The origins of Muslim prayer : sixth and seventh century religious influences on the salat ritual

morality. Rather, it was a deity, Asa, created by Ahura Mazda, which could play an active role on the individual when worshipped. The latter, the Hostile Spirit, was Ahura Mazda’s opposite, the origin of counter creation; death and nothingness. Angra Mainyu created the deity of deceit and evil, Drug. It was thus the individual’s choice whether to embrace Asa or Drug, their respective creators and their influence upon existence in a cosmic battle between light and darkness, “life and not-life.” Before any other creation, Ahura Mazda brought into being seven yazatas, Bounteous Immortals, lesser deities whose task it was “to further the ‘world of asa,’ so that it does not decay or wither, spoil or become impure.” Each of these seven was appointed to a physical part of creation which was intimately tied to an abstract idea of 227 Boyce, History, vol.1, 190. 228 The term “uncreated” would have been rejected by the Zurvānites. However, modern scholars, Mary Boyce among them, interpret Zoroaster’s initial theology to be purely dualist. Arguments for this interpretation can be found throughout the first volume of Boyce’s History of Zoroastrianism. 229 Ibid., 192-5. 230 Ibid., 194, 199-201. 231 In Zoroaster’s theology, more than seven yazatas were created by Ahura Mazda. However, the first seven were charged with the most important tasks and thus, remained most closely associated with their creator. See, Boyce, History, vol. 1, 194, 202. 232 There is some uncertainty as to whether the yazatas were deities independent of Ahura Mazda or qualities of Ahura Mazda worshipped individually. Of the latter, this is a theological understanding similar to that of Hinduism, a religion with which Zoroastrianism shares many similarities, such as vocabulary and understanding of divinity. For a review of the scholarly debate, see, Boyce, History, vol. 1, 202-3. The Origins of Muslim Prayer 89 creation. For instance, the sky, “which enclosed the world like a fortress and dominated the earth,” was linked with the concept of Dominion and was ruled by the yazata Khsathra. The other aspects of Ahura Mazda’s cosmos are Water, Health, Earth, Devotion and Life. Asa was the seventh yazata, commanding fire and representing cosmic order which pervaded all existence. This theology necessitated ritual action, as the human being played an active role in the eternal battle between Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu. Looking at specific ritual acts employed to fulfill this duty, similarities with salāt become evident.