Did The Jews Ever Pray
Like The Muslims Do?
by unknown Author


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Although the Quran is very clear that Abraham is the founder of Islam and the one who received all the rituals of Islam, Many Muslims reject this Quranic notion. Please see our file Who founded Islam? Salat as we know it today was given to Abraham who taught it to his children and they taught it to their children and so on. The prophet Muhammed was told to follow the Religion of Abraham. Had the religion of Abraham not known to him then, we would not expect God to tell him to follow it.

"Then we inspiredyou (O Muhammed) to follow the religion of Abraham, monotheism; never was he an idol-worshiper." 16:123


Salat as practiced by the Muslims today involve standing infront of God, bowing and falling prostrate. May Muslims who could not accept the teaching of the Quran that Salat, like all the rituals of Islam, were passed down to us from Abraham are surprised to see that the Jews and Christians of today do not do their salat like the Muslims. Again the Quran did not ignore that fact, See 19:58-59.

[19:58]
"These are some of the prophets whom GOD blessed. They were chosen from among the descendants of Adam, and the descendants of those whom we carried with Noah, and the descendants of Abraham and Israel, and from among those whom we guided and selected. When the revelations of the Most Gracious are recited to them, they fall prostrate, weeping."

[19:59]
"After them, He substituted generations who lost the Contact Prayers (Salat), and pursued their lusts. They will suffer the consequences."

Quran mentioned that salat were lost after some generations of the people of the book. Losing it involved changing it in every aspect. The salat as practiced today by most of the Jews and Christians are different than what was given to their prophets. Very few Jews and Christians kept the inherited Salat.

In a book entitles "To Pray as a Jew" I found a lengthy explanation of the the Prayers as done by the ancient Jews and few of the contemporary Jews. In this book the author put diagrams showing the movement and positions during the prayer. A one look at these diagram is enough for the Muslims to realize the similarity of the prayers of the Jews then and Salat as practiced by the Muslims.
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In his comment about these positions the author wrote : "In most contemporary congregations very few people keep to the tradition of falling prostrate. Sometimes it is only the Prayer leader and the rabbi who does so. In more traditional congregations, however, some worshipers, men and women, will join the Prayer Leader and rabbi in the act of prostrating themselves. In Israeli synagogues, the practice is more widespread than in synagogues elsewhere. Since this is a position that we are unaccustomed to, one who has never done this before might very well demur But once accomplished, the experience provides such a spiritual uplift that one looks forward to repeating it. Those willing to try this ancient ritual form on the rare occasions that call for it might welcome the following diagrams of the correct procedure"

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