As of sundown on Sunday, March 10, the official Islamic holy month of Ramadan began for Muslims in the West. It will last until Tuesday, April 9. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is considered holy by the nearly two billion Muslims worldwide because it is the month during which, according to Islamic belief, Muhammad first received revelation from God in 610 AD.
Celebrating Ramadan consists primarily of, for those eligible, fasting entirely from all food and water from sunrise to sunset each day; for devout Muslims, the entire Quran is also recited over this 30 day period, and a special night prayer (taraweeh) is performed.
But what does this mean for us as Christians? Well, Ramadan should matter because Muslims matter. About one-fourth of the world’s population identifies as Muslim, and that number is quickly growing. Within the century, Islam is projected to overtake Christianity as the world’s largest religion. Muslims make up the largest unreached people groups in the world—particularly in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. As citizens of the Kingdom, we have an obligation to these billions of fellow image-bearers to share the gospel with and support these individuals and populations—both in missionary contexts and with Muslims we meet in our day-to-day lives.
This leads me to two reflections for Christians during Ramadan. Firstly, this should be a time of increased prayer for Muslims around the world. While tens of thousands of Muslims convert to Christianity every year, that’s hardly a dent in the global Muslim population. Muslims bear God’s image and reflect His goodness, rationality, beauty and love—these are people we should intensely desire to see brought into His Kingdom. However, Muslims are also sinners in need of God’s grace, just like us. Islam is primarily a works-based religion; concepts like atonement, propitiation and justification don’t exist. We should seek to see Muslims come to feel secure in God’s arms through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
With this in mind, we should also be praying for our missionaries in Muslim countries. These missionaries often serve in underdeveloped nations ravaged by war, famine and poverty. To make matters worse, many also experience persecution either from the state or population, or both. Ramadan should be a time of remembering and praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ who have stepped out of comfort to do Kingdom work for Muslims.
We should not only pray for the spiritual state of Muslims but also their physical state. As said, many Muslim countries have been devastated in the past century by war, poverty and famine. In many cases, the West is responsible for much of this destruction. Millions of Muslims live more difficult lives than we can imagine. We should pray for their wellbeing, for the ending of suffering, and the peaceful development of their countries. As the Hamas-Israel conflict continues, we should continue praying for Palestinians who have lost not only their homes and livelihoods, but their families also.
However, Ramadan can encourage us to reflect not only on the Muslim world externally, but our own Christian spirituality. The example of fasting is useful here. The Islamic fast is notably different from Christian concepts of fasting. While Christian fasting can take many forms, there is only one kind of fasting in Islam. Muslims are obligated to abstain from all food and drink during the day, and the rules about what does/doesn’t break your fast are complex. For example, Muslims can’t take common medicines while fasting because it involves swallowing. They’re also discouraged from brushing their teeth, as water could get down their throat - a soft stick called a siwaak is used instead. Even kissing your spouse can break your fast! While the stated purpose of the fast is to realize dependence on God, in practice it becomes about avoiding anything entering your throat during the day. (Philosophically, it could be understood deontically rather than about virtue.)
This causes Ramadan to be stressful for many Muslims. They become burdened by questions like “Does chewing gum break my fast?” or “Does using an inhaler break my fast?” If a fast is broken, Muslims have to make it up. The Islamic fast is about submission—which is what the word Islam means. When we fast, we do it first and foremost to draw closer to God. For Muslims, though, this is secondary; the primary reason is to submit.
This is backwards. Fasting should not be burdensome or stressful. Fasting, and spirituality generally, are not supposed to be goal-oriented. The New Testament’s idea of spirituality is not about submission. We do submit to God’s law, but we do so because we know and love a God who knows and loves us, not so God might love us. We all fail God’s standard—but the Muslim hope is that if they try hard enough, God will ignore their sins and save them anyway.
That isn’t our hope. That’s no hope at all. We have a true, living hope in Jesus who died for our sins and rose again to defeat death. God doesn’t judge us based on our own deeds, but on Jesus’ perfect life, death and resurrection. In Jesus’ death, our sins are crucified, and in His resurrection, we live eternally.
Ramadan coincides this year with Lent. We should fast and pray too, not because we have to, but because we want to; not so God will look at us differently, but because He has already looked on us with mercy. Don’t let this gift become normal to you. We have been blessed. I pray as a community of believers we walk in the light and hope of Jesus Christ this Ramadan and that Muslims will see that light and come join us.