Bring raised evangelical did have its upsides.
Like we could DANCE in the aisles, whoop it up when you got excited about the new thing that God was doing. I could express outloud deep appreciation when I noticed that God had moved on my behalf. We were always about finding new, creative, old established and wonderful ways to fall in love with God! And if it made you more open to God, then do it more!
So why then, when presented with a new way (new to me, 1600 years old otherwise) to worship God, would I balk? What part of nose on the ground, hands up in prayer did not somehow register as a beautiful way to offer prayers? Am I just being afraid of something I don't know? Is beauty in worship somehow not related to God?
So I am on a journey here... feel free to join me, I love company, especially people who love God and want to actually connect in and not just be afraid all the time:
Let's start with the Arabic, Farsi and Turkish word for God: Allah. This isn't a proper name... it means God. People who have these languages as their mother tongue who are Christian use the name Allah to talk about the unknowable source of all being. It's not a proper name like Bill, George or Jesus. It's really a title.
Is there anything about the words in the Salat that were suspect? I have the English translations here.
Okay on this part. Seems reasonable. Heck, even seems like my kind of excitement about the creator. I'll move on and see if there is more:
Sounds like Psalms to me. Oh, and the prophets. Exactly. Kind of strange that it would be exactly the same. Must be somewhere else.
Like we could DANCE in the aisles, whoop it up when you got excited about the new thing that God was doing. I could express outloud deep appreciation when I noticed that God had moved on my behalf. We were always about finding new, creative, old established and wonderful ways to fall in love with God! And if it made you more open to God, then do it more!
So why then, when presented with a new way (new to me, 1600 years old otherwise) to worship God, would I balk? What part of nose on the ground, hands up in prayer did not somehow register as a beautiful way to offer prayers? Am I just being afraid of something I don't know? Is beauty in worship somehow not related to God?
So I am on a journey here... feel free to join me, I love company, especially people who love God and want to actually connect in and not just be afraid all the time:
Let's start with the Arabic, Farsi and Turkish word for God: Allah. This isn't a proper name... it means God. People who have these languages as their mother tongue who are Christian use the name Allah to talk about the unknowable source of all being. It's not a proper name like Bill, George or Jesus. It's really a title.
Is there anything about the words in the Salat that were suspect? I have the English translations here.
God is the greatest!
Okay on this part. Seems reasonable. Heck, even seems like my kind of excitement about the creator. I'll move on and see if there is more:
Glory be to you, O God, and all praises are due unto you, and blessed is your name
and high is your majesty and none is worthy of worship but you.
Sounds like Psalms to me. Oh, and the prophets. Exactly. Kind of strange that it would be exactly the same. Must be somewhere else.
I seek God's protection from Satan who is cursed.
Wow, I think the people who wrote this may have been to our prayer meetings. I can't tell you how many nights I have been up in all night vigils, praying against the enemy. Holding up in my prayer closet, head on the floor, prostrate face flat wanting Gods protection and mercy.
Praise is only for God, Lord of the Universe.
The most Kind, the most Merciful.
The master of the Day of Judgement.
You alone we worship and to you alone we pray for help.
Show us the straight way,
The way of those whom you have blessed.
Who have not deserved your anger,
Nor gone astray.
Can I get an Amen? I have prayed so often to find myself not lead astray. Hence the fear around these prayers. What if the salat prayers lead me away from God? How are they leading me to God? In this section it would appear that the prayers themselves are actually asking God to not let me stray from the path, to not find myself worshipping false beings and asking for help from anyone who cannot actually help me. (Thank you Abraham for clarifying this for us)
"Glory to my Lord the Exalted".
Psalms again. I am a big fan of Psalms. My favorite song that relates to this is probably from Psalm 99 below:
He is exalted, the King is exalted on High
I will praise You
He is exalted, forever exalted
And I will praise His name
He is the Lord
Forever His truth shall reign
Heaven and earth
Rejoice in His holy name
He is exalted, the King is exalted on high
“Allah listens to him who praises Him"
Reminds me of:
Psalm 22:26 The afflicted will eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the LORD. Let your heart live forever!
Zephaniah 2:3
Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD's anger.
Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD's anger.
Exodus 15:2 - The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him;
So far I am not seeing a problem here honestly... so on to the next sections:
All compliments, all physical prayer and all monetary worship are for God.
Peace be upon you, Oh Prophet, and God's mercy and blessings.
Peace be on us and on all righteous slaves of God.
I bear witness that no one is worthy of worship except God
And I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger
Okay, I had to think about this for a bit. What would be the point bringing in a prophet here. I am noticing that they are not saying that Muhammed is God. The prayer is saying that Muhammad said to turn back to God, to follow God and that they are saying that he DID this and therefore was a prophet.
From Matthew 10:14
"He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.
My second question was, is Mohammed allowed to be a messenger of God?
I found:
Then Hagar went and sat down opposite him [Ishmael], about a bowshot away, for she said, "Do not let me see the boy die." And she sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice and wept.God heard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. "Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him."… Genesis 21:16-17
What is interesting here to me is that God is listening to Ismael's prayers. He is not the cursed person that I was taught in Bible school, he is praying and God is listening and God answers his prayers. Sarah's mistake to not believe God does not seem to affecting Ishmael's grace, promises from God or seemed to have cursed Ismael. This did not go as well for Jacob's brother.
Secondarily, God tells that we are all supposed to be listening to those messengers who are trying to point us back to God.
...Listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you again and again, but you have not listened; (Jeremiah 26:5)
So we are not supposed to be listening to false prophets who are leading us away from God, but in what way is Muhammed a false prophet by the definition of the Bible? He is telling people that there is only God, that we need to return to him and that God will be merciful if we do. The hadiths (sayings of Muhammed) essentially talk about how to live these things out in day to day life. I also assume that there must be more messengers that are leading us back to God. Heck, we have pastors everyday that are leading us back to God and no one is throwing a fit about their leadership int he church, their books, their sermons, their suggestions on worship. Why pick on this guy?
Lamentations 2:14 - Your prophets have seen for you false and foolish visions; And they have not exposed your iniquity so as to restore you from captivity, but they have seen for you false and
misleading oracles.
In this verse, and many others I found in my searching being a false prophet is about NOT telling people like it really is (look at the , not saying that sin is a sin, not asking people to return to God in order to be let out of captivity. In the case of Mohammed we actually see that this is the main message. Even in the Qur'an the angels are telling him to walk a better and more holy walk. The message is not, "it's all fine, ignore God."
The message is "Get right with God, the sooner the better."
Lastly, is Mohammed saying that the religion of Islam is the only path to God? Is it saying that being Christian isn't okay, or Jewish?
I did some research around this too: I am certain that there are Muslims who believe this, but that is not the same as the leader of their tradition saying it, so I looked around. Starting with the Muslim scriptures:
Jesus: OK - Among them were those to whom God spoke, and He raised some of them in degree. And We gave Jesus, the Son of Mary, clear proofs, and We supported him with the Pure Spirit.
Other faiths - There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion. The right course has become clear from the wrong.
Qur'an - 2:285 "The Messenger and the faithful with him, have faith in what has been revealed to him by his sustainer, they all have faith in God, his angels, and His (God's) revelations, and his messengers, making no distinction between any of His messengers."
It is so important to me to love God, and if others are loving God, even if it isn't how I was raised, who am I to say that God's creativity was only what I could grasp, did, understand or come up with: "My ways are not your ways"
Also God said, "I did not give you a spirit of fear but a sound mind"
So I guess Salat is okay with me. I am not seeing an issue here. In fact, it's kind of awesome to have such a beautiful rite that lets me use so many different pray postures that had already been used through the years in one setting. And being with God that many ways is my idea of Heaven.
God is good, all the time.
