Jesus and all of the Prophets before him prayed the same as Muslims pray today
When a Muslim prays or thanks God he does so in the same fashion and from that was taught to Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and all of the previous Prophets of God (may peace be upon them all). You will find that when a Muslim prays he places his forehead on the ground in total submission to God Almighty. Let us see how the Prophets (including Jesus) prayed according to the Qur'an and Bible:
"These are some of the Prophets whom GOD blessed. They were chosen from among the descendants of Adam, and the descendants of those whom we carried with Noah, and the descendants of Abraham and Israel, and from among those whom we guided and selected. When the revelations of the Most Gracious are recited to them, they fall prostrate, weeping." – Qur’an English Translation [19:58]
"And he (Jesus) went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." - New Testament (Matthew 26:39)
"And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid." - New Testament (Matthew 17:6)
"And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying," - Old Testament (Tanakh) (Genesis 17:3)
"Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?" - Old Testament (Tanakh) (Genesis 17:17)
"And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped." - Old Testament (Tanakh) (Exodus 34:8)
“And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them.” - Old Testament (Tanakh) (Numbers 20:6)
"And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?" - Old Testament (Tanakh) (Numbers 16:20-22)
And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with [their] faces to the ground. - Old Testament (Tanakh) (Nehemiah 8:6)
"And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant?" - Old Testament (Tanakh) (Joshua 5:14)
"And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem?" - Old Testament (Tanakh) (Ezekiel 9:8)
"And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD." - Old Testament (Tanakh) (2 Chronicles 20:18)
"And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?" - Old Testament (Tanakh) (Ezekiel 11:13)
So although some people may admit :
“Ok, yea these verses speak of Jesus and the other Prophets prostrating themselves in prayer but we still don't know the exact details on how they prostrated and/or if they did so in the same manner as Muslims do today?”
However, using common sense I would have to challenge anyone to give an example of how any of these Prophets could have "fell on their face" i.e. prostrated in any other position than this:
Also, some people may further state:
“If the style of prayer was truly important I would assume that the Torah and/or Jesus would have pointed that out directly.”
Again, I think this question can be answered with simple reasoning. If a person acknowledges someone as God's chosen Prophet, then wouldn't you think intuitively that the way in which that Prophet prayed would be the best example for all of mankind to follow.
And if a true follower and believer of that Prophet doesn't adapt to the way in which that Prophet worships then how can anyone justify that this Prophet was sent from God to guide Mankind in the first place, yet not even worship God in a like manner? The Prophets are supposed to be the ideal examples on how to live one's life on Earth.
Many Christians who convert to Islam today testify that they are now better "Christians" for doing so. The word "Christian" simply means "a follower of Christ" or "Christ-ian". So how are these people who are now professing Muslims claiming to be closer follower's of Jesus.
Let's think about this logically by examining what the Bible says of Jesus. For example, if we read the gospels we will see accounts of Jesus where he prayed with his face to the ground, greeted his fellow believers with expressions of peace, and fasted for lengthy amounts of time.
Now honestly ask yourself, who truly follows Jesus' example today? As you may know, Muslims pray humbly with their forehead touching the ground at least five times a day...Also, Muslims always greet each other with the phrase "Peace be upon you" as mentioned in the previous section...and further more just as Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness Muslims fast for an entire month during the month of Ramadan.
Indeed many former Christians acknowledge that they were Muslims in every sense of the word before discovering the confirmation of their natural beliefs within the text of the Qur'an. You see mankind's disposition of monotheism is inseparable from the human psyche. This innate phenomena in Islam is termed "Al-fitra."
"Now have We caused the Word to reach them themselves, in order that they may receive admonition. Those to whom We sent the Book before this,- they do believe in this (revelation): And when it is recited to them, they say: "We believe therein, for it is the Truth from our Lord: indeed we have been Muslims (bowing to Allah.s Will) from before this. Twice will they be given their reward, for that they have persevered, that they avert Evil with Good, and that they spend (in charity) out of what We have given them." – Qur’an English Translation [28:51-54]
