In a minute
Allah is the One who is greater than everything we can say about Him. The first words of a Muslim's prayer are "Allahu akbar", God is greater. Jews say "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one." Christians pray "Our Father in heaven" (Matthew 6:9, WEB British Edition).
Three faiths, each praying to the God of Abraham in its own way, and a great deal in common in how people pray. They wash, they face a direction, they set times, they stand, they bow, and some of them put their foreheads on the ground.
Start with thanks
This series began with one idea: I exist, I recognise a Giver, I give thanks. Worship is how people say it with their whole selves. A prayer is not only words. It is a body saying: I am not the centre of the world. For the wider question, see What is worship?.
Bowing, and worship in spirit
O come, let us bow down and bend the knee; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
Psalm 95:6 · JPS 1917But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshippers.
John 4:23 · WEBcelebrate the praise of thy Lord ere the rising of the sun and ere the going down thereof.
Qur'an 20:130 · PickthallWhat you will find in this set
- Salah, step by step. What a Muslim does, from washing to the final greeting, and why. Sunni and Shia practice are both noted.
- Face to the ground: prostration in three faiths. Who puts their forehead on the ground, when, and what it means to them.
- Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Why people gather weekly, and why someone speaks.
For a shorter side-by-side of the three, see How we pray. For each faith's own account of its prayer, see Judaism: prayer, Christianity: prayer and Islam: Salah.
Common ground
- Prayer at set times through the day. Jews have three services, Muslims five prayers, and Christians have the Hours and the Lord's Prayer.
- Washing, or a sense of being clean, before drawing near.
- A direction. Muslims face the Kaaba in Makkah (Mecca). Jews pray towards Jerusalem (Daniel 6:11). Christians have no single required direction, though many Orthodox churches are built to face east.
- Bowing, kneeling and prostration at the most serious moments.
- A weekly day of gathering, with scripture read aloud and someone explaining it.
Honest differences
- How often the forehead touches the floor. Muslims do it in every prayer, so at least 34 times a day. Jews bow in every service, and in many synagogues kneel and bow to the floor in the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services. Karaite Jews are described as kneeling with the forehead to the ground at set points in ordinary prayer. Christians vary by church. Orthodox, Coptic and other Oriental Christians prostrate at set times and in Lent, Catholics on Good Friday and at ordinations, and many Protestants kneel but rarely prostrate.
- Who leads. In Islam there is no priesthood, and any knowledgeable Muslim can lead the prayer. Judaism has a prayer leader (shaliach tzibbur) and Torah readers. Many Christian churches have ordained clergy at the altar.
- What may be bowed to. In Islam, prostration is for Allah alone (Qur'an 41:37), and Jews agree that worship belongs to God alone. Catholic, Orthodox and Oriental Christians also hold that adoration belongs to God alone, and they distinguish it from the honour (veneration) shown to icons, saints or a bishop. Many Protestants, and Jews and Muslims, do not take part in these practices. Each tradition explains its own reasons in its own words, and we leave it there.
- Who is worshipped. Christians worship the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as one God. Jews and Muslims do not accept this. Each faith's own words are on the God in three faiths pages.
If you visit
- In a mosque, take your shoes off at the door.
- In a synagogue, a man may be offered a kippah to wear.
- In a church, you can sit at the back and watch.
- More in Places to visit.
Next: Salah, step by step.