Muslims like to point to Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane to make the claim that they pray just like He did. But in the pictures below, you can see what a difference there is between rabbinic prostration, Jesus' prayer in the Garden, and Muslim prayer in the mosque.
The position Jesus took while praying in Gethsemane is a prayer position called prostration. Muslims, please look it up in the dictionary: prostration.
The whole body is flat on the ground during prostration. The posterior is not elevated. This position is usually assumed only during the most intense prayer, as Jesus was doing at Gethsemane, such as during intercession. In short, the prostration position that Jesus took and the way Muslims pray are not at all the same.
Secondly, Jesus would always look to HEAVEN when He spoke to the Father. He never bowed to a physical object in Mecca.
See for yourself (caps mine for your convenience):
Matthew 14:19
Then He commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and LOOKING UP TO HEAVEN, He blessed them. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
Mark 6:41
Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and LOOKING UP TO HEAVEN, He blessed and broke the loaves. He kept giving them to His disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.
Mark 7:34
Then, LOOKING UP TO HEAVEN, He sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”).
Luke 9:16
Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and LOOKING UP TO HEAVEN, He blessed and broke them. He kept giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
John 11:41
"So they removed the stone. Then Jesus RAISED HIS EYES and said, “Father, I thank You that You heard Me."
John 17:1
Jesus spoke these things, LOOKED UP TO HEAVEN, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son so that the Son may glorify You"
The Greek readers among us can correct me if I'm wrong but here is the original Greek of the verse:
Matthew 26:39 καὶ προελθὼν μικρὸν ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ προσευχόμενος καὶ λέγων, Πάτερ μου εἰ δυνατόν ἐστιν παρελθέτω ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο πλὴν οὐχ ὡς ἐγὼ θέλω ἀλλ᾽ ὡς σύ
In the original Greek in which the New Testament was written, the words "fell on His face" mean:
2) to descend from an erect to a prostrate position
a) to fall down
1) to be prostrated, fall prostrate (from Strong's Concordance)
Dictionary definition:
prostrate
verb |ˈprɑːstreɪt| [ with obj. ]
1 (prostrate oneself) lay oneself flat on the ground face downward, esp. in reverence or submission: she prostrated herself on the bare floor of the church.
From Barnes' Notes on the Bible:
"He first kneeled, and then, in the fervency of his prayer and the depth of his sorrow, he fell with his face on the ground, denoting the deepest anguish and the most earnest entreaty. This was the usual posture of prayer in times of great earnestness. See Numbers 16:22; 2 Chronicles 20:18; Nehemiah 8:6."
Job 1
20 Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped,
Numbers 16
22 But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “God, God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You vent Your wrath on the whole community?”
2 Chr 20
18 Then Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord to worship Him.
Nehemiah 8
6 Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and with their hands uplifted all the people said, “Amen, Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
Note as well that prostration "was the usual posture of prayer in times of great earnestness"
If Muslims did, in fact, use prostration to pray 5 times a day, it would no longer be "in great earnestness." It would become a routine prayer posture which would mean absolutely nothing to God
As Jesus said in Matt 6,
5 “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward!
6 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 When you pray, don’t babble like the idolaters, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words.
8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him."
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is not fooled by "many prayers." He looks at what is deep inside our hearts and is fully aware of our deepest and darkest secrets. He's not deceived by who you or I may pretend to be on the outside
Btw, anyone who has prayed in intercession "in great earnestness" knows that it cannot be done 5 times a day, nor even 3 times a day. No human being could ever survive that
So, try as they might to force Islam once again into the Bible, once again, they have failed. :(
But where did Muslims learn to pray the way they do? Apparently, they have copied their prayer rituals from Orthodox Jewry:
Jewish Prayer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aHWASyMjwg
The position Jesus took while praying in Gethsemane is a prayer position called prostration. Muslims, please look it up in the dictionary: prostration.
The whole body is flat on the ground during prostration. The posterior is not elevated. This position is usually assumed only during the most intense prayer, as Jesus was doing at Gethsemane, such as during intercession. In short, the prostration position that Jesus took and the way Muslims pray are not at all the same.
Secondly, Jesus would always look to HEAVEN when He spoke to the Father. He never bowed to a physical object in Mecca.
See for yourself (caps mine for your convenience):
Matthew 14:19
Then He commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and LOOKING UP TO HEAVEN, He blessed them. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
Mark 6:41
Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and LOOKING UP TO HEAVEN, He blessed and broke the loaves. He kept giving them to His disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.
Mark 7:34
Then, LOOKING UP TO HEAVEN, He sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”).
Luke 9:16
Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and LOOKING UP TO HEAVEN, He blessed and broke them. He kept giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
John 11:41
"So they removed the stone. Then Jesus RAISED HIS EYES and said, “Father, I thank You that You heard Me."
John 17:1
Jesus spoke these things, LOOKED UP TO HEAVEN, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son so that the Son may glorify You"
The Greek readers among us can correct me if I'm wrong but here is the original Greek of the verse:
Matthew 26:39 καὶ προελθὼν μικρὸν ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ προσευχόμενος καὶ λέγων, Πάτερ μου εἰ δυνατόν ἐστιν παρελθέτω ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο πλὴν οὐχ ὡς ἐγὼ θέλω ἀλλ᾽ ὡς σύ
In the original Greek in which the New Testament was written, the words "fell on His face" mean:
2) to descend from an erect to a prostrate position
a) to fall down
1) to be prostrated, fall prostrate (from Strong's Concordance)
Dictionary definition:
prostrate
verb |ˈprɑːstreɪt| [ with obj. ]
1 (prostrate oneself) lay oneself flat on the ground face downward, esp. in reverence or submission: she prostrated herself on the bare floor of the church.
From Barnes' Notes on the Bible:
"He first kneeled, and then, in the fervency of his prayer and the depth of his sorrow, he fell with his face on the ground, denoting the deepest anguish and the most earnest entreaty. This was the usual posture of prayer in times of great earnestness. See Numbers 16:22; 2 Chronicles 20:18; Nehemiah 8:6."
Job 1
20 Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped,
Numbers 16
22 But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “God, God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You vent Your wrath on the whole community?”
2 Chr 20
18 Then Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord to worship Him.
Nehemiah 8
6 Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and with their hands uplifted all the people said, “Amen, Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
Note as well that prostration "was the usual posture of prayer in times of great earnestness"
If Muslims did, in fact, use prostration to pray 5 times a day, it would no longer be "in great earnestness." It would become a routine prayer posture which would mean absolutely nothing to God
As Jesus said in Matt 6,
5 “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward!
6 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 When you pray, don’t babble like the idolaters, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words.
8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him."
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is not fooled by "many prayers." He looks at what is deep inside our hearts and is fully aware of our deepest and darkest secrets. He's not deceived by who you or I may pretend to be on the outside
Btw, anyone who has prayed in intercession "in great earnestness" knows that it cannot be done 5 times a day, nor even 3 times a day. No human being could ever survive that
So, try as they might to force Islam once again into the Bible, once again, they have failed. :(
But where did Muslims learn to pray the way they do? Apparently, they have copied their prayer rituals from Orthodox Jewry:
Jewish Prayer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aHWASyMjwg
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