According to rahyafteha(the missionaries and converts website):Based on what the currently available Torah and Bible say, Jews, Christians and other peoples and nations resorted to fasting when they faced sadness and grief.
We read in James W. Hawkes’ “Persian Bible Dictionary” that fasting was common in every nation and religion at times of grief, tragedies, and unexpected events.
The Torah says that when the Prophet Moses (AS) went to the mountain, he stayed there for forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water.
Jews fasted when they sought to repent or seek the pleasure of God. They fasted in order to confess to their sins and express their humility and helplessness and gain God’s pleasure.
There was also a special one-day full fast among Jew as well as other types of fast, Hawkes, wrote.
According to the Bible, Jesus (AS) also fasted for forty days: “At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights and afterwards was hungry.” (Matthew 4:1-11)
And the Book of Luke says that the Disciples also fasted.
Hawkes said in the “Persian Bible Dictionary” that the life of the faithful in the past was full of denying oneself joys, going through difficulties and fasting.
And the Holy Quran says in Verse 183 of Surah Al-Baqarah:
“Believers, fasting has been made mandatory for you as it was made mandatory for the people before you, so that you may have fear of God.”
