Prayer in Islam
Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day at specific times while facing the direction of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Muslim prayer is formal and ritualistic yet many Muslims do make every effort to be sincere and upright in performing their prayers. Muslim prayer is characterised by rules of respect and attitudes of politeness toward Allah. (Please note that all Arab speakers use this word for God – whether Christian or Muslim, though their ideas of God are significantly different.)
“Praying correctly and at the appropriate time is one of the greatest indications of (Muslim) faith and a great sign of true religion”. Prayer is to be done with heart and body cleanliness, with cleanness of clothing and in a ceremonially clean place. The washing of the hands, nose, face, forearms, ears, and feet in preparation for Muslim prayer is important.
The words
Muslims place very strong emphasis on the exact postures and the words of their prayers (which are always in Arabic). Almost all Muslim prayer is concerned with reciting specific phrases from memory. In the course of the five regular prayer times a Muslim will prostrate himself before Allah a total of 34 times and he will repeat the following phrases:
“Allah is greater”
“Praised be my mighty Lord”
“Allah hears the one who praises him”
He will also recite the “Al-Fatiha” or another text from the Qur’an 17 times, the “Shadada” (Islamic creed), and the greeting of peace to all Muslims.
Answered Prayer
Muslims can make requests to God privately after they finish their ritual prayers. However, this is not done as often as Christians typically make requests. Muslims do not believe that God binds himself to his people through covenants. This is a key concept for understanding their attitudes toward answers to prayer and their lack assurance of God’s steadfast love towards them. In addition, because of the fatalism of Islam, Muslims generally have little faith that their requests will alter their circumstances. They generally believe that Allah’s desires (for good or ill) will always be done despite their activities or requests. Trusting in God for specific responses to prayer in the Christian sense is not practised among Muslims. This is a huge difference between Muslim and Christian religious experience.
When Christians speak of prayer they mean direct two-way communication with God. Muslims never expect God to speak back to them directly at any moment and certainly not during prayer. The vast majority of Muslims will say that God only speaks through the Qur’an. Even Mohammed is said only to have heard from God indirectly through an angel. Christian prayer, on the other hand, is a combination of requests, thanksgiving and praise. The Bible says that we should “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and bless (praise) his name” (Psalm 100:4).
Let us Pray…
* Muslims need to come to know the Christ of Christian prayer. Pray that Muslims would come to believe that God Himself wants to communicate directly with them. Pray this specifically for any Muslims that you may know personally. Pray for the Muslims in your city, region and nation.
* Pray for newly-converted Muslims, that they may develop real confidence in God as one who keeps His covenants, makes promises and who hears and answers prayer.
* Christians need to share their prayer experience with Muslims in humility. Pray that God will give us wisdom when describing our Christian prayer experience so that God would be glorified and Muslims could understand Him better.
french toast!
Assalam Alaikum,
Allow me to hambly and precisely tell you the following:
1) Muslims strongly believe in their prayers to be answered and the daily Salat or prayer is regarded, as it is, a direct communication between Man and his creator, particulary at the event of prostration. As God says: “Prostrate and become closer to me” Amuslim also communicates with his Lord, when reciting the holy book.
Muslims do belive that their parayers are answered in any of three ways:
a) Immediate response by getting what you asked for;
b) Giving you better than what yoy requested for or diverting a calamity that you would have faced
c) Delaying what you requested for while testing your patience.
About dreams and reveletions, muslims get them but bad dreams like those odeining people to embrace cristianity do not dictate them to do so, because the only religion recognized by God is Islam. Those are tests that God may Give to people to test whether they believe in HIM. He can make your child sick to see whether you will belive that he is the one who cures. All paryers for your child be be cured should be directed to God but not Jesus, because Jesus is also a servant of God who was very pious
You need to explain you people why God should chose to have a child 2008 years ago when he was alone during the creation of heavens and the earth and all what they contain,
Tell them also about the distortions put in the bible after discovering that Muhammad peace be upon him had not come from the jews, but Arabs.
Hoping for your response, and to see you clad in muslim faith.
Hello Twaha,
I’ve been thinking and observing these comments sections and see that Christians are trying to convince Muslims through the use of our Holy Book, the Bible, that Jesus is the Son of God.
I understand what an extreme thought this is, even blasphemy, because it seems Christians are saying or implying that Allah had a physical relationship with Mary. I want to assure you that none of us Christians believe that and we consider that thought to be blasphemy same as you.
Despite our language about Jesus being Son of God, we do not think that God had sex with Mary. Is there any Christian in this prayer audience who thinks that? No, I’m sure..
I don’t want to get into an argument right now about what we mean when we say, Son of God, but we do believe Mary’s pregnancy was virgin birth, just as the Qur’an says.
But regarding the corruption of our Bible, I would like to comment.
I do read the Qur’an, and wish I could read it in the original Arabic, but I do urge all Arabic speakers to go to Al Maida, Sura =book for Christian readers) 5 vs.45 and 46. Also Al Imran Sura = book) 3:1,2 to read only three verses among many to see where the Tawrat and the Injeel are indeed confirmed by the Qur’an.
I have cut and pasted these verses directly from Qur’an Explorer which is a great tool I use to read the Qur’an.
(45) And We caused Jesus, son of Mary, to follow in their footsteps, confirming that which was (revealed) before him in the Torah, and We bestowed on him the Gospel wherein is guidance and a light, confirming that which was (revealed) before it in the Torah – a guidance and an admonition unto those who ward off (evil). (46) Let the People of the Gospel judge by that which Allah hath revealed therein. Whoso judgeth not by that which Allah hath revealed: such are evil-livers.
(1) Allah! There is no God save Him, the Alive, the Eternal. (2) He hath revealed unto thee (Muhammad) the Scripture with truth, confirming that which was (revealed) before it, even as He revealed the Torah and the Gospel. (
And we have some specific articles explaining “Son of God” which might be helpful:
>> Explaining the Biblical Term ‘Son(s) of God’ in Muslm Contexts
>> Translating the Biblical Term ‘Son(s) of God’ in Muslim Contexts
>> Jesus, the Son of God
Mary,
It is not so much the argument of how Jesus came into being, it is the fact that there’s only One God, one divine being, one entity that mankind should pray to, should ask forgiveness and guidance from. Substituting anything or anyone else in place of God, be it Jesus, money, wealth, pride, your boss or any tangible idols, is considered the biggest sin in the Quran and the only sin, which God will not forgive, though He will eventually forgive whatever else to whomever He pleases.
If read the two verses, which you quoted, in the context of the whole Quran or at least its own chapter you will understand that God is referring to the unchanged and uncorrupted section of the Bible. Or if you want to consider the Bible you have today, it is also possible that once you do judge by the changed Bible, you will see that it give no benefit or justice in your community and the just people will be led to understand the reasoning of the Quran. The parable of that is like letting a child make his/her mistakes.
God, also states, warns and admonishes Jews and Christians against their incorrect beliefs in many different verses.
Here’s a few:
O people of the Book! There hath come to you our Messenger (i.e. Muhammad), revealing to you much that ye used to hide in the Book, and passing over much (that is now unnecessary). There hath come to you from God a (new) light and a perspicuous Book,- (Quran, chapter 5:15)
Say: “O people of the Book! exceed not in your religion the bounds (of what is proper), trespassing beyond the truth, nor follow the vain desires of people who went wrong in times gone by,- who misled many, and strayed (themselves) from the even way. (Quran, chapter 5:77)
continued.
There is among them a section who distort the Book with their tongues: (As they read) you would think it is a part of the Book, but it is no part of the Book; and they say, “That is from Allah,” but it is not from Allah. It is they who tell a lie against Allah, and (well) they know it! (Quran 3:78. )
4:47. O ye People of the Book! believe in what We have (now) revealed, confirming what was (already) with you, before We change the face and fame of some (of you) beyond all recognition, and turn them hindwards, or curse them as We cursed the Sabbath-breakers, for the decision of Allah Must be carried out.
4:48. Allah forgiveth not that partners should be set up with Him; but He forgiveth anything else, to whom He pleaseth; to set up partners with Allah is to devise a sin Most heinous indeed.
IT is also stated that the Jews and Christians were originally given a portion of the book and it is better for them to believe in the whole of it ( ie the Quran)
4:51. Hast thou not turned Thy vision to those who were given a portion of the Book? they believe in sorcery and Evil, and say to the Unbelievers that they are better guided in the (right) way Than the believers!
4:116. Allah forgiveth not (The sin of) joining other gods with Him; but He forgiveth whom He pleaseth (all) other sins than this: one who joins other gods with Allah, Hath strayed far, far away (from the right).
4:171. O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of Allah anything but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) an apostle of Allah, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah and His apostles. Say not “Trinity” : desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is one Allah. Glory be to Him: (far exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.
4:172. Christ disdains nor to serve and worship Allah, nor do the angels, those nearest (to Allah.: those who disdain His worship and are arrogant,-He will gather them all together unto Himself to (answer).
Peace
Jesus is indeed God’s son, but probably not in the sense that you would be guessing that He is God’s son. It is clear from the Holy Bible that Jesus and God are the same. In Jude 5, the truth is made clear, Jesus was there and He was God when the people of Israel were saved out of the land of Egypt. This means that Jesus is, was and always will be God. As another example from the Bible, in John 8:58, Jesus clarifies, saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” This angered the people and made them desire to kill Him again, but God (the God who is one with Jesus) did not allow that to happen until later, at the appointed time.
Along with that, in John 10:30, when Jesus said “I and the Father are one,” He did not mean that He is a prophet. If someone can read John 10, the actual words of Jesus, and still think that He is a prophet, then the heart of that person is so hard that the words are not even being read!
Also, if a person reads those words and thinks that the Bible does not tell the truth, then let me first ask why so many historical eyewitnesses (as found in the first part of the New Testament) can say the same thing about what Jesus said in those times. Or, if you can read that passage and think, “Jesus must have lied,” then I have another question for you, why would Jesus be so great a prophet if He lied all the time? I mean, Jesus said in John 14:6, “No one goes to the Father, but by me.” Does it not make sense that if Jesus lied all the time, His friends and the people around Him writing these things that all said the same thing (even the historic documents that we have found that are not included in the Bible) would still listen to Jesus and follow Him if He were always constantly deceiving them? No, all of His twelve disciples would have deserted Him if He were a liar. Instead, they stuck with Him their whole lives, with the exception of Judas, who actually killed himself later because he knew that betraying Jesus to the soldiers had been so wrong (this is found in Matthew 27:3-10 and Acts 1:18-19. It is good to note that there are indeed two different accounts of how Judas killed himself, but it is safe to say that the evidence shows that he hung himself and either that did not work so he made himself fall to the ground, or he hung himself and by the time the other disciples found his body it had rotted, the head fell off and the body lay burst open on the rocks below).
Anyway, after setting up the fact that Jesus did indeed say, “I and the Father are one,” it is important to go back to the question of why God would choose to have a CHILD. The answer to this is simply amazing to me and is explained, to a certain degree, in Philippians so, that is where I will start.
Again, Philippians 2:5-11, and I will write it for you here so you can read it for yourself instead of just explaining it for you, but I will also explain it in the text that follows these verses:
5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the very nature, God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross!
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
You see, Jesus was God, but God humbled a part of HIMSELF so that He could die the death of a sinner. The Bible says in Romans 6:23, “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This is true! We deserve an eternal death that separates us from God- who cannot be in the presence of sin because He is so holy! Now, read this portion from Ephesians 2:
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast.
“OK, OK, OK, enough of that,” you say. Well then, I must leave you with this picture- a father and a son. Would you agree that God is holy? I think you would. So, now that we have established the common belief that God is holy, that the Bible teaches that Jesus is one with God (because Jesus taught that and that is why the people killed him), and that Jesus was here on earth in the form of a man, the question is now only about how Jesus could be God’s son.
The answer is found by asking, “should God love himself?” I believe that your answer would be(the following will be written as if you were speaking), “Yes, in fact , God should love himself so much that He would never die, nor would he need to die, for we humans who sin. God has saved us through other things because He is a God of mercy.” However, I would say to you, “That is it! You have found the secret to why God sent part of himself to die for our sins!!!!” God did not have to die, but because of his GREAT love for us, He chose to show us that love by giving up a part of himself to DIE so that we could see that His love for us is so extremely great! John 14:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” Then in John 15:15 Jesus said to His disciples, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you.” Therefore, people who believe on the name of Jesus Christ as God and as their one and only savior ARE friends of God and, since Jesus’ death (and resurrection) were for God’s friends, then the only way to be saved from sin is by believing that Jesus Christ is LORD!!!
I AM REALLY INTERESTED ON THIS KIND OF SUBJECT, INFACT I SPEND PART OF MY NIGHT IN GETTING ISLAMIC NEWS/KNOWLEDGE. I WILL BE GRATEFUL IF I COULD GET MORE INFO FROM YOU.
Try asking your creator tonight, OR ANY TIME….HE’S ALWAYS THERE
THIS IS A
TRANS-DIMENSIONAL UP-LINK TO THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE
O CREATOR OF ME, If there is a way of life you most love out of all the ways of life, then guide me to it,let me understand it and act upon it with the greatest of ease.
Show me truth as truth and help towards that and show me falsehood as falsehood and help me to avoid that.
O CREATOR OF ME, WHEN YOU SHOW THE TRUTH LET ME SEE IT AND UNDERSTAND IT,, LIKE I KNOW BLACK IS BLACK AND WHITE IS WHITE ,,WITHOUT ANY CONFUSION
O Creator protect me from the EVIL around me.
PRAYER FOR THIS RAMZAAN AND EVERYDAY BEFORE AND AFTER RAMZAAN
Your Lord has said:” Make Dua to me, I will Respond to you” surah Ghafir 60. Allaah says:I am indeed near to my them, I respond to the supplication of the supplicant. He also says: Never will I allow to be lost the work any of you be he male or female. surah Al-Imraan
According to a Hadeeth: An Angel is appointed by Allaah, so when it hears someone saying: “YA AR HAMARAH HEHMEEN” 3 times the Angel responds: “
No doubt, The Most Merciful has FOCUSED all his ATTENTION towards you, ASK FOR WHATEVER YOU PLEASE.”
When the Prophet Muhammad (SALLALLA HO ALAIYHE WASALLAM) heard someone saying: “YA AR HAMARAH HEHMEEN”, he said “ASK FOR WHATEVER YOU PLEASE FOR ALLAAH’S BOUNTIFUL GASE IS FOCUSED TOWARDS YOU”.
O Allaah give more people in the West Guidance, especially people in the Sports, Music, Film Industries and Government personnel from around the world let become rightly Guided and the guide other with the greatest of ease and do actions word and deeds of your Chosen Ones. O Allaah increase the level of guidance you give to the west by more than a 1000%. Let there be a time within the next 5 years that there are more than a third of the populations in each western country that are rightly guided Muslims and new Muslims.
O Allaah save us from the evils of the Jinn, Shaiytaan, Dajjal, Black Magic and Evil Eye and help us to learn the appropriate Dua’s to be safeguarded from them every day ,and all the way up to the time we meet you.
>>> Sorry, I had to shorten this, it was much to long. The Editors <<<
this is why i love islam.
Wow, I can’t believe that Christians are trying to convert Muslims. May Allah guide those to his light and show them the truth.
I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship but ALLAH and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger of ALLAH .