Is there Ramadan Fast in the Bible?

This question might come as a rude shock to bible believing Christians, be as it may, it is real and it one Christians will find hard to think of in the first place. However, since the Bible never speaks of the Ramadan fast in the first place or anything related to it, the Muslim claim it is right there in our scripture, the Bible.

Before ever getting into the heart of the matter, I do like to share with you, a couple of verses that Muslims (some by the way) will appeal to as an evidence for the Ramadan fast in the Bible.

And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 36:9

In support of the sighting of the Moon in conjunction with the Ramadan fast, here is the another refer to;

He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.

Psalms 104:19

Lastly, here is another they might appeal to;

Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.

Psalms 81:3

 

A Look at the claim for Ramada in the Bible.

Is it true that this verses mirrors the Ramadan fast in Islam, or is this another case of misapplication of bible verses to support Islamic rites and practices where there is none? For a practical demonstration of this, read my article on how I refute the Muslim’s misuse of Nehemiah 8 here. Now, let us get into the text and examine them carefully.

And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 36:9

Muslims yank off this verse and proclaim, viola! Ramadan in the Bible. In order to understand whats going on here, lets do a little historical check on this chapter. Starting from verse 1 and 2 of Jeremiah 36 we see that the Lord is sending a message of destruction to the King Jehoiakim, the son of King Josiah, we read;

1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

2 Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day

Jeremiah 36:1-2

So, plainly from this verses, we have seen that Jeremiah the prophet of Yahweh was sent to announce the punishment from the Lord to Israel. In fact, in verse 7, we are told that after hearing about the punishment, they might make a supplication unto their God and then avert the coming judgement;

7 It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people.

Jeremiah instructed his secretary by the name Baruch to write all the things he has spoken against Israel and read it to the people, Baruch did as instructed. The people proclaimed a fast for themselves as seen in verse 9, the verse the Muslims claim talks about Ramadan.

There are a couple of things we note about this verse, and they are as follows;

a. The fasting was proclaimed at a point in time and for a duration, please note what verse 6 “upon the fasting day”, this immediately shows to us that this is not meant to be a monthly fasting, but a specific day.

This reality alone disqualifies this from the Ramadan fast which is actually for a whole month, but that is not all, it get better as we read along.

b. Another thing worthy of note about this verse is the very fact that this proclamation was not initiated by God but by the people. This is actually what we read in verse 6. As against the Ramadan fast that Allah commands the Muslims to observe, the fasting in this verse of the scriptures was proclaimed by the people.

This again show clearly that this does not have anything to do with the Ramadan fast.

c. Another important fact readers should take note is that, the fasting was as result of an impending judgement coming upon Israel. Here is a simple question, are Muslim observing the Ramadan fast because of the anger of Allah kindled against them? The answer is obvious.

Another interesting claim the Muslim bring forth from this verse is due to the fact that the “ninth month” was mentioned, they are like, Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar too. Unfortunately for those Muslims using this as a claim, they have only shown themselves to be ignorant of the Biblical seasons and data, since the Jewish calendar is not the same as the Islamic calendar. Let us do a little analysis.

The ninth month in the Jewish calendar is known as “Kislev”, interestingly the month is usually between November and December in the Gregorian Calendar. Can you spot the irony of the whole ninth month claim now?

Here we are (as at the time of the writing) in April, Muslims are getting prepared for Ramadan, yet, the Jewish month they referenced is actually within November-December, this is the case of comparing apple with pineapple, it has no correlation whatsoever.

So, when next you see a Muslim referencing the 9th month, ask him if he is aware that the Jewish 9th month is around November-December.

In fact, we are told that the Children of Israel fasted during some specific months, apart from the ninth month we in Zachariah 7:5

Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?

In other to break the Camel’s straw, we are told of some specific months the Lord had given to the Children of Israel to fast, yet, the Muslims are not observing that today.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.

Zechariah 8:19

Did you catch that? God specifically mentions the fast of the fourth month, fifth month, seventh month and then that of the tenth month. So, why aren’t Muslims observing this as well since the Lord mentions it? It is simply because this has nothing to do with Islam.

By now, you’d notice that I have concentrated more on this verse of the Bible, since the other two are obviously just an attempt to make a case where there is none. Let us now briefly examine the two verses.

We read in Psalms 104:19;

He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.

This verse has nothing to do with the Ramadan fasting, it only mentioned the fact that one of the functions of the Moon is to be used as markings for the seasons. Then the last one is also found in Psalms 81:3,

Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.

I actually found it pathetic and also as a desperate move for a Muslim to have even suggested or use this verse as an evidence for Ramadan, since the context of the verse itself negates such idea. The questions the Muslims who are appealing to the scripture for the Ramadan need to is answer is, do they blow trumpets during the fast? Also, the Jews have various feast days, how on earth is this connected with Ramadan?

To make it worst, the very next verse indicates that this is specifically for the Israelite alone and not for any other nation, we read;

For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob

So, clearly enough, we can see that the verses the Muslims implore to justify the Ramadan fast in the Bible does not only measure up, but they ended up contradicting the Islamic believes as well.