Judaism, in its own words
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the one fast day the Torah itself sets:
in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls
Leviticus 16:29 · JPS 1917
The rabbis understood "afflict your souls" to include fasting. The early rabbis of the Mishnah list five things set aside: eating and drinking, bathing, anointing, wearing leather shoes, and marital relations (Yoma 8:1). The fast lasts about twenty-five hours, from before sunset to nightfall the next day.
Jews also keep smaller fast days: the Ninth of Av (Tisha B'Av, mourning the Temples), the 17th of Tammuz, the 10th of Tevet, the Fast of Gedaliah and the Fast of Esther. The prophet Zechariah looked forward to a day when these fasts
shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful seasons
Zechariah 8:19 · JPS 1917
Fasting is set aside when health or life is at risk, and Jewish law treats that as a duty, not a lapse. The prophets asked what a fast is for. Joel wrote:
Turn ye unto Me with all your heart, And with fasting, and with weeping, and with lamentation; And rend your heart, and not your garments
Joel 2:12-13 · JPS 1917
On Yom Kippur morning the synagogue reads Isaiah's question about the fast that God has chosen; the site's page on fasting across faiths gives it in full. Read more on Jewish festivals.
Christianity, in its own words
Lent is the season of forty days before Easter. The Gospel remembers that Jesus in the wilderness
had fasted forty days and forty nights
Matthew 4:2 · WEB (British Edition)
An early mention of a forty-day fast in church law is in the canons of the Council of Nicaea (325). Many Protestant churches keep Lent too; some do not. Jesus asked his followers to fast quietly:
when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face
Matthew 6:17 · WEB (British Edition)
The Catholic Church names Lent and every Friday as times of penance, with "fasting and almsgiving" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1438).
Orthodox Christians keep a longer calendar. The Orthodox Church in America lists Great Lent, the Apostles' Fast, the Dormition Fast (1 to 14 August), the Nativity Fast (15 November to 24 December) and every Wednesday and Friday, with the strictest days free of meat, eggs, dairy, fish, wine and oil. Orthodox churches that keep the Julian calendar keep these fasts thirteen days later. The same guide warns against harsh legalism, and says that anyone unwell or struggling can ask their spiritual father for relief.
Islam, in its own words
In Ramadan, Muslims fast every day from first light to sunset. The Qur'an gives the reason and the boundary:
O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, even as it was prescribed for those before you, that ye may ward off (evil);
Qur'an 2:183 · Pickthall
eat and drink until the white thread becometh distinct to you from the black thread of the dawn. Then strictly observe the fast till nightfall
Qur'an 2:187 · Pickthall
The fast is eased for the sick and for travellers, who make up the days later:
Allah desireth for you ease; He desireth not hardship for you
Qur'an 2:185 · Pickthall
The month ends with a festival, Eid al-Fitr. Read more on the sawm page.
What they share
Fasting is eased for the sick, and it is closely tied to giving to the poor. All three look past the fast itself: Isaiah's question, Jesus's "in secret", and Ramadan's "that ye may ward off (evil)". The hunger is not the point. The listening is.
Honest differences
- Ramadan is a whole month of fasting from dawn to sunset.
- Yom Kippur is a single, complete fast of about twenty-five hours, with no food or water.
- Lent and the Orthodox fasts ask for particular foods to be given up, with differences between Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant practice. Lent is not kept by every Christian.
Keep reading
Next: going on pilgrimage.