Prayer across the world’s religions

Religious traditions describe several purposes for prayer: praising and thanking God, asking for help for oneself and others, confessing wrongdoing and seeking forgiveness, aligning one’s will with God’s and simply being present before the divine. In traditions without a creator God, practices often grouped with prayer, such as chanting or meditation, aim at cultivating awareness, compassion and wisdom.

Muslims perform salah, ritual prayer, five times a day: at dawn, midday, afternoon, sunset and night. Each prayer follows a fixed sequence of standing, bowing, prostrating and sitting, with recitation from the Quran in Arabic, and is performed facing the Kaaba in Mecca after ritual washing, wudu.

The Friday midday prayer is held in congregation at the mosque, with a sermon. Alongside salah, Muslims make du’a, personal supplication, at any time and in any language, and practise dhikr, the remembrance of God through repeated phrases.

Traditional Jewish prayer takes place three times a day: morning (Shacharit), afternoon (Minchah) and evening (Ma’ariv). The central prayer is the Amidah, recited standing, and the Shema is recited morning and evening. Many prayers are said communally, ideally with a minyan of ten adults, and are found in the prayer book, the siddur.

Jewish prayer also includes blessings throughout the day, over food, on seeing natural wonders and on many other occasions, expressing gratitude for everyday life. Orthodox men wear a prayer shawl, tallit, and tefillin during weekday morning prayer.

Christians pray to God, often in the name of Jesus. The Lord’s Prayer, which Jesus taught his disciples, is prayed by Christians of all traditions. Christian prayer includes public worship, such as the Mass, the Divine Liturgy or a Sunday service, as well as personal prayer, which may be spontaneous or follow written prayers.

Traditions differ in style. Catholic and Orthodox Christians pray with the saints and Mary, use the rosary or the Jesus Prayer, and pray the Liturgy of the Hours. Protestant traditions often emphasize spontaneous prayer and prayer meetings. Contemplative prayer, silent attention to God, is practised in many churches.

Hindu prayer takes many forms. Puja is worship of a deity with offerings of light, flowers and food at a home shrine or temple. Japa is the repetition of a mantra or divine name, often with prayer beads. The Gayatri mantra is recited daily by many Hindus. Devotional singing, bhajan and kirtan, is central in bhakti traditions.

Prayer may be addressed to a chosen deity such as Krishna, Shiva or Durga, and many Hindus also see prayer and meditation as ways of realizing the divine within.

Since most forms of Buddhism do not centre on a creator God, Buddhist practice is often described as meditation rather than prayer. Yet Buddhists chant sutras, recite the Three Refuges, make offerings before images of the Buddha and dedicate merit to others. In Mahayana traditions, devotees call on buddhas and bodhisattvas, such as Amitabha or Avalokiteshvara, and in Tibetan Buddhism prayer wheels and prayer flags spread mantras.

Sikh prayer centres on remembrance of the Divine Name, Naam simran. Observant Sikhs recite set prayers from scripture in the morning, evening and before sleep, including Japji Sahib. The Ardas is a communal prayer recited at the end of services and at important moments. Singing hymns from Guru Granth Sahib, kirtan, is a central form of worship in the gurdwara.

Despite their differences, many traditions share features: set times and words for prayer, bodily postures such as kneeling or prostration, sacred languages, communal and personal forms, and the use of objects such as beads. Many also teach that sincerity and attention matter more than outward form.

Prayer is communication with God or the divine, found in almost all religions. Muslims pray five times daily, Jews three times, Christians through liturgy and personal prayer, Hindus through puja and mantra, Buddhists through chanting and meditation, and Sikhs through remembrance and hymns. Each tradition gives prayer its own form, language and purpose.