cooperation during the month of fasting in order to meet its expenses for all. As a result, the phenomenon of the people of the same neighborhood participating in the breakfast tables arose.

Among the examples of this that caught the attention of the late Ibn Battuta was his saying in praise of the people of Damascus: “And among the virtues of the people of Damascus is that none of them breaks the fast during the nights of Ramadan at all. Like that, and whoever is from the weak and the desert, they gather every night in someone’s house or in a mosque, and everyone brings what he has and they break their fast together!!”

The tradition of giving official tips from the state at the start of Ramadan has also spread. In this context, Imam al-Tabari - in his history - cites an early example of that presented by Caliph Omar al-Faruq, he says: "Umar used to make one dirham for each of the people in Ramadan in Ramadan, and he imposed on the wives of the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, two dirhams, and he was told: If you made food So I gathered them on him! He said: I fill the people in their homes.”

It was as if Al-Farouq wanted the families to gather at their Ramadan tables, in order to strengthen the family ties between them. And when Othman bin Affan took over the caliphate after him, he approved the work of “that was Omar’s making, and he added and put Ramadan food,” thus establishing collective breakfast tables outside the homes; As already mentioned.

Imam Ibn Asaker also narrates - in “The History of Damascus” - that the governor of Iraq, Musab bin al-Zubayr (d. 72 AH / 692 AD) sent to the companion Amr bin al-Nu’man al-Muzni (d. about 72 AH / 692 AD) with two thousand dirhams ( today approximately 2500 US dollars), and he came to him The Messenger with it and said: “The prince recites peace be upon you and says: We did not leave a reciter ( a scholar) but a favor from us has reached him, so seek help from these two for yourself, this month of yours ( Ramadan)!!”

In the middle of the second century AH / eighth century AD; We find an example of this with the Emir of Tunisia in the state of the Aghlabids, Ahmed bin Muhammad bin Al-Aghlab (d. 249 AH / 863 AD), who tells us the historian Ibn Adhari al-Marrakchi (d. after 712 AH / 1312 AD) - in the 'Maghrib Statement' - that he used to ride every night in Ramadan "and in his hands So he would leave the old palace and walk until he entered through the door of Abu al-Rabee’, with beasts [loaded] with dirhams, and he would give to the weak and needy until he reached the Jamia Mosque in Kairouan, where people would come out to him praying for him.”

Ramadan supplies

Sites were designated to provide food to the needy members of the community, and perhaps one of them volunteered to deliver it to those whose circumstances did not enable them to obtain it in those sites. That is why Ibn Asaker also tells us about what he feels about the presence of a queue for “charity in the mosque in the month of Ramadan”, by quoting the words of one of the public figures: “There is a woman next to me who asked for “charity bread” and it was not given, so I wrote my name to take the bread and take it to her!”

And we stand on a picture of the families’ interest in dealing with the requirements of the month of Ramadan, as the writer Abu Saeed Al-Abi (d. 421 AH/1031 AD) narrated - in “The Prose of Pearls in the Lectures” - that the historian “Al-Waqidi (d. 207 AH/822 AD) is an old man who tolerated, and overshadowed the month of Ramadan and peace not with him expense, so he consulted his wife, who come down I know, ( need) of his brothers? and she said: Pflan Hashemi! Votah recalled to him I know,, waving him a hub where three hundred dinars ( day 60 thousand dollars US), he said: God, what I have others, took her Waaqidi ".

And for everyone to participate in the search for what they face the requirements of this month; Someone also came to Al-Waqidi who complained to him that “I fell in love with him, so he gave him the bundle with its seal”! The story - which is not far from a figment of the imagination - says that the incident was repeated among several people, each of them giving this bundle to the one who came to him complaining of his need, until the bundle returned to its first owner, so everyone resorted to sharing it among themselves!!

Ibn Kathir tells us - in “The Beginning and the End” - on the sultans’ continued interest in those requirements to meet the needs of homes during Ramadan; Verwey that the Caliph al-Mustansir Abbasi (d. 640 AH / 1242 AD) "As the first night of Ramadan believe many Besdqat of flour, sheep and expenses on the scientists and the poor and Mahabe ( needy), helping them to fast, and strengthen them to do."

This is a realization from this Caliph of what the nature of the month of Ramadan dictates of the material preparation and preparations that occupy societies at the advent of this holy month. These are preparations that were described - centuries later by Al-Budairi Al-Hallaq Al-Dimashqi (d. 1175 AH / 1761 AD) - in his book 'Damascus Daily Accidents' - when he said, drawing the scene of the atmosphere of one of the Damascene Ramadans: "People became so crowded in the movement of Suhoor that food shops opened at night, such as bakers and fatteners." !!

In this context; Some were ready to submit their requests to the official authorities to expedite their salaries on the occasion of Ramadan, so that they could complete their home preparations for its societal requirements, as people do in our time at the beginning of each Ramadan.

In this we read according to Ibn Miskawayh (d. 421 AH / 1031 AD) - in 'Experiences of Nations' - that the employees of the Abbasid military establishment in Baghdad "asked Al-Hasan bin Sahel (d. 236 AH / 850AD) to expedite for them fifty dirhams ( today approximately 60 US dollars). ) for every man to spend it in the month of Ramadan.”

It may reach the point of preparing to fight in front of the official authorities to get them to pay salaries or some of them at the beginning of Ramadan; The historian al-Nuwayri narrates - in 'Nahayat al-Arb' - that a group of people "came to the door of the palace [the Fatimid in Cairo] and spoke harshly and asked for their livelihood and entitlements from the minister, so he said [to them]: Mawlana ( the Fatimid Caliph) offers you peace and says to you: If the beginning of the month of Ramadan comes, he commands the maintenance among you then when the month of Ramadan begins, he spends for each one of them a third of his livelihood!

Therefore, the official authorities’ failure to observe the living conditions in Ramadan and its requirements was a reason for disapproval. Was the son of many At mention 'the beginning and Alnhih'- that "gave Prince Saif al-Din Bedmr (d. 750 AH / 1349 AD) from the Mufti of Egypt on [horses] mail, when he gave an order to collect all Alnharian, carpenters, blacksmiths, and equipping them to Beirut to cut timber, Walk on Wednesday The second of Ramadan, and they did not take any of their wages!! Ibn Kathir commented: “It was appropriate for them to extend it to him!!”

Multiple solutions

Proceeding from this awareness of the material responsibilities related to the expenses of the Ramadan tables; The circles in society knew that measures were taken to respond to its requirements, including that it was a condition of the one standing in a school “that he be charged - in each month of Ramadan - from the endowment of three thousand dirhams ( today approximately 3750 US dollars) for the teacher to make food for the jurists with it”; According to al-Muqaffa al-Kabir by al-Maqrizi.

Al-Maqrizi also informs us - in 'Prayers and Attitude' - that the founder of the "Hejaz School" in Cairo monitored "several great endowments from which the Sunnis ( salaries) are paid to employers, and in the month of Ramadan food is cooked for them."

It is no secret that this trend began since the beginning of Islam, and it embodies the keenness to ensure family provision for families and for individuals to carry out their responsibilities in this. Al-Muhaddith Imam al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463 AH / 1071 AD) narrates with his chain of transmission - in his book 'The Collector of the Ethics of the Narrator and the Etiquette of the Listener' - that "Abdullah bin Amr (Ibn al-Aas, d. 65 AH / 686 AD) [was] in his house, and he said: I want to be held here this month Ramadan, said to him, I mean Abdullah: Are you left to your family what Iqutem? he said: No, he said, but do not go back? Let them what Iqutem, I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ says: «Enough is enough sin for a man to waste from Icot »"!!

What enhances the Companions’ awareness of the importance of Ramadan fasting among the family is due to the fact that the gathering around its tables strengthens the bonds of affection and mercy among its members. What al-Khatib al-Baghdadi also narrated - in 'History of Baghdad' - that the great companion who kept the secret of the Prophet, peace be upon him, "Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman (d. 36 AH / 657 AD) was in Mada'in [in Iraq] and he attended the month of Ramadan. ".

In such a reality; There is no obstacle, then, that limits the movement of the millstones of banquet kitchens and Ramadan hosting tables and curbs their rotation in homes more than the economic crises that may throw them on the general reality, as was observed by Imam Qutb al-Din al-Yunni (d. 726 AH / 1326 AD) - in 'The Tail of the Mirror of Time' - From that “in the first ten days of the month of Ramadan, a frost ( frost/snow storm) occurred in Damascus on grapes, apricots, beans and roses.”

It was also natural for the tables of fasting people to be affected by the lack of some of their requirements, as Zain al-Din al-Malti (d. 920 AH / 1514 AD) tells us - in “Neeling Hope in the Tail of the States” - by saying within his presentation of the events of the year 843 AH / 1439 AD: “And in Ramadan, the fat was lost.” And honey bees in Egypt until there was no, and the presence of meat and vegetables was glorified.

These challenges - which sometimes occur in the atmosphere of the month of Ramadan - were dealt with by various methods of direct government intervention and social solidarity. Among the examples of this is what Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani clarifies - in 'Information of immersion in the sons of a lifetime' - that in one of the months of Ramadan, "the cost of living increased in Damascus, and al-Ghararah ( a bag of grains containing about 200 kg) reached from six hundred to seven hundred, so the deputy ( the deputy of the Mamluk Sultan) called The poor gathered together, so they gathered in the field, so he differentiated them over the rich between princes, judges, and merchants, so their question became less and their shouting decreased and they became silent.”

One of the measures to confront price crises in Ramadan may be the indirect intervention of the authorities by making decisions that set prices in a way that makes them accessible to everyone, which we find examples of in Al-Malti - in “Nil Al-Amal” - including that “in Ramadan (in the year 874 AH / 1469 AD) - in [Day] Initiated - Wheat was called for a thousand dirhams per ardeb ( 150 kg), and the Sultan ordered to open two sacks ( two grain storages) from his shuna, and I sold them at this price on this day, so people walked with that and some kindness was obtained, and I sold the pound of bread for six. A click after it was nine and this was the beginning of prosperity."

Funny phenomena

These measures are part of the authority’s endeavors to instill general reassurance among the segments of society that are affected by the rising prices, which Malta also depicts by saying in another context: “In Ramadan, prices were high, and the people and people were grumpy due to the lack of sustenance and the lack of lamb and beef as well, and camel meat available. It is sold in Ramadan at the most expensive price and a mug of rice is about forty, and it does not exist, nor is the price.”

The development of customs related to Ramadan tables led to funny societal phenomena such as commercial restaurants, the strangest of which were those that were held in front of the Kaaba throughout the month of Ramadan, and included types of “food statues”, and the scene of which is described by the traveler, writer and jurist Ibn Jubayr Andalusian (d. 614 AH / 1217 AD) saying:

As for sweets, strange types of honey and sugar are made of various qualities. They make tales ( models) of all wet and dry fruits. And in the three months - Rajab, Sha’ban and Ramadan - they are connected by strips between Safa and Marwa, and no one has seen a more complete view of them than In Egypt and nowhere else, human and fruitful representations ( statues) were made of them, and they ( appeared) on platforms as if they were brides, and they were overlaid with all kinds of colorful tables, so that they looked like flowers well, so they restrict the eyes and lower the dirham and the dinar!!

Also among those funny phenomena is the habit of “sahur” (the call to suhoor), which has become - since an early time - part of the Ramadan culture in Islamic societies, since Muslims knew the media approach at the time of suhoor in the era of the Prophet, peace be upon him.

It came in the Sahihs of Al-Bukhari (d. 256 AH / 870 AD) and Muslim (d. 261 AH / 875 AD) the saying of the Prophet, peace be upon him: “Bilal ( Bilal bin Rabah, d. 20 AH / 642 AD) calls the call to prayer at night, so eat and drink until Ibn Umm Maktum calls the call to prayer”, and what is meant here is the companion The Galilee Abdullah bin Umm Maktoum (died 15 AH / 637 AD).

Zain al-Din Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali (d. 795 AH / 1393 AD) - in his book 'Fath al-Bari Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari' - comments on this prophetic hadith by saying that the two calls to prayer combine "all the interests: awakening the sleeper, and the initiative to make the fast for the fasting person, and between informing the time after entering it." ".

Performing arts

And during the various hurricanes of Islam and in its various cities; The media at suhoor followed several methods. The jurist Ibn Al-Hajj Al-Maliki (d. 737 AH / 1336 AD) - in his book 'The Entrance' - draws a general picture of its types; He says that the rituals of sahur "are different in the customs of the regions Do you not see that in the Egyptian homes of the mosque, the muezzins say: Suhoor, eat and drink, and the like, according to what is known from their sayings And the people of Yemen and some of the people of Morocco are enchanted by knocking on doors on the owners of the mosques." The houses, and as for the people of Levant, they are enchanted by the sound of the tar ( tambourine) and the playing of the youth ( wooden flute).

It seems that the people of the Islamic West used more than one means in their practice of the practice of witchcraft; Ibn al-Hajj also informs us that some of them “when it is the time of suhoor for them, they blow the horn ( the trumpet) on the minaret ( the minaret) and repeat it.”

And this is a habit similar to the Andalusian use of blowing the trumpet to announce the time of breaking the fast, which was mentioned by Imam Abu Al-Abbas Al-Washarisi Al-Maliki (d. 914 AH / 1508 AD) - in the “Al-Miyar Al-Arabised” by saying: “And this trumpet became a flag - in Andalusia in Ramadan - on sunset and breakfast time.”

The traveler Ibn Battuta tells us that the people of Makkah Al-Mukarramah had multiple alternatives to inform the public about the time of Suhoor, including lanterns and Ramadan lanterns; It is mentioned that "in the homes of Mecca all are high surfaces, so whoever does not hear the call to sunset from those who are far from the mosque, he sees the two lamps lighting at the top of a hermitage ( a minaret), and if he does not see them, he knows that time has passed."

And since “Enchanting” turned into a profession and a societal culture instead of being a call to prayer issued by the minarets of mosques, it was accompanied - with the passage of time - by types of poetic rhymes and chanting methods, thus becoming closer to literary arts and folk traditions.

Therefore, the limits of the enchanting system did not stop at informing the fasting people of the arrival of the time, but rather left a cultural and civilized impact by inaugurating a literary art known as “Al-Quma”, and the derivation of its name came “from the singers saying of the magic every house after singing: “A people for Suhoor”, alerting them to it. The master of the house, and they mention his praise and supplication for him So they gave him this name and it became his flag.” According to Ibn Hajjah al-Hamawi (d. 837 AH / 1433 AD) in his book 'Beach to Hope in the Art of Zajal'.

Ibn Hajjah al-Hamawi tells us about the beginnings of this artistic-literary transformation in the method of “Suhoor”, by saying that the first people to invent the chanting poetic style called “Al-Quma” were the “Baghdadi  in the state of the caliphs of the Abbasids, by drawing ( for the purpose) of Suhoor in the month of Ramadan. The greatest, and it was said: The first one who invented it was Ibn Nuqat ( a popular singer t after 575 AH / 1179 AD) by drawing the Caliph Al-Nasir (for the religion of God the Abbasid d. 622 AH / 1225 AD), and it is correct that it was invented by him.

Al-Hamawi then indicated that this son of Point was loved by the Caliph, so “Al-Nasir used to sing for him,” as he had a chanting band and “followers of the bewitched” sang with him on the Ramadan nights of Baghdad, and then they followed his way after him led by one of his sons. He is skilled in arranging the "Quma" and singing with it "in the morning hours throughout Ramadan!!" (Al Jazeera)