Salah: The Pillars of Prayer in the Shafi'i School

Prayer (salah) is the second pillar of Islam and the most frequently recurring obligation in a Muslim's daily life. Al-Ghazali devotes extensive space in Al-Wajiz to the laws governing prayer, outlining its preconditions, obligatory elements, recommended acts, and invalidating factors with the systematic rigor characteristic of Shafi'i scholarship.

The preconditions (shurut) for the validity of prayer are those things that must be present before the prayer begins. The Shafi'i school identifies several key preconditions: Islam (only a Muslim's prayer is valid), mental capacity (prayer is not obligatory on the insane), reaching the age of puberty (though children are encouraged and required by their guardians to pray), ritual purity (taharah — both from hadath and from najasah on the body, clothing, and place of prayer), covering the 'awrah (the nakedness that must be concealed), facing the qiblah (the direction of the Ka'bah), and the entrance of the prescribed time.

The obligatory elements (arkan) of prayer in the Shafi'i school are those acts whose omission — even accidentally — invalidates the prayer. Al-Ghazali lists them in Al-Wajiz: the opening takbir (saying Allahu Akbar to begin the prayer), standing while able to do so in the obligatory prayers, the recitation of Surah al-Fatiha in every rak'ah, the ruku' (bowing), the i'tidal (returning to an upright position after bowing), the two sajdahs (prostrations) in every rak'ah, the julus (sitting) between the two prostrations, the final tashahhud, sitting for the final tashahhud, the taslim (saying as-salamu alaykum to end), and the maintenance of sequence (tartib). The Shafi'i school also counts tranquility (tuma'ninah) — pausing momentarily in each position — as an obligatory element.

The recitation of Surah al-Fatiha is a fard (obligation) in every rak'ah according to the Shafi'i school, based on the prophetic hadith: 'There is no prayer for the one who does not recite the Opening of the Book.' Al-Ghazali reaffirms this position in Al-Wajiz. This contrasts with the Hanafi position, which holds that recitation of any portion of the Quran is sufficient in the first two rak'ahs of an obligatory prayer, and that a prayer follower (muqtadi) need not recite al-Fatiha when following an imam — a significant inter-madhab disagreement.

The Shafi'i school holds that the Basmala (Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim) is an integral verse of Surah al-Fatiha and must be recited aloud in prayers where al-Fatiha is recited aloud (i.e., Fajr, Maghrib, and 'Isha). This is a distinctive Shafi'i position; the Hanafi and Maliki schools do not consider the Basmala to be part of al-Fatiha and do not recite it aloud.

With respect to the qunut supplication in Fajr prayer — reciting a specific dua after rising from the second rak'ah's ruku' — the Shafi'i school holds it to be a recommended act (sunnah), making it one of the school's distinctive practices. The Hanafi school does not hold qunut to be sunnah in Fajr, and the Maliki and Hanbali schools likewise do not recommend it in Fajr. Al-Ghazali addresses this in Al-Wajiz as an established sunnah of the Shafi'i school.

The jumu'ah (Friday) prayer is obligatory upon free, resident, adult Muslim men. The Shafi'i school requires a minimum of forty men for the Friday prayer to be valid — a stricter condition than the Hanafi school's requirement of three or more men. Al-Ghazali discusses these congregational prayer requirements within the broader framework of salah obligations in Al-Wajiz.

Al-Ghazali's chapter on prayer reflects the Shafi'i school's characteristic precision: each ruling is stated with clarity, and the evidentiary basis — Quranic verse or prophetic hadith — is often referenced or implied. Students emerging from this section of Al-Wajiz have a reliable map of Shafi'i prayer law sufficient for practical observance and further scholarly study.