Prayer: Christian and Muslim
perspectives
D. Marshall and L. Mosher, editors
Georgetown University Press £19.50
(978-1-58901-677-4)
Church Times Bookshop £17.65 (Use code
CT318 )
IT IS always uplifting for me as a Christian to join with other
worshippers in reciting together the Lord's Prayer in a communion
or other church service. Con-versely, during my time in Saudi
Arabia, occasionally sitting respectfully at the back of the
Jufalli Mosque in Jeddah, I witnessed the fervour of Muslims, as
row upon row of devout (male) worshippers prostrated themselves in
ritual acts of prayer. Both activities remind me how prayer is an
important element of both the Christian and the Muslim faiths.
Containing papers given at a conference on prayer organised by
Georgetown University, in Qatar in 2010, and convened by Lord
Williams when he was Archbishop of Canterbury, this book considers
the commonalities and differences in prayer between Islam and
Christianity.
Following the structure of the conference, the book considers
three overlapping themes: scripture and prayer; learning to pray;
and growing in prayer.
Beginning with examples of Christians who have "lived prayer",
such as Thomas Merton and the Russian St Seraphim of Sarov,
different forms of Christian prayer are discussed, including
formal, structured prayer; freer conversational prayer; meditative
prayer; the lectio divina and prayer within monasticism;
breathing and uttering the name of Jesus, as in the Eastern
practice of hesychasm; and spontaneous Charismatic prayer
characterised by glossolalia (speaking in tongues). A challenging
appraisal is given of praying in the Spirit, as taught by Paul in
Romans 8.
Prayer in Islam is considered, particularly salat
(obligatory prayer), du'a (extra, personal prayer), and
dhikr (remembrance), the esoteric prayer of Sufi
mysticism. The prayer lives of awliya, holy men, are used
to describe the Sufi belief that prayer is "the chief means by
which the ascent of the heart to paradise is accomplished while
still alive".
In a devotional and expository style, different contributors,
Muslim and Christian, consider key themes in the best-known prayers
in the Bible and the Qur'an, namely the Lord's Prayer and
al-Fatiha, the opening sec- tion of the Qur'an, a passage
re- cited by Muslims before any salat.
This book highlights many important truths, particularly the
fact that prayer is the means by which followers of both faiths can
talk, argue, supplicate, plead, and even wrestle with God. Above
everything else, it reminds us that prayer is essentially an aspect
of the love affair between the believer and God.
Some readers might feel frustrated that the book touches on
little that is controversial, such as the compulsory nature of
prayer within Islam and the belief held by Muslims (and by some
Christians) that prayer is undertaken, not because we want to do
it, but because it gains merit. Nevertheless, presented in
convenient bite-size sections, fully referenced, and written in
lucid and not recondite language, this book is unquestionably an
interesting read.
Dr Simon Ross Valentine is a lecturer and writer on Islam,
and a Methodist local preacher.