Islam: A Guide for Jews and Christians - Electric Scotland

220 t CHAPTER NINE
Eucharist (5:117–118) suggests that it was thought of as some
kind of meal sent down from heaven to sustain the believers. Islamic
liturgy lay not in those directions, however; it was more akin
to that of rabbinic Judaism in that it was grounded in prayers. The
pagans at Mecca had prayed, after a fashion, a practice the Quran
characterizes as “whistling and clapping of hands” (8:35). Muhammad
substituted, on God’s command, formal liturgical prayers
(salat). These daily prayers are largely unspecified as to their content,
frequency, and times in the Quran, but the details were
quickly supplied from the Prophet’s sunna. Muslim prayers are
made up principally from God’s own words in the Quran. They
are preceded by a ritual ablution and accompanied by appropriate
gestures and prostrations. Though private prayers (duat; “callings”
on God) are approved and encouraged, the formal salat are
the heart of the Islamic liturgy and the chief form of divine worship
that lies on the Muslim.
Muslim liturgical prayer is composed of units called “bowings”
(rakas). The first in any series always begins with the phrase “God
is great” (Allahu akbar), recited with the hands placed, palms outward,
at each side of the face. This is followed by the recitation of
“The Opening” (al-Fatiha), the initial sura of the Quran, and one
or more other passages from that Book. Next is a bowing from the
hips, after which the worshiper returns to an erect position. The
worshiper then kneels and touches forehead to the ground, then
sits back on the haunches. This is followed by a second bowing
like the first. Though the practice is still somewhat fluid in the
Quran, prayer soon became standardized at five times a day—
Jews are required to pray three times a day—when the faithful are
summoned by a “caller” (muadhdhin; English, “muezzin”) at the
appropriate times. These were at daybreak (subh or fajr), noon
(zuhr), midafternoon (asr), after sunset (maghrib), and finally, the
early part of the night (isha). At first, the prayers were said facing
Jerusalem, as the Jews did—Christians faced toward the east—but
later the direction of prayer, the qibla, was changed toward the
Kaaba at Mecca.