Salah

From Mw

Salah (Arabic: صلاة, Qur'anic Arabic: صلوة) is the obligatory ritual prayer that a Muslim is required to perform five times a day which makes a direct link between the worshipper and God. There is no hierarchical authority in Islam so the prayers are led by a learned person who knows the Qur'an, chosen by the congregation. These five prayers contain verses from the Qur'an, and are said in Arabic, the language of the Revelation, but personal supplication can be offered in one's own language.

The five daily prayers are at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and nightfall. The call to prayer is called adhan. Before praying salah a person has to have wudu and intention.

Contents 1 Stages of salah 1.1 Standing in prayer 1.2 Takbīr 1.3 The Ruku 1.4 Sujūd 1.5 Tashahhud 1.6 Taslīm 1.7 Brotherhood in salah 2 References

[edit] Stages of salah

Each salah is made up of rak'at (sing. rak'ah), a cycle during salah, and each rak'ah is made of various stages, which are the takbir, ruku', sujud, sittin for the tashahhud, and finally the taslim. Each of the five daily prayers have a certain amount of rak'at.

The five daily prayers are made up as follows:

Name	Time Period	Sunnah Raka'ah		Fard Raka'ah	Sunnah Raka'ah		Nafl Raka'ah	Wajib Raka'ah	Nafl Raka'ah
		Sunni	Shi'a		Sunni	Shi'a
Fajr (فجر)	Dawn to Sunrise	21	2	2	-	-	-	-	-
Dhuhr (ظهر)	After true noon until Asr	41	8	42	21	-	2	-	-
Asr (عصر)	See footnote3	4	8	4	-	-	-	-	-
Maghrib (مغرب)	After sunset until Isha'a	-	-	3	21	4	2	-	-
Isha'a (عشاء)	Dusk until Fajr4	4	-	4	21	2	2	3 Witr	2

On Fridays, except on the Eid, the Dhuhr is replaced by the congregational Jummah. The Jummah comprises:

Name	Time Period	Sunnah Raka'ah	Fard Raka'ah	Sunnah Raka'ah
Jummah (جمعة)	As for Dhuhr	2 Tahiatul wadu, 2 Dukhulil masjid, 4 Kablal jummah	2	4 Badal jummah, 2, 2

[edit] Standing in prayer

[edit] Takbīr

Takbir is the act of saying "Allahu Akbar", which means "Allah is the Greatest."^[1] Takbir in salah is performed by raising one's hands towards their ears and saying "Allahu Akbar". The salah starts with a takbir, known as takbīr al-ihrām. Before performing ruku', sujud, or returning from sujud, the takbir is also said.

[edit] The Ruku

[edit] Sujūd

Main article: Sujud

[edit] Tashahhud

[edit] Taslīm

[edit] Brotherhood in salah

A video of salah in congregation at the Kabba in Mecca

[edit] References

1. ↑ See http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/reference/glossary/term.ALLAHU.html

[The Prophets Prayer]

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