With the start of Ramadan, millions of Muslims around the world begin a month of introspection, worship, service and renewed commitment to community. But we should not overlook another aspect of Ramadan that has been a tradition through the ages — the holy month as a time for war.

This has special relevance this year, when so many well-meaning observers will call on Israel to suspend its military operations against the Islamist extremists of Hamas, who — of all segments of Palestinian society — will appreciate the history of Muslim armies waging war during Ramadan and the irony of asking non-Muslim combatants to respect some sort of “Ramadan truce.”

The 1973 Arab-Israeli war may be known to Jews as the Yom Kippur War, but it is widely known in the Arab world as “Harb Ramadan” — the Ramadan War — given that Anwar Sadat dispatched Egyptian forces to cross the Suez Canal during the holy month. But it is only a relatively recent example of Arab or Muslim armies waging war during this month.

The Saudi newspaper........

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