30 Days of Ramadan

CULTURE AND RELIGION
April 2022
By a member of SEND’s Diaspora | North America team -
Saturday, April 2, Ramadan started for 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide. For the next 30 days, Muslims will seek to earn God’s favor by fasting from food, drink, and pleasure during daylight hours. Special gifts to the poor are also often made during this month for additional merit as well. The start of Ramadan moves forward ten or eleven days each year, as it is based on the lunar calendar, and next year it will start around the 22nd of March.Muslims believe that prayers said during the month of Ramadan, especially prayers in the mosque are counted with extra merit. And, since prayers offered on the 27th and 28th night in the mosque are considered to have even more merit, some Muslims will spend those nights in prayer at the mosque, or even the whole last week.Almost all Muslims will start off the month of Ramadan with good intentions of fasting the whole month, much as a New Year’s resolution. And though some will make it through the whole month, with the stress and strain of daily life, many don’t make it too far into the month. They will put on a good show, but out of the public eye, they will not be keeping the fast. Upon closer reflection, they realize this is not good for them spiritually, as keeping the fast is one of the five major tenants of Islam. The others are: offering daily prayers, saying the creed “there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet” , giving alms to the poor, and going at least once in your lifetime on pilgrimage to Mecca.This requirement of having to earn one’s favor with God is a heavy one and for those who take the time to reflect on it, it becomes clear that everyone falls short of keeping these requirements. Interestingly, the New Testament declares this clearly, in Romans 3.23: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And the apostle Paul goes to great lengths in Philippians 3:4-14 to show that though he struggled mightily to keep the law, it was just not possible for him to find right standing with God apart from faith in Christ.It is our prayer that many Muslims during this coming month of Ramadan, will come to the same conclusion, that apart from Christ, they can not find a right standing before God, and that they will surrender to Christ and put their trust in him. You might consider mentioning to your Muslim friends and neighbors the various passages in the Bible about prayer and fasting, such as Matthew 6:5-18 or Isaiah 58. Consider asking them to read and discuss these passages together, and talk about the importance of what is in one’s heart versus just outward displays of faith.If you don’t have one already, I encourage you to order a 30 Days of Prayer Guide booklet from WorldChristian.com. These $3 prayer guides provide daily insightful articles that highlight different unreached Muslim people groups and give practical prayer requests for each day. I also encourage you to consider using this prayer guide with your small group, or with others in your church. Sometimes praying in a group makes it easier to be consistent. Prayercast.com is another helpful site that provides “over 130 videos to guide you in prayer for Muslims”! On their website, you can sign up for these daily videos by email, or by texting “ramadan” to 22828.

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