Prayer in Islam

In the Islamic cities and villages, you can hear calling for prayer from the top of the mosques minarets five times a day.  In prayer, the Muslim is in touch with Allah, because he is praying in front of his Lord ( Allah is the Great).

Prayer is the second pillar of Islam.  Muslims pray five times a day: dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset and night.

Each prayer consists of units.  The dawn prayer has two units, the sunset prayer has three units, the noon prayer has four units, the afternoon prayer has four units and the night prayer has four units.

The unit is repeated a certain number f times in each prayer.  The unit consists of four actions: standing, bowing down, prostration and sitting.

Muslims start the unit with standing, then bowing down, then second standing, then prostration, then sitting down and then second prostration.  At the end of every two units there is a sitting.

A Muslim has to say something in each position.  When the Muslim start his prayer with the first standing, he has to recite the first chapter of the Holy Qur’an in every unit.

The first chapter of the Holy Qur’an: “ In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, Praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds, the merciful, the compassionate, the ruler of the day of judgment, Thee we serve and Thee we ask for aid, Guide us to the right path, the path of those Thou art gracious to; not of those Thou art wrathful with; nor of those who err”.

After that, the Muslim recites some Qur’anic verses.  During bowing, he says thrice: “ Glory to my Lord, the Great”.   During the second standing he says:” Our Lord1All praise is due to Thee.  During prostration, he say thrice:” Glory to my Lord, the most high”.  During sitting, he says:” All services redered  by words and bodily actions and sacrifices of wealth are due to Allah.  Peace be upon Thee.  O’ Prophet and the mercy of Allah and His blessing.  Peace be upon us and on the righteous servants of Allah.  I bear witness that no one deserves to be worshipped but Allah and I bear witness that Mohammed is His servant and His messenger”.

The last sentence in prayer is:” Peace be upon you”.

There are seventeen obligatory prayer units and the are thirteen voluntary units.  The Muslims pray the voluntary units like this: two units before dawn prayer, two units before noon prayer and two after it, two units after the sunset prayer, five units after night prayer.

Every prayer takes about five minutes.  The Muslim spends about half an hour praying per day.  Through prayer, a Muslim is continually connected with Allah.  The Muslim should pray while facing the Ka’ba in Makkah.

Group prayer is preferred to individual prayer and prayer in the mosque is preferred to prayer at home 27 times.

In group prayer, all praying people stand in a straight lines, regardless of their race or colour, behind a leader called Imam.  They stand shoulder to shoulder, standing together, sitting together, repeating the same verses in the same language, Arabic. Starting together, ending together, facing the same center and doing all this five times a day.

All the Muslims of a small suburb or a small village meet once every day.  All the Muslims of a big suburb or a big village meet once a week.  All the Muslims of a town or a city meet twice a year on the prayer of Eid Al-Fitr ( Lesser Bairam ) and Corban Bairam.  Muslims from all over the world meet once a year when they perform Al-Hajj.

Prayer in Islam aims to reminding man of Allah, pushing man away from sin and abomination, keeping man in touch with Allah and establishing social solidarity and social fraternity.

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Written by: Salem Mraheel Quraisha.