Salah in the bible?

Ben Abrahamson

Q. As salaamu alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatu Rabbi Ben. Just a quick question. You once mentioned that Tikkun Chatzos was the name of the optional midnight prayer in Yahadut. What is the name of the optional midday/noon prayer that King David (AS) alludes to in his Psalms?

A. Wa aleikum salaam wa rahmatullah

It has the same name, Tikkun Chatzot, because "Chatzot" means midnight and midday. The five mandatory prayers, plus the two voluntary Chatzot prayers, makes a total of seven prayers. Which David (pbuh) mentions in "Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments." (Psalm 119:164)

The correspondence and number of raka'at is

Fajar prayer 2 = Brachos prayer 2
Shuhr prayer 4 = Shacharit prayer 4
n/a = Chatzot ha Yom (voluntary, rare)
Asr prayer 4 = Mincha prayer 4
Maghrib prayer 3 = Ma'ariv prayer 3
Isha prayer 4 = Shema' al Mita prayer 1
Witr prayer = Chatzot ha Layla (voluntary)

Concerning the midnight prayer

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) (p.b.u.h) said, "Our Lord, the Blessed, the Superior, comes every night down on the nearest Heaven to us when the last third of the night remains, saying: "Is there anyone to invoke Me, so that I may respond to invocation? Is there anyone to ask Me, so that I may grant him his request? Is there anyone seeking My forgiveness, so that I may forgive him?" (Sahih al-Bukhari Book 19, Hadith 26)

This teaching is also brought in the Torah:

In Psalm 119:62, David (pbuh) says "At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee." It is said that David was satisfied with only "sixty breaths of sleep" (Sukk. 29b), and that he rose to pray and study Torah at midnight. The custom was fixed as a binding custom in Jewish Law. The Mishnah Berurah comments, "[They] have discussed at great lengths the importance of rising at midnight [to say the Midnight Prayer, learn Torah, and to pray to God] and how great this is" (Mishnah Berurah, Orach Chaim, 1:3)

Peninei Halakhah, Prayer 25:1:3

Anshei Knesset HaGedolah added the recital of two berachot before Keriat Shema and two berachot after it. The first, “Ma’ariv Aravim,” is a blessing of praise concerning the passage of time from day to night, and parallels Birkat Yotzer Or in Shacharit. The second, “Ahavat Olam,” is praise that refers to Hashem’s love for Israel and the giving of the Torah. The third, “Emet V’Emunah,” is praise about the redemption. In the fourth, “Hashkiveinu,” we ask Hashem to protect us at night and watch over us when we sleep (see also earlier in this book 16:1). Hence, Birkot Keriat Shema are comprised of seven blessings, three in Shacharit and four in Ma’ariv; and the Yerushalmi (Berachot, chapter 1, halachah 5) states that they were instituted based on the verse (Psalms, 119:164), “Sheva bayom hillalticha” (“I praise You seven times daily.”)

Q, Salaam Rabbi, How can the concept of Khatam al-Nabiyyin be interpreted from a Rabbinical view?

A. Wa aleikum salaam wa rahmatullah. Daniel (pbuh) was a very special prophet to the Arabs. It was one of the first books translated to Arabic. Perhaps because his 7x70 years, added to the collapse of the Jewish revolt in 132CE yields 622CE. Perhaps because Daniel's (pbuh) knickname "Ish HAMUDot" (man of delights) is the same root as MuHAMUD. In chapter 9:24, it is written that his prophecy is the "seal of vision and prophecy" (Khatam Hazon U'Nabiyya). And it was understood at the time, to refer to Muhamad (pbuh).