Jewish and Muslim Namaaz

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By: Mubashir


Dear Rumi, even in the Bible and the Quran we read about prayers of followers of previous Anbia:

The prayer offered by the Jews and Christians has been referred to in the Bible at various places and just as in the Qur'ān the prayer has been called after its constituent rituals and utterances like remembering Allah, reading a portion of the Qur'ān, invoking Allah, glorifying Him and kneeling and prostrating before Him, likewise in the Bible also the prayer has been called after its constituent practices and utterances:

From there he [--Abraham--] went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.(Genesis, 12:

Abram bowed down in prostration, and God spoke to him. (Genesis, 17:3)

The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD. (Genesis, 18:22)

He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will prostrate ourselves and then we will come back to you."
(Genesis, 22:5)

Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD. (Genesis, 26:25)

And they believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down in prostration. (Exodus, 4:31)

In the morning O Lord, you will hear my voice. I will wait for you in your presence after the prayer. (Psalm 5:3)

But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence will I bow down in prostration toward your holy temple. (Psalm 5:7)

But I call to God, and the LORD saves me. Evening, morning and noon I will cry out in distress, and he will hear my voice. (Psalm 55:16-17)

The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us kneel and bow down in worship, let us bend our knees before the LORD our
Maker. (Psalm 95:5-6)

I will bow down in prostration toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all
things your name and your word. (Psalm 138:2)

When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and confess your name,
praying and making supplication to you in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land
you gave to their fathers. (Kings, 8:33-4)

Stand at the gate of the Lord's house and there proclaim this message: Hear the word of the Lord all you people of Judah who come through these gates to
prostrate before the Lord. (Jeremiah, 7:2)

Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been signed, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day
he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God and glorified him, just as he had done before. (Daniel, 6:10)

So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. (Daniel, 9:3)

After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. (Matthew, 14:23)

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." (Matthew, 26:36)

Going a little farther, he fell down in prostration and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me." (Matthew, 26:39)

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he used to pray. (Mark, 1:35)

"Why are you sleeping?" he asked them. "Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation." (Luke, 22:46)

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at the ninth part of the day.[9] (Acts, 3:1)

About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.[10] (Acts, 10:9)

When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. (Acts,
12:12)

On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we usually prayed. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there.
(Acts, 16:13)

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns and glorifying God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. (Acts, 16:25)

When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. (Acts 20:36)

The Qur'an also tells us about the prayers of previous Prophets and their followers:

When Abraham (sws) settled his son Ishmael (sws) in the barren land of Makkah, he underlined the objective of this endeavour as:(14: 37) رَبَّنَا لِيُقِيمُواْ الصَّلاَةَ (Lord
so that they show diligence in the prayer, (14:37)). At that instance, he had also prayed:(14: 40) رَبِّ اجْعَلْنِي مُقِيمَ الصَّلاَةِ (O Lord! Make me and my progeny diligent in
the prayer, (14:40)). About Ishmael (sws), the Qur'ān says: (19: 55) وَكَانَ يَأْمُرُ أَهْلَهُ بِالصَّلَاةِ (He would instruct his family to pray, (19:55)). About the Prophets that
belong to the progeny of Isaac (sws) and Jacob (sws), the Qur'ān says: (21: 73) وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْهِمْ فِعْلَ الْخَيْرَاتِ وَإِقَامَ الصَّلَاةِ (And We sent them inspiration to do good deeds and to be
diligent in the prayer, (21:73)). When the Prophet Moses (sws) was commissioned, he was told:(20: 14) وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ لِذِكْرِي (And be diligent in the prayer to
remember me, (20:14)). About the Prophet Zakariyyah (sws), the words used are: (3: 39)وَهُوَ قَائِمٌ يُصَلِّي فِي الْمِحْرَابِ (While he was standing in prayer in the chamber,
(3:39)). The Prophet Jesus (sws) said about himself:(31:19) وَأَوْصَانِي بِالصَّلَاةِ (And God has directed me to offer the prayer, (19:31)). Luqmān was considered a wise
person among the Arabs. We are told by the Qur'ān that he gave the following words of advice to his son:
(31: 17) يَا بُنَيَّ أَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ (O my son! Show diligence in the prayer (31:17)). The Almighty pledged a promise with the Israelites in the words:(5: 12) اِنِّي مَعَكُمْ لَئِنْ اَقَمْتُمُ الصَّلاَةَ (I
am with you if you are diligent in the prayer (5:12)). The Qur'ān bears witness to the fact that in the times of the Prophet Muhammad (sws), the
righteous among the Jews and Christians adhered to the prayer:

مِّنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ أُمَّةٌ قَآئِمَةٌ يَتْلُونَ آيَاتِ اللّهِ آنَاء اللَّيْلِ وَهُمْ يَسْجُدُونَ
Of the People of the Book, there is a group which is honouring their covenant with God. They stand at night to recite his verses and prostrate
themselves before the Almighty. (3:113)

The same has been attributed to the Idolaters of Arabia who were offering some sort of prayer as well:

فَوَيْلٌ لِّلْمُصَلِّينَ الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَن صَلَاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ
So woe to these [custodians of the Baytullah] who offer the prayer while being unmindful of its reality. (107:4-5)

Just so I am clear, I tend to believe (like Allama Parwez) Salat the prayer is a component of Salat the System.


Source link: http://www.ourbeacon.com/cgi-bin/bbs60x/webbbs_config.pl/page/2/md/read/id/314123119167748

[chadiga]

Salamu aleikum
more information about the Namaaz : five Times in the day and beside prayers in the night....:
liturgy of the hours
Origins

The early Christians continued the Jewish practice of reciting prayers at certain hours of the day or night. In the Psalms are found expressions like "in the morning I offer you my prayer"; "At midnight I will rise and thank you" ; "Evening, morning and at noon I will cry and lament"; "Seven times a day I praise you". The Apostles observed the Jewish custom of praying at the third, sixth and ninth hour and at midnight (Acts 10:3, 9; 16:25; etc.). The Christian prayer of that time consisted of almost the same elements as the Jewish: recital or chanting of psalms, reading of the Old Testament, to which were soon added readings of the Gospels, Acts, and epistles, and canticles such as the Gloria in Excelsis Deo. Taylor Marshall has demonstrated how these Christian cycles of daily prayer derived from Jewish customs of prayer.[3] Other elements were added later in the course of the centuries.
Canonical hours

Traditional Roman Breviary
By the end of the 5th Century the Liturgy of the Hours was composed of seven offices. Of these seven, Compline seems to have been the last to appear because the 4th-Century Apostolic Constitutions VIII iv 34 do not mention it in the exhortation "Offer up your prayers in the morning, at the third hour, the sixth, the ninth, the evening, and at cock-crowing".[4] An eighth office, Prime, was added by Benedict of Nursia in the 6th Century. These eight are known by the following names:

Matins (during the night, at midnight with some); also called Vigils or Nocturns or, in monastic usage, the Night Office
Lauds or Dawn Prayer (at Dawn, or 3 a.m.)
Prime or Early Morning Prayer (First Hour = approximately 6 a.m.)
Terce or Mid-Morning Prayer (Third Hour = approximately 9 a.m.)
Sext or Midday Prayer (Sixth Hour = approximately 12 noon)
None or Mid-Afternoon Prayer (Ninth Hour = approximately 3 p.m.)
Vespers or Evening Prayer ("at the lighting of the lamps", generally at 6 p.m.)
Compline or Night Prayer (before retiring, generally at 9 p.m.)
Saint Benedict of Nursia (c. 480  543) is credited with having given this organization to the Liturgy of the Hours. However, his scheme was taken from that described by John Cassian, in his two major spiritual works, the Institutes and the Conferences, in which he described the monastic practices of the Desert Fathers of Egypt.

Liturgy of the Hours of Paul VI

After the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI promulgated a new Roman Breviary, commonly referred to as "Liturgy of the Hours." The structure of the offices, the distribution of psalms, and the prayers themselves were modified. Prime was suppressed entirely. In short, the burden was lessened. "Major" and "minor" hours were defined:
The Officium lectionis, or Office of Readings, (formerly Matins)  major hour
Lauds or Morning prayer  major hour
Daytime prayer, which can be one or all of:
Terce or Mid-Morning Prayer
Sext or Midday Prayer
None or Mid-Afternoon Prayer
Vespers or Evening Prayer  major hour
Compline or Night Prayer
All hours, including the minor hours, start with the versicle from Ps 69(70) v. 2 (as do all offices in the traditional Breviary except Matins and Compline): "V. Deus in adjutorium meum intende. R. Domine ad adjuvandum me festina" (God come to my assistance, Lord make haste to help me), followed by the doxology. The verse is omitted if the hour begins with the Invitatory (Lauds or Office of Reading). The Invitatory is the introduction to the first hour said on the current day, whether it be the Office of Readings or Morning Prayer. The opening is followed by a hymn. The hymn is followed by psalmody. The psalmody is followed by a scripture reading. The reading is called a chapter (capitula) if it is short, or a lesson (lectio) if it is long. The reading is followed by a versicle. The hour is closed by an oration followed by a concluding versicle. Other components are included depending on the exact type of hour being celebrated. In each office, the psalms and canticle are framed by antiphons, and each concludes with the traditional Catholic doxology.

Major hours

The major hours consist of the Office of Readings, Morning (or Lauds) and Evening Prayer (or Vespers).

The Office of Readings consists of:
opening versicle or invitatory
a hymn
one or two long psalms divided into three parts
a long passage from scripture, usually arranged so that in any one week, all the readings come from the same text
a long hagiographical passage, such as an account of a saint's martyrdom, or a theological treatise commenting on some aspect of the scriptural reading, or a passage from the documents of the Second Vatican Council
on nights preceding Sundays and feast days, the office may be expanded to a vigil by inserting three Old Testament canticles and a reading from the gospels
the hymn Te Deum (on Sundays, solemnities, and feasts, except in Lent)
the concluding prayer
a short concluding verse (especially when prayed in groups)
The character of Morning Prayer is that of praise; of Evening Prayer, that of thanksgiving. Both follow a similar format:
opening versicle or (for morning prayer) the invitatory
a hymn, composed by the Church
two psalms, or parts of psalms with a scriptural canticle. At Morning Prayer, this consists of a psalm of praise, a canticle from the Old Testament, followed by another psalm. At Evening Prayer this consists of two psalms, or one psalm divided into two parts, and a scriptural canticle taken from the New Testament.
a short passage from scripture
a responsory, typically a verse of scripture, but sometimes liturgical poetry
a canticle taken from the Gospel of Luke: the Canticle of Zechariah (Benedictus) for morning prayer, and the Canticle of Mary (Magnificat) for evening prayer
intercessions, composed by the Church
the Lord's Prayer
the concluding prayer, composed by the Church
a blessing given by the priest or deacon leading Morning or Evening Prayer, or in the absence of clergy and in individual recitation, a short concluding versicle.

Minor hours

The daytime hours follow a simpler format, like a very compact form of the Office of Readings:
opening versicle
a hymn
three short psalms, or, three pieces of longer psalms
a very short passage of scripture, followed by a responsorial verse
the concluding prayer
a short concluding verse
Night prayer has the character of preparing the soul for its passage to eternal life:
opening versicle
an examination of conscience
a hymn
a psalm, or two short psalms
a short reading from scripture
a concluding prayer
a short blessing

Judaism and the Early Church
As is noted above, the canonical hours stemmed from Jewish prayer. During the Babylonian Exile, when the Temple was no longer in use, the first synagogues were established, and the services (at fixed hours of the day) of Torah readings, psalms, and hymns began to evolve. This "sacrifice of praise" began to be substituted for the sacrifices of animals.
By the time of the Roman Empire, the Jews (and eventually early Christians) began to follow the Roman system of conducting the business day in scheduling their times for prayer. In Roman cities, the bell in the forum rang the beginning of the business day at about six o'clock in the morning (Prime, the "first hour"), noted the day's progress by striking again at about nine o'clock in the morning (Terce, the "third hour"), tolled for the lunch break at noon (Sext, the "sixth hour"), called the people back to work again at about three o'clock in the afternoon (None, the "ninth hour"), and rang the close of the business day at about six o'clock in the evening (the time for evening prayer).
The first miracle attributed to the Apostles, the healing of the crippled man on the temple steps, occurred because Peter and John went to the Temple to pray (Acts 3:1). This was at the "ninth hour" of prayer (about 3 pm), the time at which the "evening" sacrifice was celebrated in the Temple in the New Testament [Second Temple] period. One of the defining moments of the early Church, the decision to include Gentiles among the community of believers, arose from a vision Peter had while praying at noontime (Acts 10:9-49). This was at the "sixth hour," the time of the Mussaf prayers associated with additional sacrifices in the Temple on special days.
As Christianity began to separate from Judaism, the practice of praying at fixed times continued. The early church was known to pray the Psalms (Acts 4:23-30), which has remained a part of the canonical hours and all Christian prayer since. By 60 AD, the Didache, the oldest known liturgical manual for Christians, recommended disciples to pray the Lord's Prayer three times a day; this practice found its way into the canonical hours as well. Pliny the Younger (63 - ca. 113), who was not a Christian himself, mentions not only fixed times of prayer by believers, but also specific servicesother than the Eucharistassigned to those times: "they met on a stated day before it was light, and addressed a form of prayer to Christ, as to a divinity ... after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble, to eat in common a harmless meal. ."[10]
By the second and third centuries, such Church Fathers as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Tertullian wrote of the practice of Morning and Evening Prayer, and of the prayers at terce, sext, and none. The prayers could be prayed individually or in groups. By the third century, the Desert Fathers (the earliest monks), began to live out St. Paul's command to "pray without ceasing" (I_Thessalonians 5:17) by having one group of monks pray one fixed-hour prayer while having another group pray the next prayer.