SIMILARITIES/DIFFERENCES TO CHRISTIANITY

Both Christianity and Islam praise God in their prayers; phrases such as the Merciful, the compassionate, the Lord of World and Praise be to God/Allah are a common practice to both religions. Through adoration, both Christians and Muslims show their respect for God and ask for God’s mercy. With regard to submission, it is apparent that both Christianity and Islam pray to and worship only one God. The prayers of both Muslims and Christians always contain an element of submission to God.

In Islam, prayer is of core significance and is often overemphasized. Islam emphasizes on the fixed times to pray, which is contrary to Christianity. The Islamic faith is extremely strict when it comes to the performance of the five daily prayers and one has to complete the prayers irrespective of the situation that one is in. In Christianity, the Bible does not offer a definite form or amount of prayer that the believer must perform. The available prescriptions such as Psalms are not obligatory. In addition, the Bible does stipulate the times for prayer, the minimum number of prayers needed, washings, a specific dressing, language and form that is needed to ensure that the prayer is acceptable to God. Christianity focuses on attitude only to make the prayer valid in the sense that the prayer should be humble in the eyes of God, be earnest, and that he/she must believe.

Similarities

Differences