Muslim Prayer

The Second Pillar of Islam is prayer or worship, Salah. Muslims worship five times a day. In this way, the entire day is sanctified. One experiences the presence of God through the day. In many Muslim countries, calls to prayer echo across the rooftops. Modern technologies developed novel ways of handling this. From audio and visual reminders to wrist watches, clocks and computer programs.

Salah consists of recitation from the Quran in Arabic. It is accompanied by standing, bowing, kneeling, touching the ground with one’s forehead and sitting. Muslims could pray in any clean environment. They can pray alone or together. In a mosque or at home. At work or on the road. Indoors and outside. It is still not uncommon when traveling Muslim countries to see people stop up on the street to pray, or even on a business meeting. Or to see, as I have, people praying on an airplane.

Wherever a Muslim prays, although not required, it is considered preferable and more meritorious to pray with others. This demonstrates and reinforces the sense of belonging to a common brotherhood.

When they pray, Muslims face Mecca. They face the holy city of Mecca that houses the Kaaba, the house of God, believed to have been built by Abraham and his son Ismael. Originally, Muslims faced Jerusalem. Muhammad had expected that the Jews would in time accept the message of Islam. When it became clear that that wasn’t the case, Muhammad received the revelation directing the change of the direction of prayer from Jerusalem to Mecca.

Communal Prayer

In addition to praying five times a day, once each week on Friday, Muslims have a congregational prayer, the Jumu'ah prayer. On Fridays, they go to mosques or Islamic centers to pray. This does not mean that one ceases work on Friday. This varies from country to country. What is held in common is this obligation to the common congregational prayer of Friday. This takes place every week in a mosque.

A mosque literally means a place of prostration. It is a building with a flat open space for Muslims to assemble to pray. Mosques, like churches and synagogues, can be small and simple or they can be cathedral-like structures. On one of the walls is a niche, or Mihrab, that indicates the direction of Mecca. Nearby, there is a pulpit or minbar, from which the sermon at the Friday congregational prayer is given.

In the garden, there would be a place for the faithful to perform their ritual purification before prayer. Shoes are removed before entering the mosque. At the end of formal ritual prayer, individuals are free then to offer personal prayers. These are prayers of petition or thanks giving to God.