Although the Quran is very clear that Abraham is the
founder of Islam (22:78) and the one who received all the rituals of
Islam, most of the traditional Muslims reject this Quranic notion.
Please see our file
Who
founded Islam? Salat as we know it today
was given to Abraham who taught it to his children and they taught it to
their children and so on. Prophet Muhammad was commanded to follow the Religion
of Abraham. Had the religion of Abraham not known to him, we would not expect
God to command him to follow it.
[16:123]"Then we inspired you (O
Muhammad) to follow
the religion
of Abraham, monotheism; never was he an idol-worshiper."
[19:58] "These are some of the prophets whom GOD blessed.
They were chosen from among the descendants of Adam, and the descendants
of those whom we carried with Noah, and the descendants of Abraham and Israel,
and from among those whom we guided and selected. When the revelations of
the Most Gracious are recited to them, they fall prostrate,
weeping."
[19:59] "After them, He substituted generations
who lost the Contact Prayers (Salat),
and pursued their lusts. They will suffer the consequences."
Quran conforms that Salat was lost after some generations
for the people of the book. Losing it involved changing it in every
aspect. The Salat as practiced today by most of the Jews and Christians is
different than what was given to their prophets. Very few Jews and Christians
have maintained the inherited Salat.
In a book entitles "To Pray as a Jew" I found a lengthy
explanation of the Prayers as done by the ancient Jews and few of the
contemporary Jews. In this book the author put diagrams showing the movement
and positions during the prayer. One look at these illustrations is enough
for the Muslims to realize the similarity of the prayers of the Jews then
and Salat as practiced by the Muslims. |
