What worship is: prayer and meditation

1Before dawn in Nyamirambo

Before dawn in Nyamirambo, Kigali, the call to prayer sounds from the mosque and Muslims rise for the first of the day's five prayers. A few hours later, in a parish across the valley, the bell rings for morning Mass, and in homes all over the country families say grace before they eat. These are all acts of worship. This unit looks at how Christians and Muslims worship and why, and at the claim both faiths make: worship that does not change how we live is not true worship.

2Prayer and meditation in Christianity

When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, he gave them a prayer that Christians of every church still say:

"Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen." (Matthew 6:9–13)

Christians pray together in church, especially on Sunday, the day of the resurrection, and alone or as a family. Jesus himself prayed alone: "Early in the morning, while it was still dark, he rose up and went out, and departed into a deserted place, and prayed there." (Mark 1:35). Many Christians remember four parts of prayer with the word ACTS: Adoration (praise), Confession (saying sorry), Thanksgiving and Supplication (asking). Meditation means reading a passage slowly and letting it shape the heart, like the person in Psalm 1 whose "delight is in the LORD’s law. On his law he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:2). Paul promises that prayer brings peace: "In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6–7).

3Prayer and meditation in Islam

Salah, the second pillar, is offered five times a day, facing the Ka'bah in Mecca. Before praying, Muslims wash in a set way (wudu), as the Qur'an commands: "O ye who believe! When ye rise up for prayer, wash your faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and lightly rub your heads and (wash) your feet up to the ankles." (Qur'an 5:6). Every unit of the prayer includes the opening surah of the Qur'an:

"In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, The Beneficent, the Merciful. Owner of the Day of Judgment, Thee (alone) we worship; Thee (alone) we ask for help. Show us the straight path, The path of those whom Thou hast favoured; Not (the path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray." (Qur'an 1, Al-Fatihah, "The Opening")

Beside salah, Muslims make personal du'a, and Allah promises to hear: "And when My servants question thee concerning Me, then surely I am nigh. I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he crieth unto Me." (Qur'an 2:186). In dhikr they repeat phrases of praise, often counting them on prayer beads: "Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest!" (Qur'an 13:28).

4Forms of worship compared

Discuss. Jesus said true worshippers worship "in spirit and truth" (John 4:23). What might a pupil do to pray with attention rather than only repeating words? Would a Muslim pupil answer in a similar way?