Salah — The Islamic Prayer

Salah (prayer) is the second pillar of Islam and the most important act of worship after the Shahada. It was prescribed during the night journey of Isra and Miraj, when Allah commanded the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) with fifty prayers, later reduced to five in number but retaining the reward of fifty. The Prophet said: "The covenant between us and them is the prayer; whoever abandons it has committed kufr" (Sunan al-Tirmidhi).

The Five Daily Prayers

The five obligatory prayers and their times are: Fajr (from true dawn until sunrise, 2 rak'ahs), Dhuhr (from the sun's zenith until an object's shadow equals its length, 4 rak'ahs), Asr (from the end of Dhuhr time until sunset, 4 rak'ahs), Maghrib (from sunset until the red twilight disappears, 3 rak'ahs), and Isha (from the disappearance of red twilight until the last third of the night, 4 rak'ahs). The Quran says: "Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers at specified times" (Quran 4:103).

Conditions of Prayer

Before performing Salah, certain conditions must be met: Islam, sanity, reaching the age of discernment, ritual purity (wudu or tayammum), covering the awrah (the Hanafi school defines the male awrah as navel to knee; the female awrah as everything except the face, hands, and feet), facing the Qiblah (direction of the Kaaba), and the entry of the prayer's time. The Maliki school adds the intention (niyyah) as a condition, while other schools consider it a pillar (rukn) of the prayer itself.

Pillars (Arkan) of Prayer

The pillars are the essential acts without which the prayer is invalid. They include: standing (qiyam) for those able, the opening takbir (Allahu Akbar), recitation of Surah al-Fatiha in every rak'ah, bowing (ruku), rising from bowing, prostrating (sujud) on seven bones, sitting between the two prostrations, the final tashahhud, sitting for it, and the closing salams. The Shafi'i school adds the salawat upon the Prophet in the final tashahhud as a pillar.

The Spiritual Dimension

Beyond the physical motions, Salah is meant to be a direct conversation with Allah. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Pray as you have seen me pray" (Sahih al-Bukhari). The Quran describes the believers as those who "are humbly submissive in their prayers" (Quran 23:2). Khushu (reverent concentration) is the soul of the prayer, achieved through understanding what is recited, awareness of standing before Allah, and devotion of the heart.