In their daily prayers, Muslims have to repeat the following from the Quran multiple times:
Surah 1:6-7 “Guide us to the straight path, the path of those whom You have favored, Not of those who have incurred your wrath, nor of those who have gone astray.”
Sura 1, verse 7, is repeated up to 17-times per day by pious Muslims during the 5 prayer sessions, and subunits of prayer.
These relatively innocuous words, however, are anything but. Muslims understand “those who have incurred your wrath” to be “the Jews” and “those who have gone astray” to be “the Christians” and of course, it is the Muslims who are on the “straight and na rrow” and thus have Allah’s favor.
Quran 1:7, the Fatiha’s (sura 1’s) last verse:
…[T]he phrase in the daily prescribed prayers” Guide us to the straight path, to the path of those you have blessed, not of those who incurred [Your] wrath, nor of the misguided (al-Fatiha, 1:5-7.)…mention two groups of people but do not say who they are. The Prophet [Muhammad] interpreted those who incurred God’s wrath as the Jews and the misguided as the Christians.
The Jews, we are told [i.e., in both the Koran, and hadith] killed many of their prophets, and through their character and materialistic tendencies have contributed much to moral corruption, social upheaval and sedition in the world…[T]hey were readily misled and incurred both God’s wrath and ignominy. As forthe Christians…over time they succumbed to the influence of those who had already deviated from the chosen path. By the time Christianity came to be accepted as the official religion of the Roman Empire, many Christians had long gone astray and had been deprived of their original scripture…By interpreting the phrase “not of those who incurred [Your] wrath, nor of the misguided” the Prophet identified them and clarified in what way and by what beliefs and deeds a man incurs God’s wrath. This is a warning for the Muslims not to follow in the footsteps of the Jews and Christians.
Such an utterance is extremely bigoted and hateful. When the same is uttered as part of sacred prayers to God, it becomes even more hateful and worth censuring. And Friday prayers are even worse, because Muslims also have to recite Surah 62 (The Friday Congregation) and Surah 63 (The Hypocrites). Surah 62 specifically condemns polytheists as being “in gross error“, and Jews are compared to “a donkey laden with books”. Surah 63 condemns “hypocrites” (here those who have renounced their Muslim faith ) as: “They are the enemy. Guard yourself against them.”
Comparing a people to “donkeys” is an appalling type of hate speech and racism. So, Muslim prayers, whether daily prayers or the Friday congregational one, are horrible sorts of hate crimes and bigotry which deserve censure and even a ban in civilized societies.
Surah 62.5 “The similitude of those who were charged with the (obligations of the) Mosaic Law, but who subsequently failed in those (obligations), is that of a donkey which carries huge tomes (but understands them not). Evil is the similitude of people who falsify the Signs of God: and God guides not people who do wrong.“
According to a canonical tradition, Islam’s prophet Muhammad was inclined to recite Quranic chapters 87 and 88 during Friday Jum’ah prayers:
(Sahih Muslim Book 004, Number 1907): Nu’man b. Bashir reported that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) used to recite on two Eids and in Friday prayer: “Glorify The name of Thy Lord, the Most High” (Sura 87), and: “Has there come to thee the news of the overwhelming event” (Sura 88). And when the Eid and Jumu’a [Jum’ah] combined on a day he recited these two (surah) in both the prayers.
The authoritative glosses on Sura 88 (esp. Verses 2 and 3: Some faces, that Day, will be humiliated (in the Hell-fire, i.e. the faces of all disbelievers, Jews and Christians, etc.).; Labouring (hard in the worldly life by worshipping others besides Allah), weary (in the Hereafter with humility and disgrace), per the canonical hadith, and Ibn Kathir’s classical Quranic commentary (v.10, p. 456), are presented, below:
[386] 240 – (153) It was narrated from Abü Hurairah that the Messenger of Allah said:
“By the One in Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad, no one among this nation, Jew or Christian, hears of me then dies, not believing in that with which I was sent, but he will be one of the people of the Fire.”
[ Sahih Muslim, The Book Of Faith (p. 243; with reference to Quran 88:2)]
Narrated ‘Abdullah: The Prophet said one statement and I said another. The Prophet said “Whoever dies while still invoking anything other than Allah as a rival to Allah, will enter Hell (Fire).” And I said, “Whoever dies without invoking anything as a rival to Allah, will enter Paradise.”
[Sahih Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 60, Number 24(with reference to Koran 88:3)]
[From Ibn Kathir’s tafsir (V. 10, p. 456), on “Laboring weary” (verse 88:3)]…meaning, they, “The Christians” did many deeds and became weary in their performance, yet they will be cast into a blazing Fire on the Day of Judgment
