I love this sort of writing. Bringing attention to something you don't pay too much attention to, even as a muslim. My prayer rug has tessellation patterns, probably a testament to God's infiniteness.
Where I'm originally from in Diyarbakir, Turkey, the Christians also use prayer rugs when prostrating (to, I think, Jerusalem) so this isn't an exclusively "Islamic" thing.
In ancient times Hindus had a prayer mat made of kuusha or kaasha grass. Apparently the grass descended from the hairs of the boar incarnation. So this notion of a seat in worship is indeed very ancient.
This reminds me of the practice in Egypt where men would intentionally press their heads into the ground when praying in order to develop a callous, colloquially called a zebiba, showing off their piety. Is this still fashionable? When I traveled rural Egypt in 2008 it was omnipresent; one shopkeeper told me he no longer believed in religion, but he had to develop a zebiba nevertheless, otherwise no one would buy from his shop.
I knew people who "groomed" a zebiba, for lack of a better term. I don't doubt that some people who have one are not doing it for show (otherwise who are they emulating?). Whether or not it's fashionable depends on your social circle, I assumr
(I'm a Muslim). I mean... Strictly speaking as far as i am aware the mat/rug is not sacred itself. It is just a place to put your head +knees comfortably.
In fact the Prophet Muhammad SAW did not use a prayer mat and instead he placed his head on the soil (ground/earth).
Yes, the prayer rug is not sacred, per se, but it can be embued with a measure of sacredness by our practices upon it.
Please know that Zikr (remembering/repeating one of the many Names of God) is the highest form of worship. (Zikr is commanded three times in the Quran-i-Kerim.)
Al-lah, Yah-weh, Di-os, De-us, Brah-man, ...
Many Names in our various languages for the one Creator, one human race, one religion of God: compassionate service to all mankind that comes in many forms across our planet's cultures and epochs.
Always love. Teach to always love. Never hate. Teach to never hate.
Yeah I think the author of this article had some subjective understanding and experience. I don't mean to diminish it but it's definitely something I and other (but not all) Muslims find foreign
Why is there more and more talk about ideological topics on every social media platform? I don't know how it is for others, but I'm on HackerNews specifically to escape from this kind of thing.
One thing I’ve been curious about for a long time is if the use of prayer rugs in the Orthodox Churches predates Islam or was picked up by Christians from their Muslim neighbors.
That whole bundle of traditions - prayer times, prayer directions, prayer accessories, etc predates Islam if for no other reason than that Islam is comparatively new. But the cross-pollination could have easily happened more than once and in both directions.
Even Muslims do not claim their religion is completely novel. The rituals may differ, but the creed preached by Muhammad (peace and blessings upon him) is the same preached by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, John, Jesus, and countless other prophets (peace be upon them all): worship The One True God (Allah, Yahweh) with no partners.
As far as prayer rugs and other accessories, those are not actually part of our rituals as Muslims. Some people use them for practical purposes (prayer rugs help you avoid prostrating on dirt, asphalt, a potentially unclean carpet, etc. and prayer beads make it easier to keep count), while some others may have cultural reasons, and some just want to enhance their spiritual experience (e.g. incense and perfume).
> "Going a little farther, he [Jesus] fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’"
Especially monks and nuns do prostrations as part of their prayer rule. Some do hunderds, some do even thousands prostrations during their prayers. We use prayer rope when recitating Jesus Prayer[1]. Prayer rope helps count the prayers but also it gives your hands something to do while praying, so it's easier to focus. I usually have one in my pocket and I roll it in my hands secretly while in meetings or sometimes even during typing code. I don't really pray then but it reminds me of the spiritual reality and that my boring Teams-meetings and stupid Jira-tickets aren't the purpose of my life ;)
Prostrations are part of every Orthodox tradition, to my knowledge. You will even see people making prostrations publicly in church especially during Great Lent, but you will generally not see people doing it at a Sunday liturgy since (in most traditions) prostrations are forbidden on Sundays.
Every Orthodox service I've been to we stood the entire time, though I never went on special holidays. My inner ex-Catholic wondered is it really church if I don't kneel and stand, kneel and stand, kneel and stand all through the service?
My Ukrainian ex had a worship space in a corner. It didn't have any rugs but had hauntingly beautiful hand painted icons. Maybe rugs are more of a thing in the old countries?
I believe the prayer rug comes from the Ottomans (uncited) who added prestige to the artifacts. After the conquest of Constantinople, the Ottomons adopted the Roman (Byzantine) Orthodox Church's symbol () to represent Islam (Crescent and Star). They adopted the church dome and bell tower for architecture of the mosque called dome and minaret. And now it seems they also adopted the prayer rug.
(Fun anecdote: I traveled to Venice and the tour guide said the architecture of the St. Marks Basilica is different from the Catholic Churches of the rest of Italy as it resembles Islamic Architecture influences. Ha! It resembles Byzantine or Constantinople influences, not Islamic at all but quite similar.)
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Where I'm originally from in Diyarbakir, Turkey, the Christians also use prayer rugs when prostrating (to, I think, Jerusalem) so this isn't an exclusively "Islamic" thing.
It's why these show up in almost all Islamic artifacts.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7469221.stm
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In fact the Prophet Muhammad SAW did not use a prayer mat and instead he placed his head on the soil (ground/earth).
Also note; Shias place their head on a stone/rock to mimic this practice: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbah
Please know that Zikr (remembering/repeating one of the many Names of God) is the highest form of worship. (Zikr is commanded three times in the Quran-i-Kerim.)
Al-lah, Yah-weh, Di-os, De-us, Brah-man, ...
Many Names in our various languages for the one Creator, one human race, one religion of God: compassionate service to all mankind that comes in many forms across our planet's cultures and epochs.
Always love. Teach to always love. Never hate. Teach to never hate.
There is often picture of Kaba on it but some people don't agree with that and prefer not using those rugs.
> "So turn your face toward al-Masjid al-Haram (the Sacred Mosque in Mecca). And wherever you are, turn your faces toward it..."
Quran 2:144
As far as prayer rugs and other accessories, those are not actually part of our rituals as Muslims. Some people use them for practical purposes (prayer rugs help you avoid prostrating on dirt, asphalt, a potentially unclean carpet, etc. and prayer beads make it easier to keep count), while some others may have cultural reasons, and some just want to enhance their spiritual experience (e.g. incense and perfume).
> "Going a little farther, he [Jesus] fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’"
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Prayer
My Ukrainian ex had a worship space in a corner. It didn't have any rugs but had hauntingly beautiful hand painted icons. Maybe rugs are more of a thing in the old countries?
(Fun anecdote: I traveled to Venice and the tour guide said the architecture of the St. Marks Basilica is different from the Catholic Churches of the rest of Italy as it resembles Islamic Architecture influences. Ha! It resembles Byzantine or Constantinople influences, not Islamic at all but quite similar.)
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