Prayers

How important is prayer to you?
I have started a small facebook page called Prayer chains which you can find a link to my page. In the mean time, here are some quotes of what prayer means or signifies in some of the main religions around the world. Do correct me if I'm wrong, the information I found from various quoted sources.
Hope you enjoy it :)

Islam
From www.learn2pray.org.au
Prayer not only gives a deep connection with Allah swt, but in prayer one establishes patience, humility and sincerity. Prayer provides a means of repentance and is a restrainer from shameful and unjust deeds. This is portrayed through the following hadith:
"If a person had a stream outside his door and he bathed in it five times a day, do you think he would have any filth left on him?" The people said, "No filth would remain on him whatsoever." The Prophet (peace be upon him) then said, "That is like the five daily prayers: Allah wipes away the sins by them." (Al-Bukhari and Muslim.)
It is through prayer that one really finds inner peace and fulfillment. To Muslims it is also a source of patience, courage, hope, confidence, inner peace, stability, equality, unity and an expression of thankfulness to Allah swt.

Judaism
On a very basic level, prayer expresses our belief in G‑d. Our recognition that we are dependent on His beneficence, and that, as the one who controls all, it is within His ability to extricate us from our hardship. And as such, in a time of need—no matter how trivial the need may seem—we turn to the one whom we know can help. The Torah refers to prayer as “the service of the heart,” an act suffused with love and reverence. Prayer is about a child approaching his loving parent. In fact, the medieval sage Maimonides writes that “prayer without concentration is akin to a lifeless body.’
By Dovid Zaklikowski, www.chabad.org

Christianity
From http://www.squidoo.com/Praying4you
Prayer...A weapon in our spiritual arsenal...
Prayer is simply our communication with God. Included in our prayers are words of praise, thanks, worship as well as our requests. In Phillipians 4:6 says, Be anxious for nothing , but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
God is telling us that we need to be continually praying and our prayers should be our first resort not the last.


Buddhism
http://buddhistfaith.tripod.com
Buddhist prayer is a practice to awaken our inherent inner capacities of strength, compassion and wisdom rather than to petition external forces based on fear, idolizing, and worldly and/or heavenly gain. Buddhist prayer is a form of meditation; it is a practice of inner reconditioning. Buddhist prayer replaces the negative with the virtuous and points us to the blessings of Life
For Buddhists, prayer expresses an aspiration to pull something into one's life, like some new energy or purifying influence and share it with all beings. Likewise, prayer inspires our hearts towards wisdom and compassion for others and ourselves. It allows us to turn our hearts and minds to the beneficial, rousing our thoughts and actions towards Awakening. If we believe in something enough, it will take hold of us. In other words, believing in it, we will become what we believe. Our ability to be touched like this is evidence of the working of Great Compassion within us

Sikhism
http://www.searchsikhism.com/prayer.html
The Sikh's conception God is personal. He moves in him like a fish in the water, and lives with him like a wife with her husband. He is in constant communion with Him through prayer. Therefore prayer is much used in Sikhism. The Scripture consists chiefly of prayers. No ceremony whether religious or secular, is complete without prayer. Nay, most of the ceremonies and rituals contain nothing else. Before going on a journey, or opening a shop or occupying a new house, the Sikhs open the Holy Scriptures and asks God's blessing. Often if time and means permit, he also arranges for the singing of hymns of thanks-giving. But he will never omit a short prayer, which even the poorest can afford. No priest is required to address it. Anybody, man or woman old or young can lead in prayer. Even a boy or a girl may be seen conducting the morning or evening service and leading in prayer a big congregation consisting of the most learned and advanced in age. This is purposely encouraged, so that everybody may learn to shoulder his or her responsibilities without the help of a priestly class. The prayer varies in size and contents. Sometimes only a few words will do. A man starting on horseback with one foot in the stirrup, may mutter to himself : "O Lord of plume ! help. The Humble servant" Or a few lines may be quoted from the Scripture by way of saving grace before or after meal

Hinduism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_in_Hinduism
Prayer or worship is considered to be an integral part of the Hindu religion. The chanting of mantras is the most popular form of worship in Hinduism. Yoga and meditation are also considered as a form of devotional service towards the Lord. .
The Vedas are a collection of liturgy (mantras, hymns)
The Hindu devotional Bhakti movements emphasizes repetitive prayer. Stemming from the universal Soul or Brahman, prayer is focused on the personal forms of God, such as Shiva, Vishnu, or Vishnu's Avatars, Rama and Krishna.
Before the process of ritual, before the invoking of different deities for the fulfillment of various needs, came the human aspiration to the highest truth, the foundational monism of Hinduism, pertaining ultimately to the one Brahman. Brahman, which summarily can be called the unknowable, true, infinite and blissful Divine Ground, is the source and being of all existence from which the cosmos springs. This is the essence of the Vedic system.

Anyone with any other practices they would like represented, feel free to add on!
Much Love
xx
Fiona