Prayer (Salah)

Prayer (Salah)

Praying, to the Creator on a daily basis, is the best way to cultivate in a man a sound personality and to actualize his aspiration. Allah does not need man’s prayer because He is free of all needs. Salah is for our benefit which are immeasurable and the blessings are beyond imagination.

In salah, every muscle of the body joins the soul and the mind in the worship and glory of Allah. Salah is an act of worship. It is a matchless and unprecedented formula of intellectual meditation and spiritual devotion, of moral elevation and physical exercise, all combined.

Offering of salah is obligatory upon every Muslim male and female who is sane, mature and in case of women free from menstruation and confinement due to child birth. Requirements of salah: performing of ablution (Wudu), purity of the whole body, clothes and ground used for prayer, dressing properly and having (or declaring) the intention and facing the Qiblah; the direction of the Ka’bah at Mecca.

Obligatory Salah: Five daily salahs, the Friday’s noon congregation salah and the funeral salah.

Highly recommended salah: Those accompanying the obligatory salah and the two great festival salahs.

Optional salah: Voluntary salah during the day and night.

Times of Obligatory Salah:

1. Early Morning – after dawn and before sunrise.

2. Noon – after the sun begins to decline from its zenith until it is about midway on its course to set.

3. Mid-afternoon – after the expiration of the noon salah time until sunset.

4. Sunset – immediately after sunset until the red glow in the western horizon disappears.

5. Evening – after the expiration of the sunset salah until dawn. Salah should be offered in its due time, unless there is a reasonable excuse. Delayed obligatory salah must be made up. In addition to the prescribed salah, a Muslim expressed gratitude to God and appreciation of His favours and asks for His mercy all the time. Especially at times of, for example: childbirth, marriage, going to or rising from bed, leaving and returning to his home, starting a journey or entering a city, riding or driving, before or after eating or drinking, harvesting, visiting graveyards and at time of distress and sickness.