Only thing I can add to discussion is that this rug is called "place of prayer" in Urdu (which is Jaaey Namaz or جائے نماز).
There is often picture of Kaba on it but some people don't agree with that and prefer not using those rugs.
Prayer, Placement, and Absolution: Peter Hristoff on Islamic Prayer Rugs (2015)
51–60 of 94 posts
Re: Prayer, Placement, and Absolution: Peter Hristoff on Islamic Prayer Rugs (2015)
#52[flagged]
Wow, thank you for posting this quote showing that Churchill was a right bastard. Really expanded my mind.
Re: Prayer, Placement, and Absolution: Peter Hristoff on Islamic Prayer Rugs (2015)
#53One 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.
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Re: Prayer, Placement, and Absolution: Peter Hristoff on Islamic Prayer Rugs (2015)
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
Islamic canon law (the Shariah) is derived from primary texts (the Quran and Hadith) and uses interpretive methodologies (like deductive analogy - Qiyas) to derive rulings that are not explicitly discussed in the primary source material. This gives some amount of openness and causes some differences of opinion resulting in multiple schools of thought. Practicing Muslims rely on books and texts that systematize this k…
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It's a larger discussion but not really HN material so I'll leave it at that
Re: Prayer, Placement, and Absolution: Peter Hristoff on Islamic Prayer Rugs (2015)
#55One 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.
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.)
Re: Prayer, Placement, and Absolution: Peter Hristoff on Islamic Prayer Rugs (2015)
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
In Sunni Islam, the Hadith is essentially a companion source to the Quran - in particular, Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. But I should have been more specific. I think Shia art has the same restrictions though - could be wrong.
Only the Quran is guaranteed to be unchanged (but the interpretations and translations are not so guaranteed), the Hadiths are not. The proper perspective is that if the Hadith and Quran are in conflict, the Quran is the authoratative source. From our Sufi perspective, the Hadiths are a lot of game of telephone. And if the Quran is difficult to apply, remember that compassion is the entire purpose of all God's religi…
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Re: Prayer, Placement, and Absolution: Peter Hristoff on Islamic Prayer Rugs (2015)
#57I 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.
I remember my grandmother carting her prayer rug all the way from Bangladesh to the U.S. when she came to visit.
Re: Prayer, Placement, and Absolution: Peter Hristoff on Islamic Prayer Rugs (2015)
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
From Wikipedia[0]: "The Quran, the Islamic holy book, does not prohibit the depiction of human figures; it merely condemns idolatry. Interdictions of figurative representation are present in the hadith, among a dozen of the hadith recorded during the latter part of the period when they were being written down." [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniconism_in_Islam#:~:text=T... .
In Sunni Islam, the Hadith is essentially a companion source to the Quran - in particular, Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. But I should have been more specific. I think Shia art has the same restrictions though - could be wrong.
Shiites often depict their important religious figures and martyrs, but with the face replaced with a bright glow.
Like this: https://www.deviantart.com/shia-ali/art/YA-ALI-343625919
It's also not uncommon to depict e.g. Ali with a face. Sunni salafist movements are the ones that are fanatically against such art, and they are quite savvy with propaganda and backed by very powerful friends on the peninsula and elsewhere, such as the backers of the Gulf dictatorships in London and Washington.
Re: Prayer, Placement, and Absolution: Peter Hristoff on Islamic Prayer Rugs (2015)
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
From Wikipedia[0]: "The Quran, the Islamic holy book, does not prohibit the depiction of human figures; it merely condemns idolatry. Interdictions of figurative representation are present in the hadith, among a dozen of the hadith recorded during the latter part of the period when they were being written down." [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniconism_in_Islam#:~:text=T... .
In Sunni Islam, the Hadith is essentially a companion source to the Quran - in particular, Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. But I should have been more specific. I think Shia art has the same restrictions though - could be wrong.
It does and it doesn't.
AFAIK Shia doesn't specifically ban all images outright, but instead relies on context. For example, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)* - Sunni Islam bans all images of him and other prophets, while Shia Islam might allow some images as a reference to him or other prophets as historical figures such as Jesus, Adam, Moses, David, etc... which they undoubtedly are. That's why some images of prophets are basically a white outline surrounded by fire, or a figure with a veil over their face. As long as you aren't defaming or purposely offending the religion, it's frowned upon in most cases, but not explicitly banned due to the historical context - humanity, after all, did and does rely on images instead of words at times and did so when most people were illiterate but could understand images. As long as the prophets aren't made into idols or worshiped or defamed, and are illustrated for historic context in a non defaming way, it's OK, sometimes.
*I say this while not Muslim to avoid the notion that I am purposely offending Islam - I'm not.
Re: Prayer, Placement, and Absolution: Peter Hristoff on Islamic Prayer Rugs (2015)
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Islamic canon law (the Shariah) is derived from primary texts (the Quran and Hadith) and uses interpretive methodologies (like deductive analogy - Qiyas) to derive rulings that are not explicitly discussed in the primary source material. This gives some amount of openness and causes some differences of opinion resulting in multiple schools of thought. Practicing Muslims rely on books and texts that systematize this k…
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> Guess my religious background.
Protestant? (Based on the emphasis on a personal experience of the text, unfiltered by mediators).