Is Islamic Prayer Derived From Jewish Prayer

Responding to the doubt: Is Islamic prayer derived from Jewish prayer? Do Muslims prostrate like Jews? Do Muslims imitate Jews when they wash their feet before prayer?

Two Lies Spread in Christian and Atheist Groups

The first lie is that Muslims stole the way of prostration from the Jews, as both of them bow and place their foreheads on the ground !!

Sometimes, Christians post videos of a Jewish person praying, then they bring footage of a Muslim praying, and then they compare them !

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Response to This Lie

This lie is baseless. The Jewish rabbis stole the method of prostration from the Muslims. The Jews were influenced by Islam during the era of the Islamic Caliphate, so they took some of our laws and incorporated them into their own Jewish traditional books.

Jewish prostration originally involved lying on the ground; the Jew would lie on his stomach with his hands and feet spread out on the ground…

Meaning, the real Jewish prostration was like a person sleeping on his stomach on a bed, but the Islamic prostration is completely different from the Jewish prostration; as the Muslim bends his back, places his forehead on the ground and supports himself with his hands. The Muslim does not sleep on the ground, nor does he spread his hands and feet on the ground; because the Prophet forbade that (Sahih Muslim 498) … In fact, the Prophet forbade imitating the Jews in general in anything.

🔸 Therefore, the Jewish researcher, Naftali Feder, says the following in his book (Islamic Influences on Jewish Worship | Page 58) :

When the rabbis introduced physical positions into regular prayer, they legislated them on the basis of bowing and kneeling only. This is nothing more than an indication and reminder of the ancient form of which prostration was one, and which consisted of lying on the ground with the hands and feet extended.End of quote

Look with me at the pictures of the original Jewish prostration, which is different from our Islamic prostration:

Knowing that the Jews invent a new way of praying every period, you will find that each sect currently differs from the other in prayer. In fact, some of them pray on chairs and do not prostrate or anything !!

As for the video circulated by the enemies of Islam, in which a Jew prostrates:

Of course, the enemies of Islam are trying to draw parallels between the prostration of Muslims and the prostration of the Jew in the video…, but the problem lies with some of the enemies of Islam when they take the video clips out of context, even though the entire video includes the prostration of prostration of the Jews, which is different from our Islamic prostration:

Here’s a screenshot from the video:

The Second Lie

Christians and atheists claim that Muslims imitate Jews in washing their feet before prayer !

Response to this lie:

This lie is baseless.

During the era of the Islamic Caliphate, Jews imitated Muslims in washing their feet before prayer.

If you search the Jewish books of the Tanakh, you will not find a text ordering Jews to wash their feet before prayer.

The only law that mandates foot washing is when Jewish priests enter a holy place, such as the altar or the tabernacle. Of course, this law applies only to priests, not to ordinary people. Furthermore, it does not address prayer, but rather the matter of entering the tabernacle.

As for prayer, there is no explicit biblical text that commands Jews to wash their feet before prayer.

🔸 The following is mentioned in (The Jewish Encyclopedia | Volume Five | Page 357) :

[ Although there are no laws for the common people regarding foot washing , such laws for the priests are mentioned in Exodus 30:17-21 . Mention is made of the bronze vessels placed between the tabernacle and the altar of burnt offering, in which the priests were to wash their hands and feet upon entering the tabernacle or before approaching the altar of burnt offering , hence their priestly functions.] End of quote

So there is no Jewish law that commands Jews to wash their feet before prayer. Rather, Jews do this in imitation of Muslims. Therefore, the Jewish Encyclopedia states the following:

[ Since the Israelites, like all other Eastern peoples , wore sandals instead of shoes, and since they usually walked barefoot at home, frequent foot washing was necessary.]

From the previous quote we find that the Jews imitate the Eastern peoples; that is, the Muslims.

There is no Jewish law that commands washing the feet before prayer.

There is no Jewish law that commands washing the feet before prayer.

Some people cite what is mentioned in the book (Al-Shari’a Al-Shamiyya from the Geniza in Cairo) , and I respond to them and say:

The Cairo Geniza documents are Egyptian Jewish documents dating back to the period extending from the Fatimid era to the Ayyubid era , that is, from the end of the tenth century AD to the middle of the thirteenth century AD, in addition to documents from the Mamluk and Ottoman eras .

Some of the letters and documents also date back to the mid-19th century. The Geniza , found in the Ibn Ezra Synagogue in Cairo, is considered one of the most important geniza collections in the world, as it is the largest and most diverse.

This means that the Cairo Geniza was originally written centuries after the advent of Islam…

Some people claim that the Mishnah commands a Jew to wash his body before prayer, and they cite what is stated in (Berakhot 5:3), and I myself searched in ( Berakhot 5:3 ) and did not find this command there.

Then I thought to look in (berakhot 3:5) and I did not find in it the command to wash the feet before prayer. Rather, all it talked about was: [If a Jew is praying and then remembers that semen came out of him] , and the passage also talked about a Jew reciting the Shema if he immerses himself in water and then comes out of the water (bathes in the pool).

Some people quote the words of the Jewish rabbi (Saeed Al-Fayoumi) , so I respond and say :

Rabbi Saeed Al-Fayoumi was born in Fayoum, Egypt in the third century AH. This man was influenced by Muslims and by Imam Al-Tabari’s method of interpretation. It even reached the point where this Jewish rabbi would imitate Muslims in beginning his writings with the phrase (Praise be to God and prayers and peace be upon His messengers)!

As for those who cite the words of the Jewish rabbi, Moses ben Maimon (Rambam) , this man lived in Cordoba in the sixth century AH, and was also influenced by and transmitted from the Muslims.

As for those who cite the legislation of washing the feet contained in the Halachon Gedoloth , the famous Jewish rabbi , Aziel Held Seheimer, acknowledged that this text was foreign to Judaism and not original.

Even if we assume that Jews and Muslims are similar in prostration and foot washing, this is because the Jews hold remnants of God’s revelation to His Prophet Moses. It is only natural that the laws of the prophets would be similar, as all prophets came from God… However, the Jews distorted some of Moses’ laws and preserved others.

Finally: An important message to Christians:

You Christians have stolen the entire Jewish scriptures and laws, starting with the Book of Genesis, and then attributed these books to yourselves and your God. In fact, the writers of the New Testament quoted from the Old Testament in most chapters… So why don’t you look at yourselves before you criticize others?!

Why didn’t you Christians accuse yourselves and your fathers of theft?!

Here we have refuted two of the lies spread among Christians and atheists…