Salah Guide

A guide to perfect our obligatory prayer (Salah) according to Quran and Sunnah

Salah or Salat (Arabic: ٱلصَّلَاة‎ aṣ-ṣalāh, Arabic: ٱلصَّلَوَات‎ aṣ-ṣalawāt, meaning "prayer", "supplication", "blessing" and "commendation"; also known as Namāz / Namaz (from Persian: نماز‎)) among most non-Arab Muslims, is the second of the five pillars in the Islamic faith as daily obligatory standardized prayers. It is a physical, mental, and spiritual act of worship that is observed five times every day at prescribed times. While facing towards the Kaaba in Mecca, Muslims pray first standing and later kneeling or sitting on the ground, reciting from the Qur'an (Quran / Koran) and glorifying and praising God as they bow and prostrate themselves in between. Ritual purity is a precondition.

Salah is composed of repetitive cycles of bows and prostrations, divided into prescribed units called a rakʿah. The number of rakaʿahs varies according to the time of day.

Etymology

Ṣalāh ([sˤɑˈlɑː] صَلَاة) is an Arabic word that means to pray or bless. It also means "contact," "communication," or "connection".

English usage

The word salāh is used by English-speakers only to refer to the formal obligatory prayers of Islam. The word "prayer" may also be used to translate different elements of Muslim worship, such as duʿāʾ (دُعَاء "invocation, appeal, supplication") and dhikr (ذِكْر "remembrance, mention, litany").

Namaz

In non-Arab Muslim countries the most widespread term is the Persian word namāz (نماز). It is used by speakers of the Indo-Iranian languages (e.g., Persian, Kurdish, Bengali, Urdu, Balochi, Hindi), as well as by speakers of Turkish, Azerbaijani, Russian, Chinese, Bosnian and Albanian. In the North Caucasus, the term is lamaz (ламаз) in Chechen, chak (чак) in Lak and kak in Avar (как). In Malaysia and Indonesia, the term solat is used, as well as a local term sembahyang (meaning "communication", from the words sembah - worship, and hyang - god or deity).

Salah in the Quran:

The noun ṣalāh (‏صلاة‎) is used 82 times in the Qur'an, with about 15 other derivatives of its triliteral root ṣ-l. Words connected to salah (such as mosque, wudu, dhikr, etc.) are used in approximately one-sixth of Qur'anic verses. "Surely my prayer, and my sacrifice and my life and my death are (all) for God", and "I am Allah, there is no god but I, therefore serve Me and keep up prayer for My remembrance" are both examples of this.

Exegesis of the Quraan can give four dimensions of salah. First, in order to commend God's servants, God, together with the angels, do salah ("blessing, salutations") Second, salah is done involuntarily by all beings in Creation, in the sense that they are always in contact with God by virtue of Him creating and sustaining them. Third, Muslims voluntarily offer salah to reveal that it is the particular form of worship that belongs to the prophets. Fourth, salah is described as the second pillar of Islam.

Purpose and importance

The primary purpose of Salaah is to act as a person's communication with Allah. Purification of the heart is the ultimate religious objective of Salaat.

Conditions

Salah is an obligatory ritual for all Muslims, except for those who are prepubescent, menstruating and experiencing bleeding in the 40 days after childbirth, according to Sunnis.

There are some conditions that make salah invalid, and some that make salah correct.

According to one view among many, if one ignores the following conditions, their salah is invalid:

Facing the Qibla, with the chest facing the direction of the Kaaba. The ill and the old are allowed leniency with posture;

Being in a state of Tahara, usually achieved by a short ritual washing called wudu;

Being sane and able to distinguish between right and wrong;

Not offering salah in the pathway of people (unless a stationary object is placed in front, obstructing the people's way), in a graveyard or disrespectful places, on land which has been taken by force.