Abstract
The subject of this article is worship of fasting, and its aim is to identify similarities and differences among the divine religions by examining the sources, purposes, and forms of fasting. Fasting exists not only in divine religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, but in all institutionalized world religions. Fasting is different from some other religious rituals. In religions, fasting is important both for the purification of people from sins and for attaining a virtuous morality, as well as for remembering the common pains and joys of religious members and learning lessons from them. In Judaism, fasting has a more social and historical aspect. In Christianity, asceticism and the avoidance of evil are dominant. Moreover, another functional form of fasting in Christianity is silence. In Islam, fasting not only aims to avoid evil, but also helps to empathize in social life. The Qur'an emphasizes the common purpose of fasting in the divine religions, stating that fasting also existed in previous societies. In this study, the purpose, sources, application forms and types of fasting in three religions are discussed. There are many rules in Islam regarding the application of fasting. However, due to the limited scope of the subject, the details of the fiqh aspect of fasting were not discussed.