The five daily prayers

The Islamic prayer is called salah. It is a short, set way of standing before Allah, the Arabic word for God, the One God. Allah asks every Muslim to pray five times in each day and night. This lesson shows you the names of the five prayers, roughly when each one happens, and how long each one is.

A man named Dimam ibn Tha'labah (may Allah be pleased with him) once came to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and asked him whether Allah had commanded that we pray five prayers in a day and night. The Prophet answered: "By Allah, yes." (Sahih al-Bukhari 63)

Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times.

Quran 4:103 (Saheeh International translation)

The five prayers and their times

Each prayer has a window of time, set by the movement of the sun, and you can pray at any point inside that window. The Prophet described these windows in an authentic hadith, a recorded saying of the Prophet (Sahih Muslim 612). In simple terms:

• Fajr (the dawn prayer): from the first light of dawn until sunrise.

• Dhuhr (the midday prayer): from just after midday, when the sun has passed its highest point, until Asr time begins.

• Asr (the afternoon prayer): later in the afternoon. The Prophet taught that it should be prayed before the sun turns yellow.

• Maghrib (the sunset prayer): just after sunset, until the twilight has faded from the sky.

• Isha (the night prayer): once night has come. The Prophet taught that its time lasts until the middle of the night.

The Prophet also told us that the angel Jibril (Gabriel), peace be upon him, came down and led him in the five prayers, and he counted them on his fingers (Sahih al-Bukhari 3221 and Sahih Muslim 610).

How long is each prayer?

Each prayer is made of units called rak'ahs (one unit is a rak'ah). In one rak'ah you stand, bow, and then prostrate twice with your forehead on the ground. The obligatory (fard) part of each prayer has a set number of rak'ahs:

• Fajr: 2 rak'ahs

• Dhuhr: 4 rak'ahs

• Asr: 4 rak'ahs

• Maghrib: 3 rak'ahs

• Isha: 4 rak'ahs

That is 17 rak'ahs in a whole day, and most prayers take only a few minutes.

Where do these numbers come from? Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), the wife of the Prophet, explained that the prayer was first made obligatory as two rak'ahs each, and that later the prayers of people at home (not traveling) were increased (Sahih al-Bukhari 350 and Sahih Muslim 685). Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said that Allah made the prayer four rak'ahs for those at home and two for travelers (Sahih Muslim 687). Scholars explain that Fajr stayed at two and that Maghrib is three, and Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) reported the Prophet praying Maghrib as three rak'ahs (Sahih Muslim 1288). Muslims everywhere have prayed these same numbers from the Prophet's time until today, and scholars agree on them.

When you travel, the four-rak'ah prayers can be shortened to two. You will learn the details of this later.

Finding the prayer times where you live

Because the times follow the sun, they change a little every day and they are different in every city. You do not need to work them out yourself:

• Ask your local masjid (mosque) for its timetable. Many masjids share a monthly timetable on paper or online.

• Use a prayer times app or website and set your city or location. If it asks you to choose a calculation method, choose the one your local masjid uses.

• While you get used to the rhythm, you can set a gentle reminder on your phone for each prayer.

Remember that the time on a timetable is the start of the window. If Dhuhr begins at 1:05, you can pray it at any point before Asr begins.

If you are just starting

If this feels like a lot, that is completely normal. Every Muslim once had to learn the prayer for the first time. Start with what you can: learn the times, learn the movements, and pray with the words you know so far. Add a little more each day. The next lessons, and the videos in the "Prayer video resources" step, will walk you through it.

Allah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity.

Quran 2:286 (Saheeh International translation)

If you ever sleep through a prayer or forget it, you have not failed. The Prophet said that whoever forgets a prayer or sleeps through it should pray it as soon as he remembers it (Sahih al-Bukhari 597 and Sahih Muslim 684). Simply pray it when you remember, and carry on.

Next, you will learn Surah Al-Fatiha, the short chapter of the Quran that you recite in every rak'ah.