Two Prayers
Christian:-
The Islamic prayer found in the first chapter of the Quran appears to be a modification of the Christian Lord's Prayer as taught by Jesus. This predates the Islamic one by 6 centuries, so Islam has copied a Christian prayer,
Comment:-
There is a resemblance, but also important differences. This can happen with all prayers because they are prayers. There is no need to suppose that one is a copy of another.
Islamic one states:-
"All Praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, The Beneficent, the Merciful, the Ruler of the Day of Judgment! Thee alone we serve and Thee alone we ask for aid. Guide us in the Straight Path, The path of those whom Thou hast favored; not of those who earn Thy wrath; nor of those who go astray." Quran 1:1-7
The Christian one states:-
"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." Matthew 6:9-13
Though similar, it is obvious that the two prayers are different and are also applied differently.
Jesus said :- "After this manner therefore pray ye:....". Though it encapsulates some of his teachings, the prayer itself forms a small part of the Gospel.
The Islamic prayer, on the other hand, is the first chapter of the Quran and is the essence of its teaching. The rest of the Quran can be regarded as an explanation of its content. It is also an integral part of all Islamic prayer. It is a meditation meant to transform the Muslim personality and make his life an elaboration of the content of the prayer.
Let us examine the wording:-
There are seven verses. The first three verses of the Islamic prayer tell us who Allah is. This includes His Mercy and Benevolence, which justifies the rest of the verses. The fourth has two parts pointing upwards to the first three and downwards to the last three - it expresses our resolve to serve Allah, and it also asks for His help. The next three tell us about three possible paths on earth, of which we have chosen the Straight Path that leads to Him. There is a definite structure and rhythm to the prayer. The 7 verses and the 3 sections are not accidental.
The Christian prayer is certainly similar in ideas. It does address God and hopes that things on earth will be as in heaven (or will conform to an ideal) and this may be taken as a resolve to aid this. The next phrases ask for daily bread and forgiveness, which it links with forgiving others, and also asks for protection from temptation and evil. This is not specified in the Islamic prayer, but it is implicit. The Lord's prayer ends with affirming that which the Islamic prayer begins with affirming, i.e. the power of God, but does not mention his Mercy and Benevolence.
The Islamic prayer is more comprehensive than the Christian one - it tell us that we resolve to worship and serve and in this we ask for all possible appropriate help - the details are provided by the rest of the Quran.
Probably because of the differences in the times and purposes, the Christian prayer is more man-centered in nature while the Islamic one is more objective. That is, the Islamic one is more interested in Truth - it tells us about how things are, and we are required to conform to this. The Christian one emphasis love rather than truth - it asks for man because God has the power and kingdom, but it does not appear to place any emphasis on man's duties towards God.
It is claimed by some Christians that by stating that God is the Father implies that He is the Father of everything, that is He is the creator of everything, and that He abides in heaven. That He sustains creation is something that was implicitly understood in the title "Father". What father does not see to the well being of that which is his?
The word used for God in the Islamic prayer is "Rab" which means all these things, not "Ab" which is Father. "I AM THAT I AM" (Old Testament, Exodus 3:14) is more like "Allah" which means "That which alone is worthy of Worship"
Father implies begetting.
The Quran denies that Allah begets, but affirm that He is the creator of all things. This is a fundamental difference.
It is, of course, true that when speaking about transcendental things words which refer to mundane things cannot be taken literally. The fact is that the notion of "Father" was taken as anthropomorphism and led to the idea that God had a literal son and Jesus is that son. This literalism is denied by the Quran. The NT makes it clear that the phrase "sons of God" refers to those who are led by the spirit or word of God. (Romans 8:14, John 1:12, John 3:3-7, John 10:34-35 which refers to Psalms 82:6 in the OT.)
The Quran rectifies the misunderstanding.
It has also been argued that when the Lord's Prayer says "Hollowed be thy name" this implies that all things related to God are Holy, so Jesus is not just here singling out two facets of Gods attributes that are holy, but all of them.
The concept "Holiness" is connected with Unity, with wholeness. In Islam Allah is the Absolute, the One. But to say that Hallowed or Holy includes all God's attributes does not really tell us what these attributes are. One could argue that the start of the Islamic prayer "All praise belongs to Allah" includes all attributes including Holiness and is even more comprehensive.
But there is really not much point in arguing about what is better (It is like quarreling on the basis of "- my dad is better than your dad") - It all depends on what the worshipper understands and how he uses it. If the Christian wishes to understand the Lord's Prayer in the same way as the Fatihah then good.
The Lord's prayer does not explicitly speak about The Straight Way - the path of development which leads back to heaven, though the New Testament also speaks of the Straight and Narrow Way. The Christian prayer is about creating a kingdom of God on earth and not about the journey to perfection and return to Heaven. However, it could be argued that the Straight Path is also on earth and refers to this kingdom of God on earth, and the Kingdom of God on earth does refer to the establishment of conditions on earth which facilitate human development to Perfection and return to Heaven.
If so, then the Islamic Prayer also elucidates the Christian Lord's prayer. It explains what most Christians have not understood.
The purpose of the Quran is to elucidate and rectify.
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