Prayer: Christian and Muslim Perspectives

Personal Reflections on Prayer

Personal Reflections on Prayer B efore the seminar each participant was asked to write a short personal reflection in response to this request: ‘‘Imagine someone who claims not to understand prayer asking you what prayer means to you. What are your first thoughts? What do you tell this person? Feel free to draw on your own experience.’’ This section consists of these reflections. Muhammad Abdel Haleem To me, prayer (duā—supplication), as the Prophet Muh . ammad said, is the essence of worship. In the Qurān God encourages us to pray and promises us he will answer (40:60). We pray in obedience to Him and trust in His wisdom, power, and care. This ‘‘essence of worship’’ puts us in an intimate, enriching relationship with the Merciful Lord, which adds to our faith and makes life more meaningful. The Qurān gives us good examples in the prayers that proved effective in diverse situations for those who had more knowledge of God and were closer to him. Zachariah prayed, ‘‘Lord, my bones have weakened and my hair is ashen grey, but never, Lord, have I ever prayed to You in vain’’ (19:4). Joseph, in his supreme moment, thanks God for graces already granted and praises him before asking for more: ‘‘My Lord, you have given me authority; you have taught me how to interpret dreams; Creator of the Heavens and earth you are my protector in this world and the hereafter. Let me die in true devotion to You and join me with the righteous’’ (12:101). The H . adı̄th adds a vast corpus of duā suggested by the Prophet for all situations, powerful in meaning and language. These come readily to my mind, and I feel that by repeating a relevant prayer, my duā stands a better chance of being accepted. Using the Prophet’s prayers shows me the prophetic way of seeing a situation and knowing what prayer to say in it. My sense of language is enriched by his eloquence. S .alāt (the five times daily 179 180 personal reflections on prayer formal prayer) reminds me that God should be kept central in our lives: we need Him. Asma Afsaruddin The Arabic words munājāt, duā, and s .alāt capture the essence of prayer— prayer as private conversation with the Almighty; as glorification of His exalted status and invocation of His wisdom and mercy; and as communal supplication and adoration of God. Prayer may be considered the natural consequence of the human fit .ra—the inborn disposition in us to do good and worship the Creator; it is the means by which we therefore discover and nurture our fundamental nature and dignity as human beings. It is a constant reminder of the next world and of the true purpose of our worldly existence —it is the bridge between life as we now know it and the life that we can only imagine and hope for in the hereafter. Prayer eases our loneliness and anguish, provides solace in the midst of the searing grief that the loss of a loved one inevitably brings, and reminds us that we are allowed to feel weak and vulnerable, for there is One greater than all of us from Whom we can draw strength and sustenance. Prayer cleanses us of our sins and envelops us in divine love—again and again. Prayer—regardless of its outer form—is also the common bond among worshippers of God everywhere, superseding cultural, social, and even religious differences. In Qurān 20:14 God commands , ‘‘Worship Me and establish prayer so as to remember Me.’’ In the adoration and remembrance of the Almighty through constant communion with Him lies our fulfillment as human beings. Akintunde Akinade Prayer is at the core of our constant yearning to communicate with the Ultimate Reality. It underscores the human quest for the divine. As an African theologian, I affirm that prayer is the heart and soul of the spiritual life. It entails a deep awareness of God’s presence in the entire creation and evokes a profound sense of gratitude to the transcendence. Prayer as ‘‘conversations with God,’’ to borrow a phrase from the late Church historian James Melvin Washington, connects to the innate human sense of higher morality, values, and aspirations. As a Christian theologian who is deeply interested in interreligious dialogue, I believe that prayer is fraught with resources and potentials for interreligious communication and...