Islam:

God's Message of Guidance to Humanity

2

Performing Islamic Prayers

By Hassan Ali El-Najjar

ccun.org, January 30, 2010

A Muslim is required to perform five prayers everyday, following the teachings of the Prophet Muhammed, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, who received this Ibada (way of worshipping Allah) when he met with God in the seventh heaven, at the night of Al-Isra Wal Mi'araj (The Night of Journey to Jerusalem and Ascent to Heavens).

The five prayers are performed at specific times, which change daily in accordance with the continuous changes in the relationship between the Earth and the Sun. Many websites, such as www.islamiccity.com,  provide schedules of prayer times.

The five prayers and their scheduled daily times, according to the Islamic City prayer schedule of January 30, 2010, for example, are as follows:

 I. Prayer Times:

1. Al-Fajr (The Dawn) Prayer: Starts at 6:13 am.

2. Al-Dhuhr (The Noon) Prayer: Starts at 12:53 pm.

3. Al-'Asr (The After Noon) Prayer: Starts at 3:46 pm.

4. Al-Maghreb (The Sun Set) Prayer: Starts at 6:07 pm.

5. Al-'Isha (The Dusk) Prayer: Starts at 7:34 pm.

As a rule, prayers should be performed as early as possible after the start time. Delaying prayers should be avoided unless there is a necessity to do so. The apostrophe in Al-'Asr and Al-'Isha stands for an Arabic glotal sound, represented by the 18th letter of the Arabic alphabet.

II. Number of Prayer Units:

The Islamic prayers are composed of specific body movements accompanying recitations from the Holy Qur'an and words of praise to God.

A single unit of prayer (Raka'a, in Arabic) includes standing, bowing, prostration, and sitting on the floor.

The Islamic prayers included a number of required Raka'as (units), a minimum, as well as a number of recommended Raka'as, except for Al-'Asr Prayer. While there are 17 required Raka'as (units) in daily prayers,  recommended Raka'as are 13. The distribution of prayer units is as follows:

1. Al-Fajr (The Dawn) Prayer: 2 required Raka'as (units) and 2 recommended Raka'as (units), before.

2. Al-Dhuhr (The Noon) Prayer: 4 required Raka'as (units) and 4 recommended Raka'as (units), 2 before & 2 after.

3. Al-'Asr (The After Noon) Prayer: 4 required Raka'as (units) only.

4. Al-Maghreb (The Sun Set) Prayer: 3 required Raka'as (units) and 2 recommended Raka'as (units), after.

5. Al-'Isha (The Dusk) Prayer: 4 required Raka'as (units) and 5 recommended Raka'as (units), 2 before & 3 after..

III. Performing Al-Fajr (Dawn) Prayer:

1. Cleanliness before prayers

Before starting prayers, a Muslim has to be clean by taking showers regularly, particularly after sexual intercourse.

Cleanliness is also performed before every prayer in the form of Wudu' (washing the body with water), which includes washing and cleaning the hands, mouth, nose, face, arms, head hair, ears inside and back, and feet. Thus, the Creator, praise to Him, wants people to be healthy by cleaning themselves of dust, sweat, and microbes five times a day (See an illustration video at Wudu' ).

If water is not available at all (which is a unique case), a Muslim performs Tayamum, which is an emulation of the Wudu' movements.

2. Facing Al-Qibla

When they pray, Muslim must face Al-Qibla, which is Al-Ka'aba (The cubic-shaped House of Allah in Makkah). They should stand on a clean floor. For that purpose, they use a clean, small rug for that purpose. Healthy people must stand for prayers. However, the sick can pray in whatever position suiting them, such as sitting or on their sides. 

It is essential to make an effort to find the exact direction of Al-Qibla. An easy way is by using the Qibla compass, where the magnetic needle is made to point to a specific number referring to the location of performing prayers. Then, the arrow refers to the Qibla (See illustration).

For example, number 34 refers to the southern US states of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, while number 33 refers to the eastern US states of Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and D.C.  several other eastern states in the US are referred to as number 33 (for more information, see the map at: Finding Al-Ka'aba Direction). Another method is using the Sundial shadow, as explained and illustrated in the same source.

3. Athan (Calling for Group Prayer in a Mosque):

4. Iqama (Announcing the start of prayer):

5. Intention and Takbeer

As a Muslim stands for prayer, he/she has the intention to perform it, that's why it is unnecessary to say that he/she intends to do that. However, followers of Imam Al-Shafi'ie pronounce the intention. Then, they lift their hands to the levels of ears making the Takbeer, which is the start of prayers. Followers of other imams may neither pronounce the intention nor lift their hands when they say the Takbeer.

The Takbeer is saying "Allahu Akbar," meaning "God is greater" (than anybody and anything).

6. Performing prayer

With the right hand over the left hand, above the belly button, a Muslim starts prayer by reciting Al-Fatiha (The Opening), the first Sura or Chapter of the Holy Qur'an, as follows:

7. Reciting one of the short Suras from the last part of the Holy Qur'an, after Al-Fatiha

8. Rukou'a (Bowing down)

A Muslim makes Rukou'a, making Takbeer first (saying Allahu Akbar), then bowing down with hands over the knees and the back is parallel to the floor. Then, he/she makes Tasbee'h, saying:

9. Standing for Hamd

After Rukou'a, a Muslim stands upright saying:

سَمِعَ اللهُ لِمَن حَمِدَه Sami'a Allahu liman hamidah  (Allah listens to whoever praises Him): Once

 

10. Sujoud

A Muslim makes sujoud, by making Takbeer firs (saying Allahu Akbar, then going all the way down to the floor, prostrating himself/herself.

Eight body areas have to touch the floor in Sujoud. These are the forehead, nose, hand palms, the two knees, and the tiptoes of the two feet.

Once the soujoud is made, a Muslim makes the Sujoud Tasbeeh, saying:

Then, the worshipper lifts his/her head while sitting on the floor, then goes down to perform another Sujoud.

By performing the above ten steps, a Muslim completes one Raka'a, or a prayer unit.

Then, he/she stands up to perform the second Raka'a, repeating the above ten steps.

11. Al-Tashahud

After performing the second Sujoud, he/she sits down on the floor reciting Al-Tashahud (The Proclamation), at the end of which he/she makes greetings to both shoulders, starting with the right shoulder, then the left shoulder.

Al-Tashahud (pronounced At Tashahud) is recited fully when a worshipper is praying two Raka'as only, such as in the case of Al-Fajr prayer. However, in the rest of the required prayers, which include more than two Raka'as, Al-Tashahud is recited in two ways. After the first two Raka'a, the worshipper recites only the first part of Al-Tashahud but recites it fully at the end of the last Raka'a.

التشهد

The Proclamation

 To be recited while sitting in prayer

التحيات المباركات ، والصلوات الطيبات لله

 السلام عليكً أيها النبيُّ ورحمةُ اللهِ وبركاتُه

 السلامُ علينا وعلى عباد اللهِ الصالحين

 أشهدُ أنِّ لا إلهَ إلا الله

 وأشهدُ أن محمداً رسولُ الله

 ***

اللهمَّ صلي على محمد ، وعلى آلِّ محمد

 كما صليتَ على إبراهيم ، وعلى آلِّ إبراهيم

 وبارك على محمد ، وعلى آلِّ محمد

 كما باركتَ على إبراهيم ، وعلى آلّ إبراهيم

 في العالمين

 إنَّكَ حميدٌ مجيد

 ***

السلامُ عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته ، السلامُ عليكم ورحمةُ الله

First Part of Tashahud:

Blessed greetings and good prayers to Allah

Peace to you, O You Prophet, and mercy of Allah, and His blessings

Peace be upon us and upon the good worshippers of Allah

I bear witness that there is no other God but Allah (while raising the pointer finger)

And I bear witness that Muhammed is the Messenger of Allah (while raising the pointer finger)

**************

Full Tashahud:

Blessed greetings and good prayers to Allah

Peace to you, O You Prophet, and mercy of Allah, and His blessings

Peace be upon us and upon the good worshippers of Allah

I bear witness that there is no other God but Allah (raising the pointer finger)

And I bear witness that Muhammed is the Messenger of Allah (raising the pointer finger)

***

O Allah! Pray for Muhammed and for the family of Muhammed

As You prayed for Ibrahim and for the family of Ibrahim

And bless Muhammed and the family of Muhammed

As You blessed Ibrahim and the family of Ibrahim

Amongst the worlds

You are the Praise-worthy, You are the Glorious

***

Peace of Allah be upon you, His mercy, and His blessings (to the right side)

Peace of Allah be upon you, His mercy, and His blessings (to the the left side)

End of Prayer.

After Prayer Tasbeeh (Recommended, not required):

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Sources:

Videos:

The following videos, illustrations, and animations provide detailed information about how to perform Islamic prayers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoNPSEWn6aY

http://www.hilalplaza.com/islamic-pray-prayers-salat/index.html

http://www.islam.com/salat/salatfinal.html (animation with full texts in Arabic, pronunciation, and English translation).

Illustrations:

More sources for illustrations about how to perform prayers:

http://www.alsunna.org/salat/salat.htm

http://muslim-canada.org/salaat.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_5023330_perform-muslim-prayer.html

http://forum.moe.gov.om/~moeoman/vb/showthread.php?p=1667934

http://www.wikihow.com/Perform-Salah

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* Dr. Hassan Ali El-Najjar is a native speaker of Arabic. He has a Ph.D. in Sociology and a Master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Georgia, USA.