How to perform Muslim Prayer (Salah,Namaz)
This prayer guide is a step by step guide to learning how to pray for beginners.
The Muslim prayers are a form of worship which establishes the link between man and his Creator whom we call Allah in Arabic. Through Salah (prayer) a person communes with his Lord, the Creator and the Sustainer of the Universe.
Muslims all over the world face the direction of the first house built for the worship of The One God (Allah) and pray the five daily prayers enjoined on every sane adult Muslim male and female. This house is called the Kabah. It is located in the Holy city of Makkah in present day Saudi Arabia. We do not worship the kabah. We simply worship God while facing the Kabah.
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).
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. However, 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 wal-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 as you will see in the beginners prayer guides.
It was narrated that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Abi Awfa
said: A man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him) and said: “O Messenger of Allah, teach me something of
the Qur’aan that will suffice me, for I cannot read.” He said,
“Say: Subhaan-Allaah wa’l-hamdu Lillaah wa laa ilaaha ill-Allaah
wa Allaahu akbar wa laa hawla wa la quwwata illa Billaah (Glory be
to Allaah, praise be to Allaah, there is no god except Allaah and
Allaah is Most great, there is no god except Allaah and there is
no power and no strength except with Allaah).” The man made a
grabbing gesture with his hand (indicating that he had learned a
lot) and said, “This is for my Lord, what is there for me?” He
said, “Say: Allaahumma ighfir li warhamni wahdini warzuqni wa ‘aafini
(O Allah, forgive me, have mercy on me, guide me, and grant me
provision and good health).” He made another grabbing gesture with
his other hand and stood up.
(Narrated by al-Nasaa’i, 924; Abu Dawood, 832. Its isnaad was
classed as jayyid by al-Mundhiri in al-Targheeb wa’l-Tarheeb,
2/430. al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar indicated that it is hasan in al-Talkhees
al-Habeer, 1/236)
Most people are not aware of this as they are not specialised in teaching New Muslims so they start them on either what i call the Intermediate stage (Learning Surah Fatiha) or what i call the Advanced Stage ( the full prayer ). This has caused many new Muslims being overwelmed and many months go buy before they are able to pray. Wheras with our beignners prayer guides some have been able to start praying within a few hours.
Some Scholars have said you can just recite the first part of the suplication.Subhaan-Allaah
wal-hamdu Lillaah
wa laa ilaaha ill-Allaah
wa Allaahu akbar
You can also add the following secound part if you wish
wa laa
hawla
wa la
quwwata
illa Billaah
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 the Intermediate stage
After being able to recite the above in your 5 daily prayers you should try to memorize Surah Fathiha as soon as possible and include it in the prayers (as described in the prayer guides for the 5 daily prayers above)
Please do not skip stages 1 and 2 as you will end up making learning to prayer difficult for yourself 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 us.
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 )
Listen to the whole of Surah Fatiha
1 Bismillah hir rahman nir raheem |
2 Alhamdu lillahi rabbiL a lameen |
3 Ar rahman nir raheem |
4 Maliki yawmid deen |
5 Iyyaka na'a budu wa-iyyaka nasta aeen |
6 Ihdinas sirataal mustaqeem |
7 Siratal latheena an a'amta alayhim ghayril maghdoobi alayhim walad daalleen |
After reciting Surah Fatiha say |
1. In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most
Merciful.
2. All the praises and thanks be to Allah, the Lord of the 'Alamin
(mankind, jinns and all that exists).
3. The Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
4. The Only Owner (and the Only Ruling Judge) of the Day of
Recompense ( i.e. the Day of Resurrection)
5. You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help
(for each and everything).
6. Guide us to the Straight Way
7. The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, not
(the way) of those who earned Your Anger (such as the Jews),
nor of those who went astray (such as the Christians).