Islamic prayer

Prayer is a major part of Islamic life. The call to prayer is broadcast five times daily from mosques. But how do they pray and what do they say? To minimize bias, the following content has been mainly drawn from Islamic websites.

Prayer times

Muslims are required to pray formally five times a day, as follows:

1. Dawn.
2. About mid-day: when the sun is highest in the sky.
3. About mid-afternoon: when the shadow of an object is the same length as the object itself, plus the shadow length at the mid-day prayer time.
4. Sunset.
5. Nightfall: when the sun’s light is gone from the western sky.

Since these times are based on the position of the sun in the sky, the prayer times change slightly from day to day. At each of these times there is a “Call to prayer” to remind people of the need to pray. The prayer should be offered before the next call to prayer.

Besides this formal prayer, Muslims can offer voluntary prayers before or after the obligatory prayers as well as at other times.

Call to prayer

Historically, the mosque minaret was used as a tall platform from which to call Muslims to prayer and to announce the central tenant of the Islamic faith to non-believers. Today, however, the call to prayer is typically recited into a microphone and transmitted through loudspeakers installed on the minaret. This allows the call to prayer to be heard at great distances without climbing the minaret.

The call of the announcer is considered an art form, reflected in the melodious chanting of the call to prayer. However, some people don’t think it’s melodious! In Turkey, there is an annual competition to find the country’s best announcer.

Here’s a translation into English of the Arabic “Call to prayer”.

Allah (God) is the greatest, Allah is the greatest
Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest
I testify that there is no God but Allah
I testify that there is no God but Allah
I testify that Muhammad is God’s Prophet
I testify that Muhammad is God’s Prophet
Come to prayer, Come to prayer
Come to salvation, Come to salvation
Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest,
There is no God but Allah

Another line is often added to the first prayer of the morning (dawn):
Prayer is better than sleep
Prayer is better than sleep

How to pray

Muslims can pray together at a mosque or elsewhere alone. It’s compulsory for men to attend the Friday afternoon prayer in a congregation. Most prayers will take between 5-10 minutes. This can be influenced a lot by which chapters you choose to recite from the Quran. So formal prayer can take about 25-50 minutes per day. Here’s how Muslims pray formally to Allah.

In this ritual, the words are set in Arabic (no matter what the person’s native tongue) and there is a series of set movements that go with the words of the prayer. Each movement is always preceded by the phrase “God is Most Great”. All Muslims are to pray these prayers in Arabic, even if they don’t understand the language; the Arabic words have been translated into English below.

Muslims must be ritually clean before they pray and pray in a ritually clean location. They make sure of this by ritual washing of the parts of the body that are generally exposed to dirt and grime – mosques have washing facilities for this.

The prayer generally follows this sequence.

1. Standing facing Mecca, raise hands up to your ears and say “Allah is Most Great”.
   Standing with hands folded over chest, say
   “O Allah, how perfect You are and praise be to You. Blessed is Your name, and exalted is Your majesty. There is no god but You”.
   “I seek shelter in Allah from the rejected Satan”.
   “In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful”.
2. Standing with hands folded over chest, recite the first chapter of the Quran (if this is the second cycle of the prayer, recite another short portion of the Quran):
   In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Master of the Day of Judgment. Thee (alone) we worship and Thee (alone) we ask for help. Show us the straight path. The path of those whom Thou hast favored; Not the (path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray” (1:1-1:7)
   Then recite any other verses of the Quran that you would like. For example,
   Say: He is Allah, the One! Allah is He on Whom all depend. He begetteth not, nor is He begotten. And there is none like unto Him” (112:1-112:4).
3. Raise hands up, saying:
   “Allah is Most Great”
   Bow with hands on knees, saying.
   “Glory be to my Lord, the Almighty
   Glory be to my Lord, the Almighty
   Glory be to my Lord, the Almighty”
4. Rise to standing while reciting “Allah hears those who call upon Him;
   Our Lord, praise be to You”
5. Raise hands up, saying “Allah is Most Great”. Prostrate on the ground, reciting
   “Glory be to my Lord, the Most High
   Glory be to my Lord, the Most High
   Glory be to my Lord, the Most High”
6. Rise to a sitting position, saying “Allah is Most Great”.
   “O my Lord, forgive me, have mercy on me, fulfill my needs, raise me, provide for me, guide me, and protect me from sickness”.
   Say, “Allah is Most Great”.
7. Prostrate again in the same manner, saying:
   “Glory be to my Lord, the Most High
   Glory be to my Lord, the Most High
   Glory be to my Lord, the Most High”.
8. Rise to a standing position, saying “Allah is Most Great”.
9. This concludes one cycle (or unit) of prayer. Begin again from Step 2 for the second cycle. Each prayer is 2-4 cycles: 2 at dawn, 4 at noon, 4 at mid-afternoon, 3 at sunset, and 4 at nightfall.
10. After two cycles and the last cycle, remain sitting after the prostrations and say,
    “Salutations to Allah and prayers and good deeds. Peace be upon you, O Prophet (Muhammad), and the mercy of Allah and his blessings. Peace be on us and on the righteous servants of Allah. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His messenger”.
    Then repeat the declaration of faith, raising the forefinger of the right hand, to act as a witness.
11. If the prayer is to be longer than these two cycles, stand up and begin again to complete the prayer, sitting again after all cycles have been completed.
12. When the last cycle has been completed, say.
    “O Allah, let Your Peace come upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, as you have brought peace to Abraham and his family. Truly, You are Praiseworthy and Glorious. Allah, bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, as you have blessed Abraham and his family. Truly, You are Praiseworthy and Glorious”.
    Finally, Muslims ask for forgiveness and mercy, and ask God to bless them and their children until the Day of Judgement:
    “O Allah! I seek refuge in You from the torment of the Hellfire, from the torment of the grave, from the trials and afflictions of life and death, and from the deception of the False-Christ. O my Lord! Grant me and my parents forgiveness, and bestow Your mercy upon them, just as they brought me up when I was small”.
13. Turn to the right (toward the angel recording your good deeds) and say, “Peace be upon you and Allah’s blessings”.
14. Turn to the left (toward the angel recording your wrongful deeds) and repeat the greeting. This concludes the formal prayer.

Summary

We have seen that a Muslim is to be involved in formal prayer for about 25-50 minutes each day. And these prayers are spread across five periods of the day. Each prayer has a set sequence of body movements and Arabic words. The “call to prayer” includes a summary of the Islamic faith – that Allah is the only God and that Mohammad is His prophet.

Muslims pray this formal prayer 35 times per week, 150 times per month and 1,825 times per year. As prayer is only one of the five main practices of Islam, this shows that it takes dedication to be a practicing Muslim.

Written, December 2016

Also see: Basic Islam
Monolingual Islam
Testing Islam