What major differences between these two steps of fasting?

In a plural society marked by a progression of Islam and a decline in religious culture, the association is becoming more and more frequent: Lent is often assimilated to the “Ramadan of Christians”and vice versa. For many French people, these periods of asceticism, fasting and prayer would look similarly.

Even if it means merge? If the two approaches present many common points, they remain very different in their spiritual ranges and in their respective practices. Without claiming completeness, return to their five main differences.

► “Jesus in the desert” or a “prescription of the Koran”: what roots in the founding texts?

If the two practices are part of Abrahamic traditions, their roots differ. Lent is thus inspired by the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert, a period itself echoing the forty years of wandering of the Hebrew people after the exodus of Egypt. Ramadan, although mentioned in the Koran as a divine prescription (“Fasting is prescribed as it has been prescribed to the generations that preceded you”), has experienced significant developments over the centuries.

In an interview with Belgian media Cathobel, In February 2024, on the relevance of a comparison between Lent and Ramadan, the Islamologist Michaël Privot specified that“Originally, it was only a question of fasting for a few days in connection with the practices of the Jews of Medina of the time of the Prophet Mohammed. But we do not know how to date the extension of fasting to one month. The debate remains open between Muslim theologians and historians ”.

► “Climb to Easter” or deepening “in itself” of his faith: what purposes?

The first big difference between Lent and Ramadan lies in their end. For Christians, Lent is in fact in a path of spiritual preparation towards a founding event, Easter feast.

“Lent is the period of forty days preceding Easter. These are forty days of preparation, fasting, conversion to prepare his heart for the greatest feast of Christians, the resurrection of Christ ”, thus insisted in March 2024 the nun Xavière Juliette Ploquin, in a cross interview in The cross With Imam Kalilou Sylla, rector of the Great Mosque of Strasbourg. Ramadan, on the other hand, represents an observance in itself, a pillar of Islam, which according to Imam Kalilou Sylla allows to “Go up a notch” in his religious practice and “Strengthen spiritual education” believer.

► A community dimension more marked in Islam, more interior in Christianity

Ramadan is characterized by its large community dimension, especially during the daily breakdown of fasting, theIftar.“This is the moment of the year when the Muslim community becomes aware of its own collective existence”, supported the historian Nicole Lemaître, specialist in Catholicism, in an interview in 2017 in The cross.

Conversely, Christian Lent has become, over the centuries, a more interior and discreet approach. This evolution tending to make Lent a more individualized spiritual experience has increased in the 16th century-especially under the influence of the Protestant reform-as the journalist Isabelle de Gaulmyn still recalled in her chronicle “Should we believe it?” », On France Inter: “Luther then disputes not the theology of Lent (the fact that we prepare Easter spiritually), but the practice of penance (and confession, which he vigorously calls into question). According to him, everyone is free to live this Easter preparation time according to their convictions, because no particular instructions have been left by the apostles. »»

► A “penitential” aspect for Christians, a “virtuous” aspect for Muslims?

Lent is first of all deep in a penitential dimension where, according to the sister Juliette Ploquin,“To progress, you have to start by lowering yourself”. This period still invites, for the Xavière, the believer to recognize his sins and to experience a total dependence on God in a movement of humility and inner counting.

Ramadan puts it more emphasis on spiritual improvement and the acquisition of virtues. Kalilou Sylla describes him as “The period that allows us to set up a notch” For “Purify spiritual defects (…), To get closer to excellence ”. The Muslim still engages in an upward approach, actively seeking at “Tame your ego” To reach an ideal of moral perfection, often by quantifying its daily spiritual efforts.

► Fast modalities more or less strictly observed, depending on the two religions

The concrete modalities of fasting during these periods differ significantly. For observing Muslims, Ramadan implies a total abstinence of food, drink and sex from dawn at sunset for a whole month. This daily “dry” fast is a significant physical test.

Contemporary Catholic Lent, on the other hand, has seen its requirements on the practice of fasting considerably softened in the wake in particular of the reforms of the Church of France in 1966. It is now often limited to a stricter fast (bowl of rice …) during the ash and the Good Friday, as well as to refrain from meat on the Lent Friday.

If certain proposals, like the exodus 90 course inspired by the United States which is currently attempting in France by advocating a return to radicality (cold showers, intense physical exercises …), the emphasis is generally more on voluntary renunciation and sharing, than on systematic deprivation.