Perhaps it was the fact that lay people in Islam**–absolutely everyone MUST pray five times a day, at a MINIMUM. It **isn’t just a goal for the scholars or clerics, but a minimum for every single person in Islam.
The really religious people pray much much more than that, regularly.
It’s common in the month of Ramadan for average people to spend hours (here it’s at least 3) in prayer during the night–so when a person spends the entire day thirsty and hungry, instead of taking the chance to eat and sleep and be lazy at night they will stand late in prayer–and then get up early to pray again.
You pray FIVE times a days which is really quite a lot but because you are required to do so. Not all Muslims do this though.
You fast during Ramadan from dawn to dusk which is really quite a feat but because you are required to do so. Not all Muslims do this though.
In some countries you may land yourself in your local syariah jail if you’re caught eating during Ramadan, which for some Muslims a strong enough deterant to fast. In any case, you would eat more during the period of the day you are not supposed to fast thus nullify whatever genuine fasting you’ve done.
Frankly I do not see anything special spiritually about such practice. In Catholicism we do fast too during Lent and perform obligatory prayers on Sundays and days of obligation.
I don’t take credit away for people who pray and fast. I admire Muslims for doing that. However, at the end of the day it’s what and how prayer and fasting change your life. Like what have you got to show for it? Your Muslim terrorists who strap bombs around their bodies and blow themselves into smithereens and those Muslim suicides, who crashed jet planes into building killing thousands of innocent lives, perhaps pray and fast more than your average Muslims. So what does that say about the forced doctrine of praying and fasting?
Generally when you are forced to do something, it would not cause much effect and transformation rather than when you do those things with all your hearts.
If the mentioned priest or rather in his case, Catholic of religous order, converted because of the above reasons he saw in Muslims, he was surely misinformed and misunderstood because in reality, Catholic is NOT short of prayer and fasting in its practices and tenets.