The Manner of Performing Prayers

INTRODUCTION

This prayer guide is a step by step guide to learning to pray.

The Muslim prayers are a form of worship which establishes the link between man and his Creator and Benefactor, Allah. Through salah (prayer) a person communes with his Lord, the Creator and the Sustainer of the Universe.

At least five times a day Muslims all over the world face the direction of the first house built for the worship of The One God and pray the five daily prayers enjoined on every sane adult Muslim male and female. This house is called the Ka`bah. It is in the Holy city of Makkah in present day Saudi Arabia. We do not worship the kabbah. We simply worship God while facing the Ka`bah.

The five daily Prayers become obligatory from the moment a person embraces Islam. This is an extremely important tenet of Islam and has been enjoined with great emphasis both in the Holy Quran and the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). According to one saying of Prophets (peace be upon him), the prayer is the borderline between a Muslim and a non-believer.

 

Preparation for prayer

Before starting the prayer, a person must perform Wudhu (ablution).  

How to perform Ablution and Ghusl (Wudhu guide)

 

 However if a person has had a wet dream or sex then they should perform Ghusl.

GHUSL

 Ghusl should also be performed at the end of a   women  period of menstruation has ended and  at the end of 40 days after childbirth (unless the bleeding stops before completing the 40 days period, then she must make the Ghusl as soon as the bleeding stops).

 Ghusl in Islam means the bathing of the entire body with water. Proof of its legitimacy is embodied in the Holy Qur'an as follows:� And if ye are in a state of ceremonial impurity, bathe your whole body� (Qur'an 5:6).

 How to make Ghusl

PRAYER TIMES

Prayer timings vary throughout the globe and slight variations from day to day due to changes in daylight hours.

There are five obligatory prayers which are performed at five different times of the day.

1 FAJR PRAYER  (The Morning Prayer)


It starts at dawn and ends at sunrise. Thus it can be prayed between these points. But it is best to pray at the beginning of its time (i.e. just after start of dawn)


2 DHUHR PRAYER (The Early Afternoon Prayer )

It starts when the sun begins to decline from its zenith and ends when the the size of an object's shadow is equal to the objects size.


3 ASR PRAYER (The Late Prayer )

It starts when an object's shadow is equal to the objects size and ends when just before sunset.

It is better to pray Asr before the sky becomes yellow (even though it is allowed to pray at such a time) because the Prophet ( peace be upon him) disliked Muslims praying at such as time and. He remarked that the the Munafiq (Hypocrite ) offers his pray at this time. 

4 MAGHRIB PRAYER (The Sunset Prayer ) .
 Its time begins just after sunset and ends when twilight has just disappeared

 5 ISHA  PRAYER (The Night Prayer )
 It starts when twilight has disappeared and ends before midnight

HOW TO PRAY

Stage1

Learning to pray when your language is not Arabic can seem to be a very difficult task. However it is not as difficult as it may appear to you. A certain amount of text is memorized and the same text can be recited in all the 5 daily prayers.

Since a Muslim should pray right away after converting to Islam, it would be reasonable to say that he or she would be unable to memorize the whole text of the prayer in the same day.  Allah does not put a burden on anyone that they cannot bare.

 Therefore the Prophet peace be upon him instructed new Muslims to learn a short supplication  (Subhaan-Allaah wa�l-hamdu Lillaah wa laa ilaaha ill-Allaah wa Allaahu akbar wa laa hawla wa la quwwata illa Billaah) which they can recite in all their 5 daily prayers.  

 So for a new Muslim or a Beginner who does not know how to prayer. The following will be sufficient for him  to memorize and incorporate   in all the 5 daily prayers.

1 Allahu Akbar 
2 Subhaan-Allaah wa�l-hamdu Lillaah wa laa ilaaha ill-Allaah wa Allaahu akbar wa laa hawla wa la quwwata illa Billaah
Sami Allaahu liman hamidah

4 Rabbana wa lakaal hamd
5 Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah

If you are more confidant then  you can also memorize the following
6 Subhana rab-bi yal atheem
7 Subhana rubbiyal a'ala
8 Rabbi eghfir lee

 So memorize the above and incorporate into the prayers as shown in the diagrams below.

Now lets look at how to pray each of the five daily prayers

Click on the links in the box below to learn how to pray each of the 5 daily prayers

 

How a New Muslim or Beginner  Prayers the:

 Above guides show stage 1 and stage2 

Stage 2

After being able to recite the above in your 5 daily prayers you should try to memorize Surah Fathiha and include it in the prayer (as described in the prayer guides for the 5 daily prayers above) and incorporate that as shown in the above diagrams for stage 1.

Please do not skip stages 1 and 2 as you will end up making learning to prayer difficult for you and end up missing some of your prayers as the full text takes quite a while to memorize especially for non-Arabic speakers. But do watch the video and flash movie below to get a further idea of how the movements are preformed and eventual progress to the third stage.  If you have any questions please email.

PRAYER MOVIE

 The following movie will give you and idea as how the movements are preformed. It is for advanced level but will be helpful for the very beginners too to see the movements in action. 

Stage 3 (final stage)

This is the final and complete stage on learning to perform  5 daily Prayers. It is for advanced level students only

 

How to perform the prayer (Full advanced level prayer guide )

 

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