Learning to Pray in North AfricaThe Phantom Intercessor - 3 Aug 2011

I have a growing conviction that if we want to be understandable to Muslim communities... then we need to become actual communities of prayer.

Today in the Arab world, corporate prayer - by Muslims - is at the forefront of the wave of change taking place. In Tahrir Square in Cairo violent suppression of protests stopped each time the call to prayer was sounded, crowds lined up to pray, then afterward the melee resumed. The Friday prayer gathering has become the rallying point each week for whatever protest/demonstration will take place...

Since the Egyptian revolution in January, I have been interested to see the extent to which Sufi movements have surged here in Egypt.

Sufi “Tariqaʼs” (Pathways, or schools) center in practice around the “dhikr” ceremony - a large community gathering with music led by a worship band with traditional instruments (and a non-optional sound system that can be heard miles away!), a multi-generational crowd of worshippers, often including women, often dancing and raising hands, and the goal of encountering God through touching/being touched by spirits of saints and prophets. Hereʼs an example from YouTube.

While there have been many interesting writings by Sufi mystics, my description above is (from my direct observation) more what the average person involved in the dhikr gatherings is experiencing. Most mention of Sufism I have read about talks about it in terms of its personal, mystical dimension. While that is one important aspect, my own observation is that to those who are involved in it, it is an experience of community worship.

The Muslim Brotherhood here in Egypt has strong roots in Sufi practice. Hassan al- Bana (the founder, in the 1940s) was himself quite involved in Sufi practice when he was young, and as he formed the Brotherhood he deliberately looked to the dhikr (Sufi worship/community gathering) as a way of seeing the message he was preaching take root and spread among Muslims. It is interesting to see worshiping communities at the heart of a movement that is gaining ground in most places in the Muslim world (almost all Islamist movements worldwide at present have roots of some sort in the Muslim Brotherhood).

The corporate and individual prayer of many Muslims is far less nominal than it was 20 years ago. Increasingly, the prayer itself is done with passion and intensity, and is seen as essential to whatever action takes place.

It is easy to look at all that is happening and focus on many other social/religious/ political dimensions than the fact that this wave of change is so focused around prayer. But I have a hunch that in the coming years, we will continue to see corporate prayer and worship gatherings be “coincidentally” the point of catalytic events in the Muslim world.   

I am leaving aside the point that many aspects of prayer in Islam are not necessarily based on a Biblical understanding of prayer (although they outwardly resemble many early, historical Christian expressions of prayer). Rather, I am focusing on the concept of prayer as a community practice in general. It is interesting to note that in the book of Acts, communities and individuals in prayer are also “coincidentally” noted at catalytic points where the Jerusalem-Judea/Samaria/ends of the earth framework (Acts 1:8) is pushed forward to new levels (Acts 1,2,3,6,10,11,16, for example).

For us, as an apostolic spiritual community, this is worth thinking about. We have tended to focus on exploring the theological points of contact between Jesus and Islam, and that is worthwhile. But the thing that I have seen connecting more with the hearts of Muslims, and opening doors for the Gospel, has been contextualizing ourselves into praying communities.

To use the word “contextualize” to describe our engaging on a deeper and more meaningful level in corporate prayer and worship is certainly ironic, since this is simply being true to the Scriptures and the descriptions we see of the New Testament church. But as a part of the 20th century, post-enlightenment church, engaging in meaningful prayer often has a steep learning curve.
So many of our contextualization efforts (I am referring to the practice of1 Cor. 9:19-23 here, not to issues related to Insider Movements which as an issue is sometimes referred to as “contextualization”) have focused on externals such as clothing, language, and personal habits, or theological points of presenting the Gospel in ways that are understandable to Muslims. But I have a growing conviction that if we want to be understandable to Muslim communities that have the following characteristics:

- encourage personal prayer five times a day
- gather weekly for corporate prayer
- fast intensively for roughly 10% of the year
- are experiencing massive political changes that center around prayer gatherings
- honor prayer to the point that they stop fighting to allow for it
- are experiencing an upsurge in Sufi practices of community worship
- are experiencing an upsurge of Islamist movements that are organized around the principle of communities gathering in corporate prayer
... then we need to become actual communities of prayer. That doesnʼt mean we only pray, but it does mean that we really are communities that value and engage in prayer as “work” for ourselves, not just something to be assigned to those in a supporting role. Not that we ʻmodelʼ prayer communities, but that we actually are praying communities that are apostolic among Muslims. And I believe that Muslims coming to Jesus will do so much more readily when they become a part of a praying community.
I am excited about what is ahead. I am excited to live in this decade. What I see taking place in the church, and in the Muslim world, encourages me deeply, even knowing that
the road ahead will have many difficulties and much suffering along the way. Weʼve only just seen the initial stirrings of what God plans to do among Muslims, but I believe that faithful and diligent pressing in to what God has called us to in Christ Jesus will position us to be in front-row seats for the greatest movement of the Spirit of God ever in the Muslim world.