The Ramadan Farce ~ Part 1

Aljazeera.com records the meaning of Ramadan as follows, quote:

What is Ramadan?

Ramadan is the ninth month in the Muslim lunar calendar. Healthy adult Muslims fast in Ramadan from dawn until dusk. This includes abstaining from drinking, eating, immoral acts and anger. Other acts of worship such as prayer, reading the Quran and charity are also encouraged during Ramadan.

Muslims also believe that the Quran was revealed in Ramadan.

During the holy month, Muslims would wake up early to eat a pre-dawn meal called suhoor, and they break their fast with a meal referred to as iftar.

It is common for mosques to host large iftars, especially for the poor and needy. Nightly prayers called Tarawih are also held in mosques after iftar.

Different cultures have different traditions during Ramadan, whether it is a special food they must cook, or eating iftar with the extended family. Islamic tenets, such as generosity, inspired most of these traditions, such as sharing food and inviting guests over for iftar. (Source)

During the month of Ramadan Muslims are to abstain mainly from food, however in reality from what is mentioned above they consume large quantities of food in their various meals over this period. This food intake exceeds the general food consumption of most other Muslim months. So where is the actual “fast”? The fact is that participating Muslims – for not all participate due to some reason or another, including those with medical conditions – are only missing one meal during the day light hours, that being the midday meal lunch. Generally a person can go throughout the day missing one meal, and it is not uncommon for many people to skip this meal.

Whilst there are certain instances where Muslims are exempt from fasting, others who do not perform the fast have experienced imprisonment or even worse, death. So how can this ‘holy’ month be so divided in its practice of the fast? or whether not to fast? It begs the main question – Is the Ramadan fast a farce? The practices or non-practices of the Ramadan fast shows the hypocrisy of what is acceptable practice and which is not. There doesn’t seem to be a clear way of practicing the Ramadan fast. Or does the Quran allow a wide range of “escape clauses”? There are many questions that arise: So, what is the norm? or do Muslims tend to make up the rules or practices as they go along? Is working during the fast period acceptable? Are Muslims allowed to participate in sport? Or should Muslims abstain from sport participation? Are Muslims to be benevolent to non-Muslims during the fast period? Or by their fasting are Muslims compromising non-Muslims’ daily activities? And is the month of Ramadan just another way of enforcing Sharia law upon the ‘infidel’ so that the ‘infidel’ must fit in with the Muslims’ dictates whether they like it or not?

To show the nonsense that can prevail, we can look at some conflicts that took place in the sporting world. Incidentally, writer experienced the effects of the Muslim fast first hand during the current junior football (soccer) league under the administration of the Maritzburg District Football Association (MDFA) where some clubs could not fulfil their fixtures due to Muslim coaches and junior players fasting. The two clubs that caused the postponements of league fixtures are StaxC Football Club and Savages Football Club. In respect of the latter club writer can speak from experience, having played for them as an over 35 year old player. The Savages Football Club has a rich tradition and is the oldest football club in South Africa, currently celebrating its 135th year (1882-2017). During its long history this club in bygone years never had to cancel league fixtures because of religious piety. This practice has however only crept in to the local game in recent years. Many of those same Muslims who could not attend a local football match however attended their daily occupation or went about their daily business as normal, but could not set aside an hour to accommodate a football match. The hypocrisy that arose is that whilst some Savages’ teams ‘fasted’, other Savages’ teams played. It wasn’t that the football club stood in solidarity and cancelled all their matches, but only those matches involving Muslim coaches and Muslim players. The exact ages of these players that writer is referring to fall in the under 10 age group. It appears from a Muslim website that ‘“Children who have not reached puberty” are exempt from fasting’ (Source). It further appears that we were lied to by the Muslim coaches as they said that the “under 10 boys were fasting”! Whilst some parents encourage their young pre-pubescent children to try fasting, they none the less are still exempt from fasting. The knock-on effect in this instant is that non-Muslims were compromised by having to have their matches postponed and a backlog of fixtures will now have to be played at a later date that will cause fixture congestion. This was further exacerbated by the three week school holidays that followed Ramadan, so in effect no matches would be played for close on two months! To say the least the MDFA Leagues were put in disarray.

Incidentally, at the very same time this charade was playing out, across the world in the northern hemisphere the South African national cricket team were participating at the ICC Champions Trophy in the United Kingdom during the month of June 2017. The Proteas had some Muslims playing for them, such as Hashim Amla (read a 2012 interview here) and Imran Tahir who are the two most recognisable practising Muslims in that team. There was also Moeen Ali who represented England and was interviewed by circleofcricket.co about his fasting during Ramadan 2017 and of course also the Pakistani Muslims who were the eventual winners of the ICC Trophy. Certain questions need to be asked – Did these cricketers abstain fully during the entire days of competition from taking sustenance to keep their energy levels up? And why were these players not punished for violating the Ramadan fast? And why can some Muslims extend their fast outside the Ramadan month to fit their choice? Or why didn’t they choose not to play? Or should the organisers not have postponed the fixtures out of respect for Muslims fasting? Or is it just that some Muslims are more pious than others? Or would that be judging, eh?

You see the quandary of all these questions and so much more? Now that we have seen the conflicts in the physical, we will now see what GOD, The Almighty, truly says according to HIS Word, which is Spiritual.

The Son of GOD, the Lord Jesus Christ Who is Lord of all (Acts 10:36) stated that if a person fasts they should do it privately. We read, for it is written,

16  Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
17  But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
18  That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. ~ Matthew 6:16-18

The Muslims are therefore hypocrites according to Jesus Christ for they make “a song and a dance” of shouting it from the roof tops and broadcasting it all over the worldly media that “they” are fasting! The GOD of Creation rewards openly those who do their fasting secretly!

What comes to the fore about the Ramadan “fast” is that good works also plays a huge part in Islam’s teachings. However, one’s good works cannot bribe GOD to think that one is in right standing with HIM, that is, being righteous in HIS sight, for one’s righteousness is obtained through “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21) as one’s Saviour and Redeemer, as we read in II Corinthians 5:21, “For he [GOD] hath made him [Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him [Jesus].” By the Muslim rejecting GOD’s anointed Son Jesus the Christ as their Saviour therefore disqualifies the Muslim from the righteousness of GOD and they therefore do not have eternal life through being born-again by the Spirit of GOD, and as a direct result thereof they cannot enter the Kingdom of GOD. Therefore, their “fasting” to their god Allah is altogether a waste of time! Salvation is found in no other name, but Jesus! For it is written, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).  In a parable Jesus shared, you will see that Muslims with all their ‘self-righteous goodness and piety’ are just like the boasting Pharisee, as we read, for it is written,

9  And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 
10  Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 
11  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 
12  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
13  And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
14  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. ~ Luke 18:9-14

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary explains Luke 18:9-14 as follows,

This parable was to convince some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. God sees with what disposition and design we come to him in holy ordinances. What the Pharisee said, shows that he trusted to himself that he was righteous. We may suppose he was free from gross and scandalous sins. All this was very well and commendable. Miserable is the condition of those who come short of the righteousness of this Pharisee, yet he was not accepted; and why not? He went up to the temple to pray, but was full of himself and his own goodness; the favour and grace of God he did not think worth asking. Let us beware of presenting proud devotions to the Lord, and of despising others. The publican’s address to God was full of humility, and of repentance for sin, and desire toward God. His prayer was short, but to the purpose; God be merciful to me a sinner. Blessed be God, that we have this short prayer upon record, as an answered prayer; and that we are sure that he who prayed it, went to his house justified; for so shall we be, if we pray it, as he did, through Jesus Christ. He owned himself a sinner by nature, by practice, guilty before God. He had no dependence but upon the mercy of God; upon that alone he relied. And God’s glory is to resist the proud, and give grace to the humble. Justification is of God in Christ; therefore the self-condemned, and not the self-righteous, are justified before God.

It helps not the Muslim to have his self-righteous piety in prayers and fasting during his Ramadan when he denies the Son of glory, the “. . . only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;” (I Timothy 6:15). There is One GOD and there is NOT many ways to The One and Only True and Living GOD. GOD makes known that there is no other “God” formed beside HIM. We read in Isaiah (circa 760 B.C. – Before Christ!) which predates the Quran (circa 609 A.D.) by some 1,370 years, the Word of GOD states in the Old Testament, wherein the New Testament is concealed,

22  For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us. ~ Isaiah 33:22

8  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. ~ Isaiah 40:8

4  Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he. ~ Isaiah 41:4

8  I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. ~ Isaiah 42:8

17  They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods. ~ Isaiah 42:17

10  Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
11  I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. ~ Isaiah 43:10,11

15  I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King. ~ Isaiah 43:15 [cf. John 4:21-24 ~ 21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.]

25  I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
26  Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.
27  Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me.
28  Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches. ~ Isaiah 43:25-28 [Note: Just as GOD did not spare Israel with judgments, so HE will not spare Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Roman Catholicism, Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, Shembe, ZCC, TACC, etc., etc. GOD is not a respecter of people groups that violate HIS Way and Commands.]

6  Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. ~ Isaiah 44:6

8  Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any. ~ Isaiah 44:8

15  Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour. ~ Isaiah 45:15

20  Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
21  Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
22  Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
23  I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. ~ Isaiah 45:20-23

5  To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? ~ Isaiah 46:5

9  Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 
10  Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: ~ Isaiah 46:9,10

And in the following prophecy in Isaiah 53 The Only True and Living GOD makes known of HIS Messiah (Christ) to come, as we read,

1  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 
2  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 
3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 
4  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 
5  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 
6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 
7  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 
8  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 
9  And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10  Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11  He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12  Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. ~ Isaiah 53:1-12

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary explains Isaiah 53:1-12 as follows,

Isaiah 53:1-3 
No where in all the Old Testament is it so plainly and fully prophesied, that Christ ought to suffer, and then to enter into his glory, as in this chapter. But to this day few discern, or will acknowledge, that Divine power which goes with the word. The authentic and most important report of salvation for sinners, through the Son of God, is disregarded. The low condition he submitted to, and his appearance in the world, were not agreeable to the ideas the Jews had formed of the Messiah. It was expected that he should come in pomp; instead of that, he grew up as a plant, silently, and insensibly. He had nothing of the glory which one might have thought to meet with him. His whole life was not only humble as to outward condition, but also sorrowful. Being made sin for us, he underwent the sentence sin had exposed us to. Carnal hearts see nothing in the Lord Jesus to desire an interest in him. Alas! by how many is he still despised in his people, and rejected as to his doctrine and authority!

Isaiah 53:4-9 
In these verses is an account of the sufferings of Christ; also of the design of his sufferings. It was for our sins, and in our stead, that our Lord Jesus suffered. We have all sinned, and have come short of the glory of God. Sinners have their beloved sin, their own evil way, of which they are fond. Our sins deserve all griefs and sorrows, even the most severe. We are saved from the ruin, to which by sin we become liable, by laying our sins on Christ. This atonement was to be made for our sins. And this is the only way of salvation. Our sins were the thorns in Christ’s head, the nails in his hands and feet, the spear in his side. He was delivered to death for our offences. By his sufferings he purchased for us the Spirit and grace of God, to mortify our corruptions, which are the distempers of our souls. We may well endure our lighter sufferings, if He has taught us to esteem all things but loss for him, and to love him who has first loved us.

Isaiah 53:10-12 
Come, and see how Christ loved us! We could not put him in our stead, but he put himself. Thus he took away the sin of the world, by taking it on himself. He made himself subject to death, which to us is the wages of sin. Observe the graces and glories of his state of exaltation. Christ will not commit the care of his family to any other. God’s purposes shall take effect. And whatever is undertaken according to God’s pleasure shall prosper. He shall see it accomplished in the conversion and salvation of sinners. There are many whom Christ justifies, even as many as he gave his life a ransom for. By faith we are justified; thus God is most glorified, free grace most advanced, self most abased, and our happiness secured. We must know him, and believe in him, as one that bore our sins, and saved us from sinking under the load, by taking it upon himself. Sin and Satan, death and hell, the world and the flesh, are the strong foes he has vanquished. What God designed for the Redeemer he shall certainly possess. When he led captivity captive, he received gifts for men, that he might give gifts to men. While we survey the sufferings of the Son of God, let us remember our long catalogue of transgressions, and consider him as suffering under the load of our guilt. Here is laid a firm foundation for the trembling sinner to rest his soul upon. We are the purchase of his blood, and the monuments of his grace; for this he continually pleads and prevails, destroying the works of the devil.

As the Old Testament contained the New Testament concealed, so the Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed. The prophecies of the Old Testament are supernaturally fulfilled in the New Testament by the Divine Purpose of Almighty GOD. This therefore disqualifies Mohammed as the ‘final prophet’, for it is written,

3  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 
4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 
5  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 
6  Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. ~ I Timothy 2:3-6

Whilst GOD in the Old Testament revealed that HE is One GOD and HE will not give HIS glory to another and HE will be the Saviour, in the New Testament GOD reveals that Jesus Christ is the Saviour. As it is impossible for GOD to lie HE therefore confirms that God the Son Jesus Christ is GOD manifest in human form! The Word became flesh (John 1:1,14) and dwelt here on earth. We read how a Spirit GOD revealed Himself to humanity in flesh to be the Saviour of the world HE promised to be! For it is written,

16  And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. ~ I Timothy 3:16

The God-Man Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Godhead, made three profound statements that disqualifies all other religions in finding peace with GOD the Creator, when He said the following,

3  . . . Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ~ John 3:3

6  . . . I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 
7  If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. ~ John 14:6,7

3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. ~ John 17:3

Those are the Words of Jesus Christ, Who is the Living Word of GOD, and just as GOD revealed in Isaiah 45:23 “. . . That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear” so GOD confirms in the New Testament “. . . That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”, as we more fully read, for it is written,

5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 
6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 
7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 
8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 
9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 
10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 
11  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. ~ Philippians 2:5-11

Muslims might be pious and well meaning in their religious observances of Islam, but they remain enemies of the True GOD, for it is written,

22  Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. ~ I John 2:22

and

9  Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 
10  If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 
11  For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. ~ II John 1:9-11

Dear Muslim, repent of the false teachings of Islam and receive everlasting life by the grace of GOD through faith by believing upon Jesus Christ, the Son of GOD. For it is written, Jesus Christ testifying of Himself,

14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 
20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 
21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. ~ John 3:14-21