Question for Muslims & Christians about Prayer?

Question

I have a muslim roommate who needs to pray 5 times a day for his religion, i can understand that. He ensures me, a christian, that I should do this as well. I disagree with him because my religion does not teach this.

islam teaches that the God of the Koran is the same as the God of the Bible.

however the God of the Koran commands that muslims pray 5 times a day at certain times and recite a certain prayer

no where in the Bible does it say to pray 5 times a day, nor does it list certain times of day to pray.

My question is, if the God of the Koran is indeed the same as the God of the Bible, why did Allah introduce this praying technique only to Muhammad. My friend took a religions course and informed me that according to Islam, Muhammad was told by Moses that Allah wants man to pray to him 5 times a day. Why was it never introduced before if we are to pray that way?

told by Moses in heaven*

my question is, what is the reason for this discrepancy

Answer 1

If Allah and Yahweh are the same God, then
if Allah told Muhammad that his followers were to pray a certain way, then Yahweh would have told his prophets as well. If God wanted to show people how to pray for the rest of their time on earth, he would have described how. in doing so, it seems logical that he would not have changed the way all people are supposed to pray every few hundred years or so.

Yahweh did not tell his prophets to pray this way: Matthew 6:7 says, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.”

Therefore this shows that either God changed his mind, the authors of the Bible did not write about praying that way, or Muhammad added that as his own idea.

Let's break it down.
1. Both the Koran and the Bible teach that God is unchanging, therefore the first answer is not possible.
"He is the same yesterday, today, and forever." (Hebrews13: 8)

2. This does not seem probable considering that the Bible addresses prayer many times and a perfect God would not have left out an important theme such as praying 5 times a day in a certain way.

3. This option seems the most plausible. Showing extreme devotion in prayer would be a good way to gain followers.

In Islam they have a personal prayer, but they also have a required memorized prayer for 5 times a day which is exactly against what Matthew 6:7 says in the Bible. This argument is evidence that Muhammad added his own ideas to the Judeo/Christian religion and that the God of the Bible and the God of the Koran are not the same.

Answer 2

Well, I think your friend has a good idea anyhow.

As far as prayer, a few things that I remember are: prayer can be done in groups or alone but it is not something to be done on the streets to draw any attention to yourself. YOu should pray often. No, it doesn't matter what time of day. People haven't always had clocks everywhere either.

But the idea about praying 5 times a day sounds good. Don't just recite a prayer. Really think on it and thank God for everything and ask for his guidence. Prayer never hurts.. unless you are so busy praying you are ignoring God's answers, lol

:)

Answer 3

It is not called discrepancy. God revealed Judaism to Moses, Christianity to Jesus & Islam to Muhammad. All that three couldn't be sent down at the same time. Islam came 600 years after Christianity was born. Basically Islam came in the end. Not only prayer, you will find lots of differences between Christianity & Islam.

Religions evolved time by time. When God sent down His orders 10,000 years ago, He might not ordered people to wear clothes. Because wearing clothes at that time probably was almost impossible. So God didn't order people to be modest dressed. Time by time humans got more civilized & more progressive, the divine rulings also got broadened & advanced.

Allah said Islam is the last religion, Muhammad (sm) is the last of all prophets. So Islam had to be the perfect religion for all time.

Answer 4

Yes, the God of the Quran (Allah) is the same as the God of the Bible.

The choice of your religion is on u.U r sensible enough to find out about different faiths and religion.Just coz u were born in a family doesnt obligate you to follow the same religion.If you really want to know whats right and whats not.Go ahead.. do your part of the research,read, find out what you feel is right.

Also believe it or not, the Quran is the only book which is still unchanged since the time it was revealed.For all books other than this, the present version is pretty different than the time they were revealed.

And whatever be your faith, u shud respect others beliefs too.

Answer 5

Im a muslim too and I pray five times a day.

According to islam prayer was obligated ever since adam, however the prayer was not exactly 5 times a day as it is now. for instance, Allah ordered moses and the Israelis to pray to him 3 times a day. how it got to five times a day is when Muhammad Pbuh ascended to the the Heavens and Allah ordered him to pray fifty times, when Muhammad descended and met moses on his way moses told him to ask allah to lessen it because the israelis before couldnt tolerate it, and so prophet Muhammad went back to allah and asked him to lessen it. so allah made it 45. and so Muhammad Pbuh went back and forth between Moses and Allah till the prayer finally became Five.
Also, Jesus Christ Pbuh And his mother Mary Pbuh prayed to allah every day, infact there is a whole chapter in the Quraan about Mary Pbuh.
Im sorry if I didnt give the answer you were looking for, please let me know if you need more information.
Allah Knows Best,

Also try visiting this website:

Answer 6

Because this (the Quaran and the Bible) is all based on stories being passed down by mouth until someone wrote it down. Think of the telephone game, you know, where you have a line of like 8 people, and the first person whispers into the second person's ear something like "Peanut butter and jelly on white bread is my favorite sandwich. I also like ham and cheese with egg. And I always wash them down with a cup of coffee with a little cream." and then the second person is to repeat what they heard to the next person and so on until it reaches the last person at which point you can get something like "I always have sourdough toast with butter and jam, a ham and cheese omelet, and a coffee cut by cream." Yes, half of it doesn't make sense, but that's what happens. It's all subject to interpretation, accurate memory rention, and good communication.

Allah and God are the same, if you ask me, they're just paid respects in different ways. With religion, there is no right or wrong way to pray (unless it's morally wrong, but then again, that can open a new can of worms) just different ways of saying things and praying.

Your roommate doesn't have the right to tell you that you should do that too. If anything, he can try to explain it to you, but "ensuring" you is just kind of like trying to slyly shove his beliefs down your throat.

Answer 7

Now God teaches me to pray three times a day with a revealed obligatory prayer. If my faith is not strong enough, he allows me to say a shorter prayer only once a day. And if I realize the spiritual use of prayer and I have the interest to converse with Him, I can pray as many times with many revealed prayers as I wish.
So, the unity in religion is that all men must turn to the One True God to seek divine guidance, strength and love; while the manners to do it keep on changing through time by His Divine Messengers.

Answer 8

Fuj4h,
It's really simple.

Your friend has a religion.

What you hopefully have is a relationship with God. God loves you, and you trust Him.

Your friend has to jump through legalistic hoops to prove that he is a good follower.

You apply trust to "Thus saith the word of the Lord, " and your friend has a list of do do this and don't do that.

You are free in Christ.

He is counting how many times he prays.

Maybe you want to do this. Pray seven times to god in earnest prayer. At the end of the day, ask him how many times he prayed. He will probably say five. You say, " Well I prayed seven times!" And watch his face. It will probably appear that he is glad, but watch for the down before the rise in his face.

Legalists hate being outdone.

Answer 9

I do not know and nor I care about the discrepancy...I believe that the Bible is God's life manual for us...I concentrate studying that. He is the only God.
Remember, praying is just your talk with God. You can do it very often. Speak to Him like you would talk to your friend.

Answer 10

Praying 5 times a day is a good discipline to follow (as a Christian).

However that is not commanded by the Christian God.

Cordially,
John