Islam and Christianity: Theological Themes in Comparative Perspective

9. Themes in Prayer and Mystical Theology

202 Both the Christian and Islamic traditions have historically expanded upon the foundational sources and models of spiritual inspiration in a variety of ways. I begin here with personal prayer and the individual believer’s relationship to God, providing samples of striking outpourings penned by some of the most celebrated spiritual poets of both traditions. After developing several theological aspects of the divine-human connection, I will provide an overview of both traditions’ literatures of the rarified reaches of mystical theology. personal prayer and the individual’s relationship to god Traditions of personal prayer in both Christian and Islamic traditions afford essential but often overlooked theological insights. Extensive bodies of devotional literature in dozens of major languages put troves of spiritual riches at the disposal of anyone who wishes to sample the more private dimensions of the lives of countless believers. Images of God are a critical ingredient in this context, since they provide valuable insight into the affective temperament and intent of the one who prays. It may be tempting to presume that since Christianity centers on the incarnation, and Islamic doctrine denies any such divine-human intimacy, images of God’s immanence would be more characteristic of Christian prayer, and those of transcendence a hallmark of Muslim prayer. As it turns out, images of chapter 9 Themes in Prayer and Mystical Theology Prayer and Mystical Theology | 203 both transcendence and immanence permeate devotional prayer in both traditions.1 Prayer that has nourished the inner lives of Christians and Muslims over the centuries has generally served three theological purposes: praise, supplication , and intercession. Praise is naturally directed primarily to God, his attributes, and deeds. In an attenuated form, encomia (statements of exaltation) sometimes also laud the divinely inspired qualities of human beings. For Christians, such secondary praise prayers honor (but do not worship) God’s power worked through figures from Mary on down to lesser saints. In Muslim tradition, a genre called nàt (“description, attribute,” hence “exalted qualities”) features primarily the Prophet Muhammad, and secondarily members of the Prophet’s family and early community as well as countless Friends of God. Christians and Muslims alike offer prayers of supplication, or petition, to ask God’s aid in countless circumstances from direst disaster to the more predicable frustrations of daily life. Intercessory prayer, however, raises more complex questions. In its most basic form intercession implies a communal dimension of prayer based on the conviction that one human being’s prayers for another are good and useful. Virtually all Christians presume at least minimal efficacy in “praying for” others, especially in times of loss, illness, and death. Catholics and some other Christians take a large step beyond that, petitioning Mary and the saints for aid. They believe this is perfectly acceptable, and indeed recommended, in two ways: directly, in that the paragons of intimacy with God may draw on a God-given reservoir of spiritual efficacy by which to assist the faithful; and indirectly, in that Mary and the saints can function as go-betweens capable of interceding with God from their positions of privileged access.2 For Muslims, the first type of intercessory prayer is perfectly acceptable, and in fact required. It has nevertheless become commonplace for Muslims to insist that because no human being stands between the individual and God, Muslims neither need nor benefit from intercession (shafā`a, from a root meaning “to make the odd even”). Ancient tradition nevertheless recommends that Muslims utter as a basic form of intercessory prayer every time they mention the name of Muhammad, “May God bless him and give him peace.” In other words, ordinary human beings are expected to offer their prayers even for the Prophet himself. They are expected, traditionally, to append to every mention of the name of a Companion the phrase “God to be merciful to him.” When Muslims visit the sick or attend funerals, they pray for the recovery of the one suffering or for God’s mercy and forgiveness for the deceased. All of these simple invocations are 204 | Ethical and Spiritual Dimensions in fact forms of intercessory prayer. Since constituents of Friends of God typically describe their patrons as providing intercessory services, many Muslims would argue that cultivation of Friends of God is a form of “innovation ” at best, downright heretical at worst. In addition, widely accepted Muslim tradition has it that Muhammad enjoys the prerogative of a more exalted...