Short answers, pulled from the story.
The oldest known prayer is the bronze statuette known as the Praying German, which dates back to the Iron Age. This figure stands with arms raised and hands clasped, a pose that ancient cultures used to signify both supplication to the gods and surrender to military enemies.
The Roman principle of do ut des, meaning I give so that you may give, framed the relationship between worshipper and deity as a transactional business deal. A farmer in ancient Rome would sacrifice a pig to an unknown god of a sacred grove not out of love, but to secure permission to cut down trees, effectively buying the god's silence or favor.
In 1872, Francis Galton conducted a famous statistical experiment to determine if prayer had a physical effect on the external environment. He compared the longevity of the royal family with that of the general population and found no difference, a result that set the precedent for centuries of scientific inquiry into the efficacy of prayer.
In Islam, the daily obligatory prayers known as salah are performed five times a day, facing the Kaaba in Mecca, and involve a strict sequence of standing, bowing, and prostrating. The Muslim prayer is a physical discipline that requires the worshipper to recite chapters of the Quran while glorifying God, creating a rhythm that binds the community together.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine found that in 2002, 43% of Americans prayed for their own health, and 24% prayed for the health of others, demonstrating that the ancient impulse to connect with the divine remains strong.