... in the interest of good and harmonious 'community relations' ...
... how about the following:.
Moslems fast; in fact, their customs so resemble what Christians (vide exempli gratia the Tudor Anglican Book of Homilies) used to do, that it has been argued that there is a connection.
My suggestion: during the days when Ramadan and Lent overlap, all those who self-identify as 'Christian' should join in the fasting customs of Islam.
Makes sense?
8 comments:
Father, I suspect that you write tongue-in-cheek. But if not, the rules for Ramadan are quite different from those for Lent. Moreover there are reports of them being forcibly applied to non-Muslims, which is alien to Christian teaching on fasting.
Your worst suggestion ever.
As it happens, the beginning of the Coptic Great Lent this year coincides with the beginning of the month of Ramadan, as Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawki Allam announced that Monday, 11 March 2024, is the first day of the fasting month of Ramadan.
One Anthony Murley, who is described as "a traditionalist Catholic within the Anglican tradition"and curate of All Saints Church on Herbert Road, Small Heath, made the decision in 2015 to join in with Ramadan fasts.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/christian-priest-fasts-during-ramadan-9594931
The fasting customs of Islam are hardly onerous. The fast ends every evening in time for your tea, and there is a lot of hospitality going on. My Moslem clients were forever trying to get me to go with them to different mosques for the evening dinner. Apparently, the local Africans put on one heck of a spread. Yes, it can be strict, but only during the day.
This takes me back 31 years to 1993 in Jakarta. That year Lent began on the 24th of February, Ramadan began on the 23rd. I was Anglican then. A Catholic friend was fasting in the Muslim way, so I tried it too for a few days. That way you don't eat any less than you do at other times of year - you just consume it during the hours of darkness. During the day, anything breaks the fast - including water. Not easy in a hot climate.
After that, Ramadan moved away to coincide with the Christmas season, and I forgot about this issue until recent years, when Ramadan returned to coincide with Lent.
If anyone wants to try it, Lent and Ramadan will have some overlap for the next three years. Each year Ramadan occurs about eleven days earlier in the Gregorian calendar, so after 2027, it moves away from the period in which Lent can occur and you'll have to wait some 30 years for the two seasons to coincide again.
I don't think I would have the strength. Some wag recently pointed out that It is a strange "fast" when actually you eat two huge meals a day, before dawn and after dark, for a full month. A Muslim friend of a friend prepares for Ramadan by ... stocking up on groceries.
I think our esteemed reverend host was fooling us.
I have heard that indeed this was the ancient Christian fast; that whatever we ate during the Lenten season would not be eaten until after sunset.
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