Right next to me was sunni woman who raised her hand for every takbeer, and left next to me was a woman Shia who didn't raise hands at all and didn't put them together but held them hanging next to her body. And I raise my hands once for the first takbeer and put them together when standing. Three different styles in one row, standing in unity next to each other, enjoying each other's presence and styles.
It made me think why do we pray differently and concluded that different people must have seen Prophet Muhammed s.w.s. praying in a different style, and so they copied him.Malik ibn al-Huwayrith reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Pray as you have seen me praying." (Narrated by Al-Bukhari)
And from where had the Prophet s.w.s. different styles? Most probably from the common prayer with other Prophets on Isra and Mi'raj journey! He saw them praying in different styles, so he tried them all and different people saw him praying in different styles and so they taught it to others.
But in prostration all Prophets, peace being upon them all, prayed the same. It is so good feeling to be connected to them all through the same praying styles;
Also when I pray Witr prayer and forget to make Qunoot Du3a after surah and additional takbeer (raising hands this time again), then I do it after Ruku with hands raised as in du3a. Doing this I don't need to do additional sahw-i-sajdah afterwards nor to repeat the entire prayer.
It is so good to have more styles in prayer as we can fix our forgetfulness or mistakes and not miss the prayer or have to repeat it. This religion is really easy, alhamdulillah.
If you want to feel the most unique jam3at in the UAE head to the Global Village and enjoy praying there. I think they should make a bigger masjid in Global Village as such place deserves proper masjid where people can pray at once and together, not one group after another.