When a Muslim prays or thanks God he does so in the same
fashion and from that was taught to Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and all of the previous
Prophets of God (may peace be upon them all). You will find that when a Muslim prays he places his forehead
on the ground in total submission to God Almighty. Let us see how the Prophets
(including Jesus) prayed according to the Qur'an and Bible:
"These are some of the
Prophets
whom GOD blessed. They were chosen from among the descendants of Adam, and the
descendants of those whom we carried with Noah, and the descendants of Abraham
and Israel, and from among those whom we guided and selected.
When the
revelations of the Most Gracious are recited to them, they fall prostrate,
weeping."
– Qur’an English Translation [19:58]
"And he (Jesus)
went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed,
saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless
not as I will, but as thou wilt." - New Testament (Matthew 26:39)
"And when the disciples heard it,
they fell on their face, and were
sore afraid." - New Testament (Matthew 17:6)
"And
Abram fell on his face: and God talked with
him, saying," - Old Testament (Tanakh) (Genesis 17:3)
"Then
Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed,
and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years
old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?" - Old Testament (Tanakh)
(Genesis 17:17)
"And
Moses made haste, and
bowed his head toward the
earth, and worshipped." - Old Testament (Tanakh) (Exodus 34:8)
“And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the
assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,
and they fell
upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them.” -
Old Testament (Tanakh) (Numbers 20:6)
"And the LORD spake unto
Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a
moment. And
they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God
of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all
the congregation?" - Old Testament (Tanakh) (Numbers 16:20-22)
And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the
people answered, Amen, Amen,
with lifting up their hands: and they bowed
their heads, and worshipped the LORD with [their] faces to the ground. -
Old Testament (Tanakh) (Nehemiah 8:6)
"And he said, Nay; but as
captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And
Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship,
and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant?" - Old Testament (Tanakh) (Joshua 5:14)
"And it came to pass, while they were slaying them,
and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD!
wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon
Jerusalem?" - Old Testament (Tanakh) (Ezekiel 9:8)
"And
Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the
ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD,
worshipping the LORD." - Old Testament (Tanakh) (2 Chronicles 20:18)
"And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah
the son of Benaiah died. Then
fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud
voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of
Israel?" - Old Testament (Tanakh) (Ezekiel 11:13)
So although some
people may admit :
“Ok, yea these
verses speak of Jesus and the other Prophets prostrating themselves in prayer
but we still don't know the exact details on how they prostrated and/or if they
did so in the same manner as Muslims do today?”
However, using
common sense I would have to challenge
anyone to give an example of how any of these Prophets could have "fell on their
face" i.e. prostrated in any other position than this:
Also, some people may further
state:
“If the style of prayer was truly
important I would assume that the Torah and/or Jesus would have pointed that out
directly.”
Again, I think this question can be answered with simple reasoning. If a person
acknowledges someone as God's chosen Prophet, then wouldn't you think
intuitively that the way in which that Prophet prayed would be the best example
for all of mankind to follow.
And if a true follower and believer of that Prophet doesn't adapt to the way in
which that Prophet worships then how can anyone justify that this Prophet was
sent from God to guide Mankind in the first place, yet not even worship God in a
like manner? The Prophets are supposed to be the ideal examples on how to live
one's life on Earth.
Many Christians who convert to Islam today testify that
they are now better "Christians" for doing so. The word "Christian" simply means
"a follower of Christ" or "Christ-ian". So how are these people
who are now professing Muslims claiming to be closer follower's of Jesus.
Let's think about this
logically by examining what the Bible says of Jesus. For example, if we read the
gospels we will see accounts of Jesus where he prayed with his face to the
ground, greeted his fellow believers with expressions of peace, and fasted for
lengthy amounts of time.
Now honestly ask yourself,
who truly follows Jesus' example today? As you may know, Muslims pray humbly
with their forehead touching the ground at least five times a day...Also,
Muslims always greet each other with the phrase "Peace be upon you" as mentioned
in the previous section...and further more just as Jesus fasted for 40 days in
the wilderness Muslims fast for an entire month during the month of Ramadan.
Indeed many former Christians
acknowledge that they were Muslims in every sense of the word before discovering
the confirmation of their natural beliefs within the text of the Qur'an. You see
mankind's disposition of monotheism is inseparable from the human psyche.
This innate phenomena in Islam is termed "Al-fitra."
"Now have We caused the Word to
reach them themselves, in order that they may receive admonition. Those to whom
We sent the Book before this,- they do believe in this (revelation):
And when it is recited to them,
they say: "We believe therein, for it is the Truth from our Lord: indeed we have
been Muslims (bowing to Allah.s Will) from before this.
Twice will they be given their
reward, for that they have persevered, that they avert Evil with Good, and that
they spend (in charity) out of what We have given them." – Qur’an English
Translation [28:51-54]
To Pray as an a Ancient Jew
Furthermore,
In a book entitled "To Pray as a Jew" I found a lengthy
explanation of the Prayers as done by the ancient Jews and few of the
contemporary Jews. In this book the author put diagrams showing the movement and
positions during the prayer. One look at these illustrations is enough for the
Muslims to realize the similarity of the prayers of the Jews then and Salat
Prayer as
practiced by the Muslims.
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In his comment about these positions, the author wrote:
"In most contemporary
congregations very few people keep to the tradition of falling prostrate.
Sometimes it is only the Prayer leader and the rabbi who does so. In more
traditional congregations, however, some worshipers, men and women, will join
the Prayer Leader and rabbi in the act of prostrating themselves. In Israeli synagogues, the
practice is more widespread than in synagogues elsewhere. Since this is a
position that we are unaccustomed to, one who has never done this before might
very well demur. But once accomplished, the experience provides such a spiritual
uplift that one looks forward to repeating it. Those willing to try this ancient
ritual form on the rare occasions that call for it might welcome the following
diagrams of the correct procedure"
Now compare the above diagram to the
daily Islamic Prayer
(Salah):
It is also interesting to learn from this book that the prayers of the Jews involve wash before the prayers, (like Wuduu or ablution for Muslims), and the call for Prayers (like the Azan for the Muslims).
Here's the case in point of the entire page:
Muslims follow the Religion OF
Jesus; the faith that he spoke of and practiced. Likewise, We worship The same
God that he worshipped; The God of Abraham and The God of all of the Prophets
whom lived on Earth.
Whereas today some people who
claim to follow the way of Jesus, Abraham, and Moses (peace be upon them) have
deviated from the path. And in the case of Christianity, people have mistakenly
created an entire faith about the Prophet Jesus and thus have made him into
something that he never claimed to be.
"Abraham was not a Jew nor yet a Christian; but an
upright Muslim (one who submitted their will to God)." – Qur’an English
Translation [3:67]
Reference:
Title: To pray as a Jew : a guide to the prayer book and
the synagogue serviceAuthor: Donin, Hayim
Publisher: New York : Basic Books, c1980
Paging xxii, 384 p. : ill. ; 25 cm


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