Turning to God at set times

This page is short on purpose. The full detail, including washing, posture, the weekly day of gathering and what happens in each place of worship, lives on Prayer and worship. Here we only set the three daily rhythms side by side.

Judaism, in its own words

Jews pray three times a day: Shacharit in the morning, Mincha in the afternoon and Maariv in the evening. Daniel is remembered as a man at prayer in his upper room:

his windows were open in his upper chamber toward Jerusalem—and he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God

Daniel 6:11 · JPS 1917

The Talmud records that the sages differed over whether the patriarchs began these prayers or whether they follow the daily offerings in the Temple, and it keeps both views (Berakhot 26b). Maimonides taught that the Torah sets no number of prayers, that each person prays as they are able, and that Ezra's court composed the eighteen blessings so that everyone could pray with the same words (Mishneh Torah, Prayer 1). See Jewish prayer.

Christianity, in its own words

The first Christians prayed at set hours:

Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

Acts 3:1 · WEB (British Edition)

One of the earliest Christian manuals, the Didache, which scholars usually date to the late first or early second century, tells its readers to pray the Lord's Prayer three times a day (Didache 8:3). Today the Catholic Church's Liturgy of the Hours is "so devised that the whole course of the day and night is made holy by the praise of God" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1174). It is prayed by monks, nuns, priests and many lay people. Orthodox and Anglican churches keep daily prayer too. See Christian prayer.

Islam, in its own words

Muslims pray five times a day: before dawn, at midday, in the afternoon, after sunset and at night, facing the Kaaba in Makkah (Mecca). This is salah.

Worship at fixed times hath been enjoined on the believers.

Qur'an 4:103 · Pickthall

Establish worship at the two ends of the day and in some watches of the night

Qur'an 11:114 · Pickthall

Read more on the salah page.

What they share

A day marked by prayer at set times, kept by the sun, and a place or a direction towards which the heart turns.

Keep reading

Next: giving. Also see How we pray.