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I’m so thankful that Jill has organized the prayer campaign for Mali during Ramadan! Below are a few good resources for praying more broadly for Muslims and the Muslim world during Ramadan. Please pray especially for those Christians who work among Muslims, that they will have many opportunities to share about Jesus’ love, grace and free gift of salvation during this month when Muslims are devoting themselves to fasting and trying to please God.
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Some prayer guidelines / ideas for Christians during Ramadan:
A great list of prayer topics. Some Excerpts:
How Can We Pray During Ramadan?
Father, we pray that as they set their hearts to worship their god Allah, that You might make them to “know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3
). Help them see that Jesus is Your eternal Son through whom they can have eternal life.
Father, we pray that as their bodies hunger and their tongues thirst, that You would show them Jesus who promised “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst” (John 6:35
Father, we pray that as they practice self-restraint that You would show them Jesus who, before He was crucified for sinners, denied Himself and “prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will’” (Matthew 26:39
Father, we pray that as they give alms to the poor that You would show them Jesus who “though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9
Father, we pray that as they gather together to feast in the evening, that You would show them Jesus who invites sinners of all sorts to abandon their false gods and by faith join “those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 16:9
THERE’S MORE – Go read the full entry here.
(H/T Anglicans Ablaze)
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30 Days of Prayer Booklet / and Resources from the Global Prayer Resource Network Website:
There is an excellent 30 Days Prayer Guide which offers prayer suggestions for Muslim peoples and countries each day of Ramadan. The 30 Days website gives information on ordering / downloading the full 52 page booklet, as well as providing wonderful past articles and prayer topics for Muslim people groups.
[Note there is a children’s version of the 30 Days booklet available]
You can view an abdridged version of the daily entries using this link (click on the number for each day at the top of the page);
The Global Prayer Resource Website also has daily Ramadan prayer points available for various peoples and countries. See the links for each week of Ramadan below:
Ramadan Week 1
In the next few days we will be praying for the Tuareg, in the Saharan parts of Niger and Mali; the Maldives a collection of 1,190 coral reef islands in the Indian Ocean and the Muslims of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
We will also pray for Child Marriages in Yemen and then we have prayer points for Palestine, Algeria and Indonesia.
To view each day’s brief entry, click on the link for each week below.
Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5
If it’s easier, the page all the links for each week is here.
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Open Doors, a ministry focused on mobilizing prayer and support for persecuted believers has a free short Ramadan Prayer Guide which contains brief descriptions and prayer points for 30 Muslim countries.
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The PrayerCast website is featuring a number of prayer videos during Ramadan:
A prayer video focused on the “Sons of Ishmael” – stunning video of Muslim peoples and scenery from Muslim countries throughout the world – helpful for those who find visual images helpful for stimulating prayer. Focused on prayer that the Children of Hagar, the Sons of Ishmael would drink of Jesus’ living water.
During Ramadan Week 1: Praying for Somalia
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Whatever resources you use, please DO pray during Ramadan that the Father would draw many Muslims to Jesus during this month!
Lent & Beyond 
Dear Lent and Beyond,
Todays prayers for Ramadan upset me very much. I made a comment once before so it is clear that I do not come from the same theological perspective as soon of your authors- and that is fine. And, I also appreciate much that you send me
But todays prayers for Ramadan which plead for the conversion fof the Muslims are unworthy of Our Lord Jesus Christ who repreatedly ( as does the OT) uses outsiders as agents of God;s love and compassion- most notably the Good Samaritan, the non-believer, who shows the compassion which not even the Levite could muster.
I do not believe that Christianity contains all truth, just as Anglicanism has never claimed to be the true church. My lack of assurance that “we have all the truth and everybody should be like us” does not in any way detract from my conviction about the good news in Jesus Christ.
But I do wonder, in a world torn apart by every kind of division, including sectarian extremism and violence, how you imagine that your prayers break down barriers. It is precisely this exclusivist attitude which frighten so many Christians about some expressions of Islam and I am dismayed to see it within my own tradition.
To me, a prayer against another religion (people and culture) lacks in generosity and I have to wonder whether it represent the mind of Christ.
It is obvious to me that other religions often explore aspects of the divine which Christianity does not or not deeply. Without betraying my loyalty to Jesus Christ, I believe that it is entirely appropriate for us to prayer for the well-being of persons and cultures different from ours and that through such prayers live the compassion for neighbour which Jesus taught How else can religion be a force for peace and justice in the world
Thank you
Dear Garth,
Thanks for sharing your concerns. I’d like to respectfully challenge a few things you wrote.
First of all, the prayers for Ramadan are posted out of deep love for Muslims. And I don’t write that theoretically. I have hundreds of Muslim friends and share my daily life closely with Muslims. These are not prayers “against” Muslims, nor in any way trying to denigrate their culture or deny that there is truth or beauty and good in Muslim culture. To provide merely one example, I have been blessed by the incredible hospitality of my Muslim friends, and have learned much about hospitality and true sacrificial friendship (visiting the sick, caring for distant relatives, making time for others) from them.
It is out of love for Muslims that I pray that they might find fullness of life in Jesus Christ. I am pained that my Muslim friends are trying to earn their salvation through their works of righteousness. I long for them to know the mercy and grace and free gift of salvation in Christ, to have assurance of forgiveness of sins and salvation. If Jesus words are true (as I believe they are!), and Jesus is the Bread of Life and the Living Water, if eternal life is in Him, how could I love someone and let them continue to eat dry crusts or drink stagnant muddy water when they’ve been invited to a FEAST?
Perhaps I can use what you wrote about the parable of the Good Samaritan to provide an analogy. Yes, Jesus broke down ethnic and cultural barriers. He was not afraid to reach out to the outcasts and the despised. He honored the Samaritan in his parable, and he spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, recognizing her dignity, answering her questions in spite of her reputation and her sin. But in loving and honoring Samaritans, Jesus also did not hesitate to speak the truth about Himself to the Samaritan woman or to challenge their beliefs when they were false or incomplete. Read again Jesus’ exchange with the Samaritan woman in John 4:
Jesus did not hesitatate to proclaim that what she knew and believed was incomplete, that there was something – SOMEONE! – greater. I think it provides a very good example of how to witness to Muslims. There is truth and beauty in their culture, and many are earnestly seeking God. I long for them to have the joy of finding God through Jesus, of being able to approach the Father with freedom and confidence to receive mercy because they trust in Christ’s work, His sacrifice, not their own efforts to be “good enough.”
Thanks for reading, and I’m glad you find some of what we publish to be helpful.
In Christ’s fellowship,
Karen B. L&B founder
Garth, I just though of one additional comment I’d like to add as I reread what you wrote. It would be a very dull world indeed if “everyone were like us!” I love the diversity of cultures God created, and in fact, that’s one of the things I long for in heaven – to see the incredible beauty and richness as people from every tribe, tongue, people and nation worship Christ! Encouraging my Muslim friends to follow Jesus does NOT mean making someone like me. They don’t have to give up their culture or language. They don’t have to become “Anglicans” or be like American evangelicals. Following Jesus faithfully *WILL* mean standing against and opposing some of the things in their cultures that are sinful – as Jesus did in exposing the Jews’ hypocrisy and racism. How beautiful it will be one day in Heaven to see the beauty of each culture fully represented and perfected as all sin has been burned away and only what is good and pure and true and God-honoring remains!
Hi, Garth,
I’d like to chime in. Jesus told us to judge a tree by the fruit it produces (Mt 7:15-19). In your mind, compare and contrast nations whose historical legacy is Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism. Even as imperfectly as we evangelical Christians live our faith, the goodness of our Lord still makes a significant difference to the ordering of the lives of the nations.
Thanks for reading,
Jill
[…] EXCELLENT resource I included in last year’s Ramadan Prayer Resource roundup: Garrett Kell’s How Christians Can Pray for Muslim Friends During […]
If we believe in JESUS,then we must believe in what He said,”I AM The Way,The Truth and The Life!No one comes to the FATHER except through Him.
The Peace of The Almighty I bring to this house, may His blessings be upon all the rightly guided and His mercy on those who continually seek His Face.
It gladden’s my heart to see the love and compassion that an individual has to see others follow the Almighty, your desire to see Muslims saved from their so called “God” touched my heart that it made me weep, may the Almighty bless you.
But seeing your understanding about Muslims made me pray that may the King of heaven help in this month of Ramadan tear that Vail that hides the heart of The Almighty from man before your eyes maybe you may see the light.
I am not writing so as to change your believe about Islam, because it’s only The Great one that calls, even pharaoh with all the mighty works done by Moses’s hand could not still see the light, but I will try my simple best.
In your prayer point you ask God to let the Muslims see the Christ, I am praying same for you that may The Almighty let you see the Christ for who he truly his. I would gladly see from your eyes if you help me with some answers please.
First, was the name given to Christ’s JESUS? because even on the cross what I see abbreviated is INRI not JNRI so permit me to use the name Christ or how The Quran described him to us which is Isa may peace be upon him, has this starts with an ‘I’ Just as was written on the cross, for I believe on no account of language or culture should a man’s name be altered behind his back.
My next question would be, if I am to follow the Christ must I be a Christian? the first time I heard in the scripture the word ‘christian’ was way after the Christ had been lifted up and it was a mockery by pagans at that time first in Antioch, so The Christ wouldn’t have preached Christianity, because there is non of his teaching that says and your religion shall be called Christianity. So what way did he preach? Matthew 7:21 answers that. Just has he submitted himself to the will of the Almighty so do Muslims and that alone they do.
I believe some people need to retrace their steps and be born again as The Christ preached not by calling him god or Lord, but by doing what he did and preached submitting oneself to the total will of The Maker, purifying yourself with water outwardly and continually purifying your spirit with the true word of The Almighty.
I would advise you try hard to go deep into the understanding of Islam before you conclude on what path leads to the Almighty, learn the true teaching of The Prophets from Adam through Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Isa down to the seal of them All Muhammad may peace be upon them all. Before you breathe your last whenever The Almighty says it is, try to search with your eyes and your heart that path you dearly which to seek for with The Almighty there would not be ‘ I was mislead by what I heard ‘.
I am certain to have read the compilation of the Bible that you have and some of those that were sieved out during the council of necaea in 325.AD, I am privileged to have come across so many gospels of the Christ that I have lost count other than the four you have in the present compilations you have. I have also been privileged to have read the Quran and the hadith’s, historical theology of both calling and I know which sounds more Godlike. The question is have you? Have you Verified what you preach or preach against? Do you know how deep the knowledge of our Maker is? The Bible says
Seek the LORD while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near Isaiah 55:6. before you become one of those that he talked about in Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
So much I would like to know and write to you but this is not the space and time, hope we get to communicate behind board as people seeking the truth.once again peace be unto this house just has the Christ tought us to say and may peace be upon him too