LET’S NOT PRAY

In this dialogue, Hardi discusses with Reverend Imoro, an old classmate of his at their old Students meeting. He lays out his view on the controversy regarding opening/closing prayers at public gatherings.

Reverend: it is good to see you this morning, my good friend, Hardi

Hardi: I am glad to see you Reverend I hope Almighty God is taking good care of you. His grace I know is always closer to you

Reverend: oh my good friend, God does not discriminate in his mercies. He has been good to us all in the bountifulness of His grace. 

Hardi: you always say so. Anyway, what do you think of today’s gathering. I think it  has rather been well-organized. A lot of the old folks are in attendance. I can see your best friends, Miiba and the Rizky 

Reverend: yes, it will be a good opportunity for us to reconnect. It is such a great reunion. That is why I am privileged to be the one to say the opening prayer.

Hardi: I see. You are definitely happy about it. I, contrarily, am not the least enthused. 

Reverend: that is a rather surprising notice to serve. I have always held you as a dear friend. How come you are against my saying of an opening prayer at this great occasion?

Hardi: Oh no. don’t misunderstand me. My disagreement is with our habit of saying opening and closing prayers at our gatherings, not your saying the prayer per se

Reverend: but why should you be against that? It is a means of calling God into our midst and to invite him to take control of the gatherings so that they may begin and end successfully. What I think you should be against is your unfailing habit of always making argument out of everything.

Hardi: hahahah…when will you ever stop accusing me in this way? We will have a full length discussion on that someday, so it can be settled once and for all.

Reverend: I think ‘discussion' is a wrong word to use; full length 'argument' rather.

Hardi: hahahah …. You know you can be funny sometimes. But back to our earlier discussion. I have always been made to believe that God is omnipresent. By this sacred feature, He is said to be everywhere at every turn.

Reverend: that is true 

Hardi: it is also true that every part of the earth, seen or unseen, land or sea, mountains or valleys, in a word every earthly material is a creation of God

Reverend: true

Hardi: shall I post a question to you now?

Reverend: yes, why not?

Hardi: if a man builds a house to provide shelter for himself and his family, the house is his property, is it not?

Reverend: it is

Hardi: good; and that particular man will need no invitation or permission from anyone to be in the house.

Reverend: certainly not

Hardi: well then, it is my contention that the same applies to the matter of God and human gatherings. All the human beings who will be attending today’s gathering and indeed every other gathering as well as the land and other materials involved in making this gathering happen are creations, and therefore properties of God. Since a man needs no invitation to enter his own house, which is his property, so does God not need invitation to be in the midst of his bona fide creations.

Reverend: I shall also post a question to you, if you allow me

Hardi: please do.

Reverend: Do you believe in God?

Hardi: most definitely. I am a Muslim, by which I mean I submit to the will of God, the most high, the most generous and I believe in His prophets, among them Jesus Christ, which you believe is your Lord and personal Saviour and Muhammad (Peace and Blessing of Allah be upon him) who I believe to be the crown and noblest of all prophets and in His scriptures among them the Bible and the Quran. 

Reverend: Great. This most high and most generous God is also all-knowing, meaning He knows everything existing or transpiring open or hidden, expressed or subtle. 

Hardi: yes. I believe so too.

Reverend: now, would you say people should stop asking God for provision or providence? Would you say we, those who believe in God, you inclusive, should stop praying and asking God for favours or for help in solving our problems?

Hardi: these last questions seem rather unrelated to our discussion, unless you can provide a context.

Reverend: well, it was you who said only a moment ago that God should not be invited into our gatherings because He is everywhere and does not need the invitation. I am telling you that the same argument might hold for His all-knowing characteristic; if God is all-knowing, then it means that He knows all our needs and our situations, and it will be needless therefore to pray to Him and ask Him for such things.

Hardi: well, there are several other reasons for which I think we must not have opening and closing prayers at our gatherings, and indeed all gatherings. You understand that at most of these gatherings, there are people of different faiths.

Reverend: yes I do. That is why we do both Christian and Muslim prayers. For instance, I will be doing a Christian opening prayer today whilst Ahmed will say the Muslim closing prayer.

Hardi: but that approach compounds the problem rather than solve it. At least, it is problematic in two ways. First, it is not representative; Muslims and Christians are not the only religionists in the world – there are Budhists, Jews, Hinduists etc. All these people have ways by which they worship their God. And some people don’t even believe in God, so prayer in any form is a non-starter for them.   If you ignore these and assume that the Muslim and Christian prayers in which these other people don’t even believe can adequately cover them, you commit the sin of religious imposition, which is in some way a travesty on the freedom of worship. 

Reverend: What do you imply?

Hardi: if we insist on praying all the time, then all the people must be allowed to pray in their own religions before and after the main program.

Reverend: But that will constitute chaotic absurdity. Besides, how can we allow time for everyone to climb the dais and pray in their religion? What time will be left for the main program?

Hardi: But religious imposition/intolerance is as much an evil as chaotic absurdity

Reverend: well, wouldn’t it be better for all these people to pray silently?

Hardi: that is the implication from the second problem with the current approach. Even if the gathering is only made up of Christians and Muslims, it still wouldn’t be right to have opening and closing prayers on behalf of everybody. 

Reverend: why not?

Hardi: because there are several fine differences between Christian and Muslim worship which are fundamental to their beliefs. For instance, Christians believe that Jesus is God as part of a trinity and that he (Jesus) is a son of God. So when you pray, you pray in the name of the Father, the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This Muslims disbelieve in. To them, there is no father and no son and Jesus is thus a prophet like any other prophet, albeit an exalted one. In fact, there is a chapter in the Quran (Surah Ikhlaas) which makes it clear to Muslims that God is one (not part of a trinity) and that God has no son. Therefore, when Muslims pray at a public gathering such as ours at which Christians are present, and recite this chapter or any other like it, they are debasing the foundations of the belief of their Christian friends whilst pretending to pray with them.

On the other hand, Muslims believe in Muhammad as the noblest and crown of all the prophets. But Christians don’t believe in this. So when Christians pray in the name of Jesus, they deny Muhammad as the last prophet. You cannot deny the foundations of a man’s belief whilst pretending to pray with him. It is hypocrisy. 

Reverend: I see sense in your reasoning. But what do you propose?

Hardi: Exactly what you said earlier. We must abolish opening and closing prayers and encourage people to pray on their own before coming for gatherings. That way, you will still invite God, since you insist on inviting Him, whilst not causing religious discomforts to each other. I will raise this issue when we begin deliberations.

Reverend: I agree with encouraging people to pray on their own but I certainly disagree that we should abolish opening and closing prayers. Anyway, good luck with that. I don’t think you will get much support though. I personally will not support your motion. I have to get close and do the opening prayer, people are taking their seats. See you after the program

Hardi: I know you won’t support it; weren’t you just a moment ago expressing your delight at the fact that you are saying the opening prayer? We will talk after the program.