Do Muslims pray for people other than those of their religion?

[Whynott]

I’ll likely be away from the forums till the weekend. Having reviewed the posts I realize there is a lot I did not know. Thanks all.:tiphat:

 

[MartinJordan]

That quote sounds very close to a famous phrase that Jesus said on the cross…

Luke 23:34 Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.’

The difference though is that Jesus is praying for those who did not accept him and not necessarily His people.

MJ

 

[adelore]

I want to thank the OP for this question, as I also didn’t know. I don’t know much about the Muslims, so I want to thank the Muslims that answered.

 

[John_Paul_Jones]

The difference though is that Jesus is praying for those who did not accept him

Well, Jesus is praying both for friends who abandon Him and enemies who persecuted Him, really everyone involved in the crucifixion, for everyone past, present, and future.

and not necessarily His people.

MJ

“O allah, forgive my people for they have no knowledge.” or “O allah, guide these people, because they did not know what they were doing.”??

There is another story that where muhammed said something similar. In it muhammed doesn’t say “my people” but “these people.” I don’t know if it is the same story, anyway muhammed went to Ta’if to preach, he first went to the tribal leaders, and they weren’t too interested, etc etc (there different version of the of story for what happened) one ends with the children stoning him nearly to death. (I’ll finish the story with a quote)
wiki:

After he was able to escape their persecution, he made a heartfelt supplication to allah. In response, the angel jibrail came to muhammad with the angel of the mountains. Jibrail told him that allah sent this angel with him so that if he wanted, the angel would crush the town between the two surrounding mountains. The prophet, in his great patience, replied not with violence but with the statement:

“O allah, guide these people, because they did not know what they were doing.”

A decade later, the people of Taif embrace Islam.

I don’t know how long muhammed’s great patience and his non-violence lasted, because he came back later to Ta’if and held it under siege, during which he use catapults in the battle. Lawrence Wright said it was this incident, the use of catapults in the siege of Ta’if that was precedent needed in the justification to fly planes into the Twin Towers.

 

[meedo]

I will admit that I don’t know very much about Islam (besides things that will land me in a mud-slinging contest with dissident Muslims) and one of the things I have heard is that Muslims only pray for other Muslims.

Is that true? Do Muslims only pray for their friends and not enemies?

Thanks.

We pray for every body.

 

[Reuben_J]

I would like to believe (and I think so) that Muslims pray for people, not only Muslims. Maybe I think that way because of my Christian background that we should pray for the world and for the goodness and the well-being of those who need them. Thus we pray for those who need prayers - people have all kinds of needs (physically, emotionally, spiritually and even materially) - and our prayers is for their needs.

Thus it follows, if Islam is a religion that says it is, logically Muslims should pray for the people. But I am not Muslims, and some Muslims, at least one on this board, say that Muslims should pray only for their own kind. Well. …