Q U I C K S C A N

What does daily prayer consist of in Judaism, Islam and Christianity?
When is weekly worship for the three faiths?
Which places do the three faiths consider holy?
Which books do these faiths honor?

Readers reflect on Friar Jack's musings

What does daily prayer consist of in Judaism, Islam and Christianity?

A practicing Jewish person is expected to utter acclamations of praise or a berakah prayer at least 100 times daily. A brief exclamation, "Blessed are you, Lord," acknowledges with adoration and gratitude the major and minor gifts from God received each day: for example, sleep and water, air and food, friends and work, health and medicine, a rainbow and a sunset.

An invocation before eating and a gathering with several others for small-group daily prayer in the synagogue are likewise common elements of the Jewish tradition.

Muslims must pray five times a day with each prayer requiring five to 10 minutes. These occur at dawn, afternoon, later afternoon, following sunset and at night.

The prayer is recited facing Makkah or Mecca, the sacred spot where Muslims maintain that the Angel Gabriel first spoke to Muhammad. The believer kneels on a prayer mat, if possible, with forehead touching the ground. The posture and words convey a sense of submission, adoration and trust.

Christians who follow the Roman Catholic Liturgy of the Hours pray seven times a day as the Psalm suggests. This covers the Office of Readings, Morning, Evening and Night Prayer, plus three brief Daytime Prayers. Others probably observe a more informal pattern of morning and evening prayers with a grace, blessing or prayer before meals. This type of informality lacks the precision and repetition of the Muslim and Jewish traditions, but reflects a commonly shared value of daily prayer.

Adapted from St. Anthony Messenger.

When is weekly worship for the three faiths?

Because of September 11, Americans are much more aware of Muslim religious customs. Some newspapers have published extensive reports on Islam in the United States, including the Articles of Faith and the Five Pillars of Islam. Stories also reported on the significant number of people who come to mosques each Friday for special prayers after midday.

While Friday is the day of weekly worship for Muslims, Saturday is the Sabbath observance for Jewish people. It is observed from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday and includes the synagogue service on Saturday morning and the day itself, dedicated to personal rest and family events.

Most Christians celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday, a move made in the early centuries as followers of Jesus recalled his Resurrection and the Pentecost descent of the Holy Spirit, both of which occurred on Sunday. The form of observance varies with different Christian traditions, but all would expect, ideally, attendance at a public worship service and avoidance of unnecessary work. Sunday celebrates God's creation of the world and Christ's efforts to save all.

The crucial point here is that the three religions observe a weekly day set aside for public prayer and personal re-creation.

Adapted from St. Anthony Messenger.

Which places do the three faiths consider holy?

Once in a lifetime, if financially and physically able, every Muslim is expected to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and participate in the five-day celebration surrounding that event. Among other things, Muslims recall their belief that the Angel Gabriel in 610 A.D. spoke here to Muhammad, the prophet of Islam.

But they revere other sacred places, especially Jerusalem. They believe that the Prophet himself ascended into heaven from the rock over which the Dome of the Rock, the earliest Islamic monument, now stands.

The site is also sacred to Jews, who recall its connection with the Temple. Jewish persons, of course, consider themselves the Chosen People and believe that God has designated today's Israel as their home. Jerusalem is also sacred to them, as are many other locations in the Holy Land. Their liturgy suggests three pilgrimage festivals: Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot.

Christians believe that Jesus came and dwelt on this earth, for the most part in that area termed the Holy Land. Over the years, millions of Christians have come to this sacred place and are eager to visit locations where Jesus was conceived, born, grew up, taught, ate his Last Supper, sweated blood in Gethsemane, died, was buried, rose and ascended into heaven.

Disputes over these places, especially in the Holy Land, have probably caused the sharpest divisions and hateful feelings—as well as the most violent actions—among Christians, Jews and Muslims. Perhaps an appreciation of each group's reverence for the same or neighboring sacred spots could eventually dissolve the hatred and lead to peace.

Adapted from St. Anthony Messenger.

Which books do these faiths honor?

In the Old Testament we see the unfolding of the Jewish religion. Moses and Aaron are there; so, too, are Abraham and Isaac, David and Solomon. During the Sabbath synagogue service, the leaders draw back a veil, revealing richly ornamented scrolls containing these inspired words of God.

Christians, who call themselves spiritual Semites, accept these Old Testament writings, but judge that they lead to and find fulfillment in the New Testament books, together forming the Holy Bible.

Since the 1970s, Roman Catholics and most mainline Christian bodies follow on Sundays a three-year cycle of biblical readings. While these are excerpts only, they still contain samplings from almost all of the 46 Old and 27 New Testament books.

For Muslims, the Prophet is the messenger, but the Quran (Koran) is the message of God. It is not a structured book or set of arguments, but a collection of divine messages.

The Quran repeatedly labels Jewish and Christian persons as "people of the Book" and views their original Books as coming from God.

Yale University historian Jaroslav Pelikan maintains that the ignorance of otherwise well-educated Westerners about the religion of Muhammad and the message of the Quran is "not only abysmal, but frightening."

Learning about and appreciating these closely connected inspired books surely is an easy and readily available stepping-stone to unity.

Adapted from St. Anthony Messenger.

Friar Jack's Inbox

Readers respond to Friar Jack's musing on the three faiths of Abraham.

Dear Friar Jack: I recently returned from Malaysia...Christians are persecuted there and imprisoned. Muslims wanting to get out of Islam have to spend 5 years in prison. You are naïve. In Europe , in the 1980s the Muslims said we do not need to take Europe by the sword, we will take Europe with our children!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.—Erina

Dear Erina: I can't vouch for all your assertions. But you're right. No one should be so naïve as to think that all who profess be a Muslim—or an Islamic society—automatically live up to the highest ideals of their faith. As Roman Catholics, we often fall short of living what we believe. And our Church has its own past record of harsh intolerance to members of other religions.

To round out the picture, though, a good number of my Franciscan confreres living among Muslims in Asia, Africa and the Middle East speak of the spirit of harmony, love, respect and dialogue that exists between them and their Muslim brothers and sisters. Wherever possible, we need to work more creatively for better understanding among all people of good will.

To quote again from Nostra Aetate (the Vatican II document regarding non-Christian religions), "The Catholic Church rejects nothing which is true and holy in these religions. She looks with sincere respect upon those ways of conduct and life, those rules and teachings which...often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all people." The document urges Catholics, further, that they "acknowledge, preserve and promote the spiritual and moral goods found among these people, as well as the values in their society and culture"(#2).—Friar Jack

Dear Friar Jack: I am at a loss to understand how any Christian can say that the Jewish god Yahweh, the Muslim god Allah and our God are the same. We as Christians believe and the New Testament states that our God has Three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, while the Jewish god has no other except the one person and does not recognize Jesus as anyone except maybe a rabbi. The Muslim god is Allah and they say there is no god except Allah. They do not recognize Jesus except as a minor prophet, one that is lesser than Mohammed. Therefore we as Christians cannot say that we worship the same god as the Jew or the Muslim.—Gordon

Dear Gordon: Let me explain a bit: When someone makes a statement saying that "Christians, Jews and Muslims all pray to one and same God," I agree with you that the statement could seem a little confusing. It's tricky. It depends on whether one is looking at things from God's point of view or the worshipper's point of view.

From the viewpoint of God, who exists independently, well obviously there is only one God—the same for all. If we take the viewpoint of worshippers—Muslims, Jews and Christians, for example—the perceptions or understandings of God will differ. But God—in God's own self—remains the same. The God who made all creatures doesn't change according to the perceptions of the creatures. So when Muslims in Mecca, Jews in Jerusalem and Christians in Rome lift their hearts and minds to God, the wise and merciful God who hears them is one and the same. The perceptions of the worshippers, of course, will differ, though many elements in their thinking are similar: God is good, loving and merciful; God is the maker of heaven and earth and so forth. As brothers and sisters in Abraham, we hold a lot of values and beliefs in common, and as our Catechism lesson today tells us, we can help work toward family unity by focusing on all the good things we hold in common.

We are not saying that all religions are the same or that it doesn't matter what one believes. As Christians, of course, we are not expected to abandon our beliefs. For us, Christ is "the way, the truth and the life" and has come to bring peace and healing to the world. We should be ready to share that good news with anyone ready to listen.

By the way, the word Allah is simply the Arabic word for God, so when Muslims proclaims that "there is not other God but [God]," we are in good company and, as brothers and sisters in Abraham, we could reverently make the same proclamation.—Friar Jack

Dear Friar Jack: Appreciate your comments about Islam. It is so easy for us after 9/11 to think that they are all terrorists at heart. My personal physician is a devout Muslim and his goodness has taught me a lot about Islam.—Dennis

Dear Dennis: Thanks for sharing your positive response and for your example of profound respect for this devout Muslim. I'm happy to report that the great majority of the many responses to my January musing were very favorable to the idea of "Coming Together as Brothers and Sisters in the Faith of Abraham."—Friar Jack

Dear Friar Jack: I enjoyed reading your article about Islam very much. As a former soldier in the Gulf War, I can be rightfully accused of holding unhealthy predjudices concerning Islam. The religious man you quoted in your article put me at peace and also made me recognize the need to respect those Muslims who follow the true teachings of the Koran.

Send your feedback to friarjack@americancatholic.org.

A Message From Friar Jack

Welcome! I hope you'll enjoy all of the news about what's happening at AmericanCatholic.org, as well as my "musings." By the way, I am a real Franciscan friar. You can find out more about me here.

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