With Muslims throughout the globe marking the start of Ramadan today, some Christian groups have urged Christians to make a concerted effort to learn more about their Muslim neighbours during Islam’s holiest month.
Mission Network News offers a 30 Days Muslim Prayer Guide to help Christians pray for and build bridges of tolerance, understanding and friendship towards fellow Muslim citizens. The guide includes practical prayer points while also providing informative background articles and resources.
“Especially in the climate of Islamic terrorism, the 30 Days Muslim Prayer Guide is an effective tool to help Christians be more prayerful and Christ-like,” commented MNN Executive Director Greg Yoder.
Ramadan is a time when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, pray and focus on giving to charity. The fast includes not only food, but also water and just about everything you might put into your mouth including gum and mints.
In an interview with Stephen Prothero of CNN.com, Zeenat Rahman, a Muslim American who serves as Director of Policy at the Interfaith Youth Core in Chicago, says that the hardest part of Ramadan is abstaining from water.
“My biggest fear is being thirsty,” Rahman says, “and the fact that you can’t drink water is really, really difficult.”
Prothero is an expert in religions, and also believes it is imperative that Christians use Ramadan to become more acquainted with and therefore more understanding of their Muslim neighbours. This is especially important in an age where there are so many misconceptions about the Islamic faith which results in many people treating Muslims with great suspicion and fear.