In urban areas in the UK, Muslims have a strong and visable presence. This means Christians in the UK cannot ignore Ramadan as an exotic cultural expression of far-away nations. Muslims are their neighbours, their teachers, their class-mates, their collegues, their doctors and their friends. In this article, one British sister shares about her desire to make this time or Ramadan fasting a time of prayer for the protection of believers in Islamic countries and for the salvation of Muslims world wide. 

Our friendship is like any other: we try on clothes and pose in front of the mirror, I tell her about my dream husband and she gushes about her children, we both are minutes away from uncontrollable laughter whenever we are around one another and when either one of us cries, the other one always knows exactly right thing to say. She calls me her best friend. The only subject that we cannot seem to agree on is faith, with my friend being a devout Muslim, whilst I am a born-again Christian. Sometimes, she sees similarities between us regarding our moral standard and heart yearnings for God, but the time I picked up a Gospel tract to show her, she declared outright, “Jesus is not God.” I completely disagreed, yet still she believed Jesus was only a mere prophet of God.

Prayer is seriously needed to help our Muslim brothers and sisters during Ramadan. During the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which falls between the dates of Tuesday May 15th and Thursday June 14th in 2018, around 1.8 billion Muslims around the world will be looking to participate in fasting from sunrise to sunset. It is our duty to, “Study to show thyself approved unto God” (2 Timothy 2:15), regarding other faiths, not just as an evangelistic tool but also for us to be aware of the persecution of the innocent, like those who are faithful believers of Christ but who find themselves in Muslim countries during challenging periods like Ramadan.

According to a UK ministry Open Doors, a Nigerian carpenter was stabbed by six Muslim youths in 2016, as he sat outside to have his lunch. When questioned as to why he wasn’t fasting by the youth, he admitted to being a Christian and that is when they attacked him with a knife. As well as extreme physical attacks, Christian believers living in Muslim countries have to endure verbal harassment, harsh looks, and according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide, even unjust arrests for Christian believers cooking in their private homes during these public hours of fasting. In some countries there is no religious freedom for the Christian to fast under the timing and the leading of the Holy Spirit, and hence some Christians even pretend to be fasting just to keep their families and themselves safe.

Unity is powerful in the eyes of God, especially when Spirit-filled believers stand together, facing in the same direction, whilst having faith in God for a victory. There is a global movement with a mission to get Christians to pray over this Ramadan period known as “30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim world”. So far, due to dedicated Christians praying in one accord, the Muslim community have received angelic visitations, healings, dreams and appearances of Jesus. Muslims are our brothers and sisters, so let’s ask God, our Father to set them free by supernaturally revealing Jesus for who He really is. Find out more about this global prayer movement at: www.30daysprayer.com