Muslims pray 5 times a day... 1. Fazr - At Sunrise 2. Zohar - At Noon 3. Asr - Afternoon (around 5 pm) 4. Magreeb - Before Sunset 5. Isha - After Sunset, after the last ray of sunlight in the sky I don't know who made the decision about praying 5 times a day. It could be a divine command. Prayer consists of reciting the Quranic Verses, praising Almighty God, and always remembering the gifts He has given us, and how He has sent messengers for us from time to time, and how much He loves us... God is most gracious, most merciful, most kind. And we always remember it in the prayers... During the prayers, everyone is equal, irrespective of social status, wealth or color of skin. The spirit of Brotherhood is portrayed during the prayers. It is recommended that we pray in a congregation, always in a group of brothers. The Imam leads us, and we follow him. You can find the praying technique on Youtube.
I see some really interesting question going on in this thread so I thought I'd answer to as many question as I can, delivering my point of view as a Muslim, I'm Sunni, and so you all know Sunni, Shia, Sufi & Druz are all Muslims, They all share the same principles with some different points of view on how to deal with some cases. The main two streams are Sunni and Shia, being shia or sunni doesn't make any difference for most of the Muslims, there so many mixed marriages and shared values, that you mostly can't tell the difference, Only some rulers tried to use that thing for there own benefits so they could divide between Sunnis and Shias. Just to prove it, Egypt one of the biggest Sunni dominant Muslim countries where once dominant Shia and Al-Azhar university in Egypt which is the most prestigious Sunni university in the world with roughly 1000 years in age was mainly built to Teach Shia. Iran the most dominant shia Muslim country in the world was actually all Sunni and one ruler changed that to make a conflict with the Ottoman empire, so actually there is no much different between all these words they are all Muslims. About Muslim prayers, Check this link you will find very useful information about it. http://www.understanding-islam.com/related/sscategory.asp?scatid=46
I'd rather prevent muslims all over the world from using the quran to conduct terrorism. Or India and the Sudan and Algeria and Afghanistan and New York and Pakistan and Israel and Russia and Chechnya and the Philippines and Indonesia and Nigeria and England and Thailand and Spain and Egypt and Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia and Ingushetia and Dagestan and Turkey and Kabardino-Balkaria and Morocco and Yemen and Lebanon and France and Uzbekistan and Gaza and Tunisia and Kosovo and Bosnia and Mauritania and Kenya and Eritrea and Syria and Somalia and California and Argentina and Kuwait and Virginia and Ethiopia and Iran and Jordan and United Arab Emirates and Louisiana and Texas and Tanzania and Germany and Australia and Pennsylvania and Belgium and Denmark and East Timor and Qatar and Maryland and Tajikistan and the Netherlands and Scotland and Chad and Canada and China and Nepal and the Maldives and... I disagree. If muslims would stop cutting off the heads of infidels, stop oppressing women, stop blaming every problem they have on Jews and stop blowing shit up all the time, I'd venture to say the possibility exists for a perception change. There's always room for improvement
Thanks gauharjk What do you mean by this, "The spirit of Brotherhood is portrayed during the prayers. It is recommended that we pray in a congregation, always in a group of brothers." Don't women pray? Very interesting. There is a lot of information, and I don't think I could go through it at one sitting. I bookmarked it though, and I will read it as I have time. Thank you.
Yeah... I mean brotherhood and sisterhood. Women have a separate section in the same mosques. Sometimes, they may have completely separate mosques. Segregation of sexes is recommended. Women, just like men, also prefer to pray in a congregation. It encourages a feeling of belonging and unites the people as members of a single family.
Oh, I wouldn't like that at all. I believe in equal rights praying. I don't like the, "you are a woman so you go here" thing. I would probably sneak in the mens congregation to see what they are talking about.
By separate, I don't mean they are not allowed to listen what men say. I mean the praying section may be separate, to protect the privacy of women. The prayers are led by the same Imam for men as well as for women. Imams are generally male, but in rare cases, experienced females may also be allowed to lead the prayers. Leading the prayers is a very arduous task, and only experienced and learned men and women can become Imams.
This is a very interesting topic, specially for me that i probbaly will convert to islam some time soon. I've been studying a bit about it, the reason is mainly because my girlfriend is muslim, and her dad is REALLY devoted to the religion, and can't stand i'm not a muslim... Anyway, i'll try to answer questions and also might ask some myself. That way i can learn a bit more every day about this amazing religion.
Turkey is the least advanced country in refference to Islam, in reference to westernization, it is pretty advanced.
I like westernization, it usually involves giving women more rights. Amongst Muslim countries, my favorites are Turkey and Pakistan.
The following is just my opinion. Women are not given rights. They are born with them. Rights can only be suppressed, not granted. Those rights come either from their creator or from their humanity, but no one person or group can grant women rights. Women should have alway had the right to vote, to work, to own property etc. There was never any moral reason to deny those rights. I get a lot of flack (and not a lot of backup) for supporting individualism. Well, we get our rights as individuals, not because we are men or women, black or white, American or Iraqi, old or young. When we start assigning rights to groups, we get collectivism. Then some have more rights than others, for no other reason than being in a group.
some people have posted in this thread that they are atheist, agnostic, or whatever...I prefer to say I'm non-religious only because as a lover of history I know only too well what atrocities have been committed all in the name of religion. In my humble opinion, religions divide us. However, that's not to say I don't respect other people's beliefs, only that I choose personal spiritualism rather than organized religion as my belief system. I believe in God, the God within me, a powerful light that gives me the ability to love and forgive and to spread peace wherever and whenever I can. My perception of Muslims is that they are no different from anyone else. They love, they pray, they live, they die. The majority of Muslims in the Middle East want peace. Do not be seduced by mainstream media. There is SO much more goodness in this world than the media will ever tell you about!
Giving woman more rights, such as, letting them be exploited, having them earn 40% less than men, and having them looked upon as peices of meat and objects rather than people? Some rights..... As much as you like to think so, in the western world you are not equal to a man, you are less equal than anywhere else in the world.
Thank you Guerilla, that was one of the most beautiful posts I have ever read. Thraxed, you cannot win this debate. Without question, the western world is much kinder to women. Not sure how to answer the suggesting that men allow women to be exploited in the western culture, you would have to be more specific. The statistic that women earn 40% less than men is incorrect. We do earn on average 25% less, which is an unacceptable number but that gap will change over time. To compare non-westernized countries to westernized countries is tricky because they are not all the same. So, I am going to generalize a bit. In non-westernized countries many women have been denied a further education, simply because they are women. In addition, they may be discouraged from working outside of the home. Not all women want to get married, sit at home and have babies. In some cultures, women have very few options in life. Do you really think American women are looked upon as pieces of meat or objects? I don't. Do you think women become pieces of meat or objects because of the clothes they wear? In the westernized world, I can wear a bikini to the beach and I am accepted. I can also wear pants and a long sleeve shirt and I am accepted. This is because I have the right to choose what clothing I will wear each day because I am a grown up. In some non-westernized societies, men will decide what women should wear. Here is a picture of the Taliban religious police beating a poor woman because her burqa came loose. They are the police of virtue, yet they have none. In the westernized world, women may own property and women have all the human rights men enjoy. In places like Saudi Arabia, women are not even allowed to drive. What about that woman that was brutally raped, then the government decided to whip her because she got in a car with an unrelated male? I'm sure some women are scared to even report rape because they may be punished. Oh yeah, and the lady that was kidnapped by the religious police because she dared to sit at same table with men? Geez, that would never happen in America. What about honor killings, female genital mutilation and women stoned to death for adultery? Don't get me started, Thraxed!
Rebecca, there are cultural differences between Eastern and Western countries. People in Asian countries, especially the Middle East, happen to be narrow-minded. These cultural restrictions have been followed in those regions for many centuries before Islam. Unfortunately, these regions are still living in the middle-ages mentality. Religion has little role to play in this.