By Lubna Abdel-Aziz Man's prayers began with man. Long before religion, man felt the need and obligation to pray. Savages and pagans felt compelled by a mysterious right within their innermost soul to be in communion with the invisible, which they came to call God. Intoxicated by this basic instinct to be connected with this vast universe, they turned to prayer. When the clouds gathered and the thunder growled, man looked upwards and uttered cries for help. In time, he found adequate reasons and responses, valid justification for prayer, this appeal to subtle forces. The German philosopher Hegel regarded Man as the chief mode, on this planet of the Divine consciousness. St. Augustine complemented Hegel's thoughts by stating that when we dig deep enough into the human, we find the Divine. Religions realized the fulfillment of man's truest expression of his divinity. Religions provided the discipline, the exercise, the organized rules and forms of prayer. By expressing his affinity with nature, "man widens immeasurably his relation with the universe and increases beyond all reckoning the sum of his inner resources." This great spiritual reality binds us to each other forming our inseparableness our logical humanity. We pray in any language, we pray alone or in communion with others. We pray aloud and in silence, we pray frequently or infrequently. It is our method of protecting ourselves from the mystery of the unknown forces of nature. People nowadays pray more than ever. Record numbers have returned to churches and Islam is growing in leaps and bounds. Communists, who once shunned religion, have happily returned to their worshiping grounds. Jews have for centuries adhered to their traditional prayers wherever they existed. Even scientists are reconciling their trade with religion. Science is the new religious mediator. "It is beginning to realize the absurdity of its previous shyness in relation to religion." Prayer is no longer "the exclusive property of theologians," but recognized by scientists as "a common property, an inalienable human possession." Some of us pray more than others. That, science is attempting to prove, is beyond our control. According to scientist Dean H. Hamer, author of The God Gene, spiritual behavior depends partly on heredity. He embarked on a search of a personality trait known as self-transcendence. Psychiatrist Robert Cloninger of Washington University had originally discovered that spiritual people tend to share a set of characteristics. Hamer's research indentified a gene known as VMAT with two differen t expression. One version scores higher in transcendental tests, in which case its carrier is more spiritually inclined. Seriously at work with his associates Hamer, has yet to prove his thesis to the satisfaction of the scientific community. We all pray. We choose our time and fashion to communicate with God. It is our time of intimacy, when we actually feel our presence before Him. This quiet communion fills us with relief from depression, distress, anxiety and heartache, and with hope that our prayer will be answered. "The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results." (James, 5:16) We pray for what is good, personally or socially. We pray to give thanks for his mercy and compassion, It is our personal conversation with God, our private union with the omnipotence of the Almighty. We address God with deep knowledge of faith that He hears us and knows best what is good for us. A personal relation of intimacy is developed through prayers, that is both real and reassuring. All religions require prayer. Our modern lifestyles as such are subjected to unprecedented stress. More than ever, we need to fill the gap in our automated, materialistic lives. We often but should not, reserve prayers for times of need. Prayers become difficult for some, an annoyance that competes with pressuring activities, but, "you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in days of abundance." (Khalil Gibran.) The simple act of gathering our thoughts and quietly entering into the living communion with God is essential in prayer. Prayer is of the utmost priority for Muslims, especially during the Holy month of Ramadan. Little is known outside of Islam about the ethical and moral commitments of this religion. Islam's fundamental premise is faith in the one and only God, and the Holy Prophet Mohamed as is his Messenger. The Muslim religion also stresses the interaction between humans, the love of man towards his fellow man. Islamic ethics presume that abiding by the obligation to exhort one another, is a divine command. During these Holy days, 1.2 billion Muslims willingly pray without ceasing for all the values of humanity. They pray for peace, mercy, forgiveness, fortitude, courage, loyalty, justice, humility, sincerity and respect. That is the essence of this religion of peace and submission, yet the world knows it to be otherwise. A victim of its very own, as well as others, Islam has been wronged, and wrongly understood in recent times. Terrorists wearing the garb of Islam, shedding innocent blood, are not practicing true Islam. Hollywood and its distortion of the Arab/ Muslim is biased and unjust in its deliberate massacre of this Holy faith. We shun them both, and all who choose to create a rift between Christianity and Islam, the religion that shares in its belief the sacredness of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and in the Immaculate Conception. Since this the month of ceaseless prayers, let us pray. May God reform all Muslim terrorists, ignorant and untutored in the expression of their faith May they find peaceful ways in pleading their case and venting their despair. Let us pray for enlightened minds and pure hearts to help define this religion of peace and submission, not to Muslims as is the case now, but to those who are biased and misinformed. With over 400 Arabic/Muslim TV channels, could we not dedicate one to interpreting and clarifying the Holy Quran to non-Muslims in a language and manner that can be comprehended? Surely our resources are capable of such a task in this, the 21st century. Let us pray gently or loudly for love of one another, for this is our first manifestation of our love for God. Let us pray alone or in unison, for tolerance of humanity, for that is our connection with the Divine. Let us, dear God, accept others and help them accept us in our choices of worship, tradition, and_ even attire. Let us fear God, and fear also those who have no fear of God. Let us pray, for without prayers, we die! It is in vain to expect our prayers to be hears, if we do not strive as well as pray -- Aesop 6th century BC
