User:Aribahassan/sandbox

Intro
Every Religion has some sort of devotion or prayer to the ‘supreme’ / higher being or beings of it. Today, we will be examining two distinct religions; Christianity and Islamic prayer. Prayer is the “solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship.” In many religions there are many different ways to pray. Some pray with offerings, some pray with words that have special meaning, actions, etc. There are countless ways of prayer all over the world in different religions. Many factors come into prayer such as how often it is performed, how many people are involved, items used, purification rituals, etc. Therefore, there are many interesting things you can find out by putting two religions’ prayer rituals side by side. The differences, similarities, themes, repetitions, etc. In this article, we examine two of the biggest religions in the world.

Purpose
In both Islam and Christianity, prayer is a way to communicate with God directly. The purposes of prayer in both religions are parallel. In both religions the two biggest purposes of prayer are to have direct connection with God and for personal comfort. In Islam "Salah", the word for prayer dervied from arabic, translates to connection. Prayer is one of the five pillars of Islam or the five manditory acts a believer has been prescribed to follow by Allah. Another main purpose of prayer in both religions is to follow God's commands. In the bible it says in Psalm 100:4, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!" Prayer in both religions holds great significance because it elevates a believer spirituality and provides a space to reflect on one's needs and wants. The personal comfort aspect comes into play with human wants. Whenever a christian or muslim wants something such as good health for their family, they pray for it. This can be anything as big as world peace to the smallest thing like a good grade on a test. Although these are just some purposes, prayer's purpose differs believer to believer.

Pre-Rituals
When prayer time comes, Christians and Muslims both have some sort of preparation before actually commencing the action of praying. In Islam muslims prepare physically and mentally. Muslims preform wudu or ablution. This is a purification process that is done normally with water but if one doesn't have acess to water they perform Tayammum. Wudu is done in many steps. Firstly you say the word bismillah, a word many muslims use before doing any action, and proceed to wash each part of your body in a specific order. This includes things like rinse your mouth or wash your arm. Many of these ssteps are done three times. In Wudu there are optional steps such as brushing your teeth with a wooden stick or running wet fingers through your beard if you have one. Wudu is done before prayer to get rid of minor impurities and because Muslims are to follow the practices of the Prophet Muhammad. In Tayammum, instead of using water one uses any item with a thick covering of dust like sand and stone. Secondly, Muslims must prepare mentally or have intention. To do this mental preparation one must rid their mind of all evil and worry the common world brings; to just focus on praying to Allah and having full concentration on your prayer. To focus on talking to God and only talking to God. Muslims also wear apropriate clothing for prayer. Women wear head coverings and both Men and Women dress modestly with clean clothes. In contrast, there are not any requirements for Christians pre-prayer. There is not anything they have to do to physcially or mentally pray. Christaians believe that God is always listening and accesible so there's no need to be in nay speicifc physical position or state to talk to Him. One could say there is heart preparation. To come with an open heart to listen to what He is going to put on your heart; but this is not a requirement of any kind. A common practice before prayer that is practiced but not required by Catholics is saying "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen" and pointing to their mind for the father then opposite shoulder for the son and holy spirit.

Action of Prayer
In the act of prayer, there are specific steps/guidelines to follow. In Islam, there are 5 positions in prayer, Takbir, Al-Qiyam, Ruku, Sujuud, and Julus as shown in image A. Takbir is only included in the first rakat of prayer. The required order of positions goes Al-Qiyam, Ruku, Al-Qiyam, Sujuud, Julus, Sujuud, then either Julus or Al-Qiyam depending on which rakat you are on. In Salah, there are a certain number of rakats. When you a combination of positions, that is one rakat. A good way to think about this is like a round in a game. When all actions are completed, that is one round, and then these repeat into Round 2, 3,4 etc. In Islam, there are five daily prayers called Fajr, Duhur, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha. Fajr is before the sunrise, Duhur is at noon, Asr is in the afternoon, Maghrib is around dusk, and Isha is in the night. These all have seperate numbers of rakats you have to perform in order to complete them. Fajr is 2 rakats, Maghrib is 3 rakats, and Dhuhr, Asr, and Isha are 4 rakats. In all of the rakats, one must recite Surat-Al Fatihah (a section of the holy book, the Quran). In the first two rakats of prayer, one must recite another surah of your choice along with Surat-Al Fatihah; If there are more than two rakats in the prayer, one does not have to recite the extra sura for the last two rakats. When in Ruku one must say "Subhana Rabbiyal Adhim" three times which means "How Perfect is my Lord, the Supreme." When going from Al-Qiyam to Sujuud one must say "Allahu Akbar." When in Sujuud, one must say "Subhana Rabbiyal A'la" three times. In rakat two and four (and 3 at Maghrib) in the second Julus, you recite the Tashahhud silently and raise your pointer finger on your right hand while you recite it. The Takbir is only done in the beginning of the first rakat and you go into Al-Qiyam. In the second and fourth rakat's (3rd for Maghrib) you go from the second Sujuud to Julus to say the Tashahhud. If you are not to recite the Tashahhud during the rakat you are performing you must go from the second Sujuud to Al-Qiyam and start the next rakat. In the last rakat of prayer, one stays in Julus and turns the head to the right, look at the right shoulder and say "Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah" then look to the left shoulder and repeat the saying. This represents greeting the angels on the shoulders that take a detailed account of a person's life. In Christianity, there are branches like Catholics,Protestants,Lutherans, etc. In Islam there are Sunni and Shia. Depending on the type of Muslim identification, prayer can differ.There can be added lines that are recited or how Shia muslims combine Maghrib and Isha; although, the position order and rakats do not differ. Muslims can either pray alone or in a group called a jamaat. Jamaat gives more blessings and reward. In Christianity, prayer does not include much requirement like Islam. The act of prayer can be in any position and one can recite anything they want to say to god. Christians pray by talking to god. A common action that is practiced during Christian prayer but not required is one can get on their knees and put their hands up or fold their hands. Christians talk silently or out loud to pray to god. There are not many rules or standards in Christianity but God wants His followers to talk to Him and communicate about their fears,worries,doubts,hurts,joys,happinesss etc. Christians also will express gratitude and a heart of thankfulness with God during prayer (praise). Christian prayer can also be performed alone or in groups. God in Christianity could care less about the body's position or specific bible recitation, it is just about what is in your heart. There is no requirement of amount of prayer you must do everyday in contrast to Islam. Christian prayer requirements are much more loose and open than Islamic prayer requirements.

After Rituals
After rituals are something common for prayer to conclude it. In Islam there are four types of prayer that are optional to do after necesary (Fard) prayer.


 * 1) Fard
 * 2) Wajib
 * 3) Sunnat
 * 4) Nafl

Fard prayers are the necessary prayers you must fulfill in a day. Wajib prayer comes after Fard prayers. This is optional. You must do three Rak‘at of Vitr, two Rak‘at of ‘Idul-Fitr and two Rak‘at of ‘Idul-Adha, and two Rak‘at offered while performing the Tawaf of the Ka‘bah. Salatul Vitr is done by doing three rakat of prayer; first reciting Surat-Al Fatihah and some other verses from the Qur'an. Before or after ruku of the last rakat, one raises their hands high up to the level of the shoulders and recites a specific Dua (an invocation / a prayer of request in which you talk to god). 'Idul Fitr and 'Idul-Adha are special prayers said and done a specific way which differs from regular prayer. First, Muslims will make intention to pray the two eid prayers. Then one will follow the Imam (leader of prayer) by raising both hands put to the ears, and saying "Allahu Akbar", completing the first Takbir (start of prayer) to enter in Salat. Next, reciting "Subhanaka" will then commence as those gathered say "Allahu Akbar" with the imam, three times and letting their hands down twice, then clasping the hands. Then, one will listen to the imam reciting the Fatiha and a surah, after which worshippers will say "Ameen”. If the prayers are being done alone, then one is their own imam. These can steps differ by gender and type of muslim. The tawaf of the Ka'bah is a prayer that you finish Wajib prayer with. Sunnat prayer comes next. Two rakat before the fard Prayer of Fajr; but if a person forgets, they can do them after the prayer. Next, four rakat before fard and two rakat after Fard in Duhr Prayer. If any of these are forgotten before the prayer, they can be made up after the prayer. Two Rakat of Sunnat after the Fard of Maghrib Prayer. Two Rakat of Sunnat after the Fard Rakat of Isha prayer. Finally the Nafl prayers. This includes 8 rakat of tahajjud, two rakat after the two rakat of sunnat at the end of Duhr Prayer, four rakat before fard of asr prayer, two rakat after the two rakat of sunnat in Maghrib prayer, four rakat of Ishraq prayer. two rakat offered when one enters a mosque, two rakat offered when seeking blessings from God, and two rakat offered as Salat-i-Hajjat. All the names of the different prayer are different special types of prayer with different positions like the eid prayers. Each differs in the type of muslim one identifies as. These after rituals are optional. Muslims also can talk to god after prayer and throw up their hands to talk to god as Christians do during prayer. Muslims can also recite surats and make Dua's after prayer. Muslims also have a sort've rosary called a tasbih which includes a string with 100 beads. The Muslim recites 33 times "Subhan Allah" (Glory be to God), 33 times "Al-hamdu lilah" (Praise be to God), and 34 times "Allahu Akbar" (God is the greatest) to make 100 which can be done after prayer. Similarly, Christians also have a rosary. Firstly on the crucifix make the sign of the cross and then pray the Apostles’ Creed (specific prayer). Then on the next large bead say the Our Father prayer. Then on the next three beads pray the Hail Mary three times (specific prayer). On the chain pray the Glory Be. Then on the large bead say think on the first mystery and pray the Our Father prayer. The recitation depends on day of the week. Then, skip the centerpiece medallion, and on the ten beads after that, pray a Hail Mary on each bead; on the chain, pray a Glory Be. Repeat the last two steps four more times to finish the next four decades. At the end of your rosary, say the Hail Holy Queen. Like the action of prayer, the after rituals of Christianity aren't heavily specified on what to do or requirements. A common thing to do is to end prayer by saying a bible verse or saying "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." There isn't much of a structure to what to do after prayer in Christianity like Islam.

Who they pray to
But who are these believers praying to? In Islam you only pray to Allah. Islam quite literally means complete submission to the will of God. Allah has 99 names in Islam that can be interpreted as the 99 attributes of Allah. In Christianity you pray to The Holy Trinity. The Holy Trinity includes The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. These are the divine beings. The father represents god, The Son represents Jesus (the son of God), and The Holy Spirit is a force of goodness created by God. Christians belive Jesus is Man and God. This is shown here in the bible ‘I and the Father are one’ (in John 10:30). The Son (Jesus) represents god on earth as Jesus is man and God. The Holy Spirit is always with a believer as God with the believer at all times. The Father created everything like the universe and overartches. There is one god and three divine spirits make up God or coexist as God in Christianity. In both religions, there is only one God.

Special Forms of Prayer
There are many forms of special prayer one can do. In Islam there is a Friday prayer called Jumuah. This is a special gathering where Muslims go to the Masjid/Mosque (special building for worship) and pray together + hear a sermon by the Imam of the Masjid. An Imam is the leader of the mosque/prayer. This can be compared to a priest in the Christian faith. Jumuah is commenced with a khutbah. A khutbah is a sermon delivered by the Imam of the masjid. These sermons can be about anything that connect to the faith. It can be about a current event and how Muslims should view it or verses in the Quran or anything that offers guidance or advice on how to live a true Muslim life. After the sermon, there is a brief amount of time where Muslims can make personal Prayer or Dua. Then the Imam proceeds to lead regular Duhr Friday salat. One can then pray the extra four types of prayer if they choose. Usually after salat on Jumuah one will pray sunnat prayer. In Christianity every Sunday morning they go to Church (special building for worship). Church services do not follow a certain agenda like Jumuah. Church services can range from very formal with many ceremonies and rituals or casual with little ritual and structure. Some common happenings in a service are worship songs or sacred music (hymns) are played, Christian prayer, reading verses from the Bible, and preaching in a sermon similar to a khutbah. Again, none of these are required to go to but are heavily recommended to go to. Both gatherings include many people although during Jumuah the women and men are seperated by a divider. In both gatherings they have some sort of sermon and main prayer as well. Muslims do not really have music or songs to praise god whereas Christians do.

Conclusion
In conclusion, there are many similarities and differences between the act of prayer in each religion. From the purpose to the actual action each religion has their own way of doing these important acts of prayer. An overatching theme that can be noticed is in Islam there's a lot more structure on how to pray and specifics on how to approach,perform, and even what to do after it. In Christianity, it is very interpretive and unique to the believer on how they would like to show their love for God. Both religions however share things like sermon,purpose of prayer, and a sort of service every week. The act of prayer is practiced all around the world in so many different ways by so many different religions. Whether it is 5 times a day or in a Church service, faith all around the world in a believers perspective is a beautiful gateway to a happier life.