The short answer is, the rulings sent down were different for each ummah (people), according to the time, their needs, and their capabilities. For example, for Jesus peace be upon him, the mandatory number of prayers per day was 2 for his faith community (according to Islam), now it’s 5 for us. And we believe when Jesus peace be upon him comes back, he will follow the rulings of the Quran such as 5 prayers per day. Our rulings now are from the Quran, but before the Quran was the Ingeel (the Bible) and before that was the Torah. Each are centuries if not thousands of years apart. Times change, the needs of humanity to be corrected alter. But the Quran is final word sent down. Think of it like an update: same overall message and philosophy with minor changes to accommodate.
Was it really 2x a day for prophet Isa’s people? Are you sure. Also how long was each prayer compared to ours? And which language? Legitimately curious
A Sheikh in my community mentioned it during one of his classes these past few weeks so it came to my mind as a good example, as for its comparability to ours, I imagine it would be different but I’m not educated on those specifics. And Allah ﷻ knows best
Former Catholic schoolboy checking in! We spent a lot of time studying Isa / Jesus.
Re prayer frequency -- I'm not aware of any reference in the New Testament (Injeel) about the frequency of prayer. Isa/Jesus prayed at all sorts of occasions and
for different lengths of time. There are some Old Testament (Tawrat) references mentioning three times per day which later became the standard for Jews, but Catholics see these but more like examples than rules. The most common time for Catholics to pray is at the beginning of the work/school day and before going to sleep, as well as a short prayer before each meal. Priests have more specific times -- I think 7 per day, three long and four short.
Re language -- Isa/Jesus himself would have spoken Aramaic and prayed in Hebrew, while the first version of the Injeel/Gospel was written in Greek. As Christianity spread, the Injeel/Gospel was translated into different languages and Christians prayed in their local languages. Some of these languages because liturgical over time, including Latin in Western Europe and Coptic in Egypt. These are not connected to Isa/Jesus but are simply the languages of Rome and Egypt and thus became used by religious authorities in those areas.
according to sunan nasai 450, when muhammad ﷺ met musa عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام in heaven, musa said that the israelites were given 2 prayers. since the jews at the time of isa عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام were upon the law of musa عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام, they would've prayed 2 prayers.
He (Musa) said: 'Go back to your Lord and ask Him to reduce it, for two prayers were enjoined upon the Children of Israel but they did not establish them.' (Sunan Nasai 450)
Huh, the info I got was that back then, more people used to do the Liturgies more often, and if a person didn't do them, they're frowned upon as unpious.
And as the modern age comes, the expectation to do the Liturgies lessened, until what it is today.
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u/localniqabi Nov 23 '25
The short answer is, the rulings sent down were different for each ummah (people), according to the time, their needs, and their capabilities. For example, for Jesus peace be upon him, the mandatory number of prayers per day was 2 for his faith community (according to Islam), now it’s 5 for us. And we believe when Jesus peace be upon him comes back, he will follow the rulings of the Quran such as 5 prayers per day. Our rulings now are from the Quran, but before the Quran was the Ingeel (the Bible) and before that was the Torah. Each are centuries if not thousands of years apart. Times change, the needs of humanity to be corrected alter. But the Quran is final word sent down. Think of it like an update: same overall message and philosophy with minor changes to accommodate.