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Draft. This page has not yet been reviewed by a qualified scholar.

This is the one. Salah is the second pillar of Islam and the thing you will do more than anything else — five times a day, every day, for the rest of your life.

It looks like a great deal to learn at once. It is not. The prayer is four positions and a handful of short phrases, repeated in a fixed order. Once you have the shape of two units, every prayer is the same shape repeated.

Learn it slowly. Use English for the parts you have not memorised yet and keep working at the Arabic. A clumsy prayer prayed today is worth more than a perfect one postponed until you feel ready.

Before you begin

Five things, quickly:

Which way to face

In North America, the qiblah is northeast — not southeast.

Almost everyone gets this wrong at first, and for a sensible reason. On a flat map, Makkah sits down and to the right of North America, so southeast feels obvious. But the Earth is a sphere, and the shortest line between two points on a sphere is not the one a flat map draws. From North America that line runs up over the top of the world and comes down into Arabia. You face northeast.

From the Qur'an

﴿ فَوَلِّ وَجْهَكَ شَطْرَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ ۚ وَحَيْثُ مَا كُنتُمْ فَوَلُّوا وُجُوهَكُمْ شَطْرَهُ ﴾

Fa walli wajhaka shaṭra-l-masjidi-l-ḥarām. Wa ḥaythu mā kuntum fa wallū wujūhakum shaṭrah

So turn your face toward the Sacred Mosque. And wherever you are, turn your faces toward it.

Surah Al-Baqarah — The Cow  ·  Chapter 2, verse 144

How far northeast depends where you are

The angle shifts as you move across the continent, and it is worth knowing roughly which end you are at:

Finding it without a phone

If you know where north is, you can work out the rest. And you can always find north:

This is worth practising deliberately once or twice, because it is the method that works in a hotel room, a hospital, a rest stop, or anywhere your phone is dead or wrong.

Why the app is not always right

The calculation in a qiblah app is reliable. The compass is the weak part. A phone's magnetometer is easily thrown off by metal, magnets in phone cases, laptops, car frames, and the steel in building structures — and it often needs recalibrating without saying so.

A better way to use one: check it outdoors, away from metal, and note the bearing number it gives for your city. That number does not change. Then you can orient yourself anywhere in town without trusting a wobbling needle.

You do not have to be exact. For anyone far from Makkah, facing the general direction of the qiblah is sufficient — you are aiming at a direction, not threading a needle. If you face your best honest estimate and pray, your prayer is valid. If you later discover you were somewhat off, the prayers you already prayed still count and are not repeated.

This is a mercy, and it is worth taking. Do not let uncertainty about the angle become a reason to delay a prayer until its time runs out.

The shape of it

Four positions. Everything else is the order you move through them and what you say in each.

Standing
Bowing
Prostrating
Sitting

One rak'ah — one unit — is: stand and recite, bow, stand up again, prostrate, sit, prostrate again. Prayers are two, three or four of these.

Two rak'ah, step by step

This is the shape of Fajr, and the building block of every other prayer.

The first rak'ah

  1. Stand facing the qiblah and be still. Look at the spot on the ground where your forehead will go.
  2. Intend the prayer in your heart — which prayer it is, and that it is for Allah. Say nothing aloud. Many are also taught to seek refuge and say Bismillāh quietly at this point, before entering the prayer. That is a good habit; it does not replace the seeking of refuge in step 4.
  3. Raise your hands to your shoulders or ears and say the takbīr. From this moment you are in prayer — no speaking, no turning, no scratching unless you must.
  4. Place your right hand over your left on your chest, and say the opening praise.
  5. Seek refuge, and say Bismillāh, immediately before the recitation.
  6. Recite Al-Fatihah. This is obligatory in every single rak'ah.
  7. Recite a short surah after it.
  8. Say the takbīr and bow. Back flat, hands gripping your knees, head level with your spine. Glorify your Lord three times.
  9. Rise up with the words below, and stand completely still before going down.
  10. Say the takbīr and prostrate. Seven points touch the ground: forehead, nose, both palms, both knees, and the toes of both feet. Glorify your Lord three times.
  11. Say the takbīr, sit up, and say the du'ā' between the two prostrations. Settle — do not bounce.
  12. Say the takbīr and prostrate a second time, exactly as before.

The second rak'ah

  1. Rise to standing, saying the takbīr.
  2. Recite Al-Fatihah, then another short surah. A different one if you know one; the same is fine.
  3. Bow, rise, and prostrate twice — identical to the first rak'ah.
  4. Sit back and recite the tashahhud, then the blessings on the Prophet ﷺ.
  5. Make du'ā' for anything you wish, in any language.
  6. Turn your head to the right and give the salām. Then to the left, and repeat it.

That is the prayer.

◇ Scholars differ

Where the hands rest while standing. Some schools place them on the chest, some below the navel, and some hold that letting them hang at the sides is also valid. This is the most visible difference between people praying side by side, and it is the one a new Muslim notices first.

If you look along a row and see three different hand positions, nobody there is doing it wrong. Do what your masjid teaches.

Stillness is part of it. The Prophet ﷺ once sent a man back to pray again, three times over, because he had not settled properly in each position. Slow is correct. Rushing is the most common fault, and it is a fault in the prayer itself, not just in its quality.

The words

In the order you will say them.

Entering the prayer, and in every change of position

The takbīr

اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ

Allāhu akbar

Allah is greatest.

After the opening takbīr

The opening praise

سُبْحَانَكَ اللَّهُمَّ وَبِحَمْدِكَ، وَتَبَارَكَ اسْمُكَ، وَتَعَالَىٰ جَدُّكَ، وَلَا إِلَٰهَ غَيْرُكَ

Subḥānaka-llāhumma wa biḥamdik, wa tabāraka-smuk, wa taʿālā jadduk, wa lā ilāha ghayruk

Glory be to You, O Allah, and praise. Blessed is Your name, exalted is Your majesty, and there is no god but You.

Seeking refuge

أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ

Aʿūdhu billāhi mina-sh-shayṭāni-r-rajīm

I seek refuge with Allah from Shaytan, the rejected.

◇ Scholars differ

When to seek refuge. The usual teaching places it inside the prayer — after the opening takbīr and the opening praise, immediately before Al-Fatihah — because the Qur'an ties seeking refuge to the act of recitation, and the recitation happens within the prayer.

Many people are also taught to seek refuge and say Bismillāh before beginning, while settling their intention. This is a sound habit and nothing is lost by it. What matters is that it is not left out before the recitation.

There is also a difference over whether it is said in every rakʿah or only the first. Ask your imam which your community follows.

Al-Fatihah — in every rak'ah, without exception

From the Qur'an

﴿ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ ۝ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ۝ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ ۝ مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ ۝ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ۝ اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ ۝ صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ ﴾

Bismi-llāhi-r-raḥmāni-r-raḥīm • Al-ḥamdu lillāhi rabbi-l-ʿālamīn • Ar-raḥmāni-r-raḥīm • Māliki yawmi-d-dīn • Iyyāka naʿbudu wa iyyāka nastaʿīn • Ihdina-ṣ-ṣirāṭa-l-mustaqīm • Ṣirāṭa-lladhīna anʿamta ʿalayhim, ghayri-l-maghḍūbi ʿalayhim wa la-ḍ-ḍāllīn

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful. All praise is for Allah, Lord of all the worlds. The Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful. Master of the Day of Judgement. You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help. Guide us to the straight path. The path of those You have blessed — not of those who earned anger, nor of those who went astray.

Surah Al-Fātiḥah — The Opening  ·  Chapter 1, verses 1–7

Say Āmīn after finishing it.

Notice the turn in the middle. The first half speaks about Allah. Then at iyyāka naʿbudu it switches to speaking directly to Him, and stays there. You praise, and then you are in conversation.

A short surah after it

Any passage you have memorised. Al-Ikhlāṣ is four lines and is more than enough to begin with.

From the Qur'an

﴿ قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ۝ اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ ۝ لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ ۝ وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ ﴾

Qul huwa-llāhu aḥad • Allāhu-ṣ-ṣamad • Lam yalid wa lam yūlad • Wa lam yakun lahu kufuwan aḥad

Say: He is Allah, One. Allah, the Eternal Refuge. He does not beget, nor was He begotten. And there is nothing comparable to Him.

Surah Al-Ikhlāṣ — The Sincerity  ·  Chapter 112, verses 1–4

In the bow

Three times

سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْعَظِيمِ

Subḥāna rabbiya-l-ʿaẓīm

Glory be to my Lord, the Magnificent.

Rising from the bow

As you come up

سَمِعَ اللَّهُ لِمَنْ حَمِدَهُ

Samiʿa Allāhu liman ḥamidah

Allah hears the one who praises Him.

Once standing upright

رَبَّنَا وَلَكَ الْحَمْدُ

Rabbanā wa laka-l-ḥamd

Our Lord, to You belongs all praise.

In prostration

Three times

سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْأَعْلَىٰ

Subḥāna rabbiya-l-aʿlā

Glory be to my Lord, the Most High.

Sitting between the two prostrations

This is the moment most easily rushed past, and it is one of the sweetest parts of the prayer — a short pause in which you ask for five things at once.

Between the two sujood

رَبِّ اغْفِرْ لِي وَارْحَمْنِي وَاهْدِنِي وَعَافِنِي وَارْزُقْنِي

Rabbi-ghfir lī, wa-rḥamnī, wa-hdinī, wa ʿāfinī, wa-rzuqnī

My Lord, forgive me, have mercy on me, guide me, grant me wellbeing, and provide for me.

If that is too much at first, the shorter form is enough:

The shorter form

رَبِّ اغْفِرْ لِي، رَبِّ اغْفِرْ لِي

Rabbi-ghfir lī, Rabbi-ghfir lī

My Lord, forgive me. My Lord, forgive me.

Sitting at the end

The tashahhud

التَّحِيَّاتُ لِلَّهِ وَالصَّلَوَاتُ وَالطَّيِّبَاتُ، السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ، السَّلَامُ عَلَيْنَا وَعَلَىٰ عِبَادِ اللَّهِ الصَّالِحِينَ، أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

At-taḥiyyātu lillāhi wa-ṣ-ṣalawātu wa-ṭ-ṭayyibāt. As-salāmu ʿalayka ayyuha-n-nabiyyu wa raḥmatullāhi wa barakātuh. As-salāmu ʿalaynā wa ʿalā ʿibādi-llāhi-ṣ-ṣāliḥīn. Ashhadu an lā ilāha illā Allāh, wa ashhadu anna Muḥammadan ʿabduhu wa rasūluh.

All greetings, prayers and good things belong to Allah. Peace be upon you, O Prophet, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Peace be upon us and upon the righteous servants of Allah. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is His servant and His messenger.

Raise your right index finger at the testimony.

Blessings on the Prophet ﷺ

اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَىٰ مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَىٰ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ، كَمَا صَلَّيْتَ عَلَىٰ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَعَلَىٰ آلِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، إِنَّكَ حَمِيدٌ مَجِيدٌ

Allāhumma ṣalli ʿalā Muḥammad wa ʿalā āli Muḥammad, kamā ṣallayta ʿalā Ibrāhīm wa ʿalā āli Ibrāhīm, innaka ḥamīdun majīd

O Allah, send blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, as You sent blessings upon Ibrahim and the family of Ibrahim. You are Praiseworthy, Glorious.

Leaving the prayer

Right, then left

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ

As-salāmu ʿalaykum wa raḥmatullāh

Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah.

Three and four rak'ah prayers

Maghrib is three. Dhuhr, 'Aṣr and 'Ishā' are four. The difference from what you have learned is small:

  1. Pray the first two rak'ah exactly as above.
  2. After the second prostration of the second rak'ah, sit and recite only the tashahhud — not the blessings, and no salām.
  3. Stand back up and continue. In these later rak'ah recite only Al-Fatihah — no surah after it.
  4. At the end, sit for the full tashahhud and blessings, then give the salām.

What people do after the prayer

You will notice that when the congregational prayer ends, most people do not get up. They stay sitting, saying something quietly, often counting on their fingers or a string of beads.

Nobody explains this, and new Muslims often sit there wondering whether they are missing an announcement. They are not. This is adhkār — the remembrance said after each obligatory prayer. It is not required, and your prayer is complete without it. But it is a sunnah with substantial reward, and it takes about two minutes.

1. Seek forgiveness, three times

Three times

أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ

Astaghfirullāh

I seek Allah's forgiveness.

2. Then say

Once

اللَّهُمَّ أَنْتَ السَّلَامُ وَمِنْكَ السَّلَامُ، تَبَارَكْتَ يَا ذَا الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ

Allāhumma anta-s-salām, wa minka-s-salām, tabārakta yā dha-l-jalāli wa-l-ikrām

O Allah, You are Peace, and from You comes peace. Blessed are You, O Possessor of Majesty and Honour.

3. Āyat al-Kursī

The longest of them, and the one with the greatest reward attached — the Prophet ﷺ said that whoever recites it after every obligatory prayer, nothing stands between him and Paradise except death. Learn it in pieces; it will take a while and it is worth it.

From the Qur'an

﴿ اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ ۚ لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ ۚ لَّهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۗ مَن ذَا الَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِندَهُ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِ ۚ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنْ عِلْمِهِ إِلَّا بِمَا شَاءَ ۚ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ ۖ وَلَا يَئُودُهُ حِفْظُهُمَا ۚ وَهُوَ الْعَلِيُّ الْعَظِيمُ ﴾

Allāhu lā ilāha illā huwa-l-ḥayyu-l-qayyūm. Lā ta'khudhuhu sinatun wa lā nawm. Lahu mā fi-s-samāwāti wa mā fi-l-arḍ. Man dha-lladhī yashfaʿu ʿindahu illā bi idhnih. Yaʿlamu mā bayna aydīhim wa mā khalfahum, wa lā yuḥīṭūna bi shay'in min ʿilmihi illā bimā shā'. Wasiʿa kursiyyuhu-s-samāwāti wa-l-arḍ, wa lā ya'ūduhu ḥifẓuhumā, wa huwa-l-ʿaliyyu-l-ʿaẓīm.

Allah — there is no god but He, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all. Neither drowsiness overtakes Him nor sleep. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who is it that can intercede with Him except by His permission? He knows what lies before them and what is behind them, and they encompass nothing of His knowledge except what He wills. His Throne extends over the heavens and the earth, and their preservation tires Him not. And He is the Most High, the Magnificent.

Surah Al-Baqarah — The Cow  ·  Chapter 2, verse 255

4. The tasbīḥ — thirty-three each

This is what the finger-counting is. Three short phrases, thirty-three times each, and then one longer sentence at the end.

Thirty-three plus thirty-three plus thirty-three, plus that one sentence, comes to a hundred. The final sentence is said once — not a hundred times. The whole thing takes about two minutes.

Thirty-three times

سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ

Subḥānallāh

Glory be to Allah.

Thirty-three times

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ

Alḥamdulillāh

All praise belongs to Allah.

Thirty-three times

اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ

Allāhu akbar

Allah is greatest.

Once only — this completes the hundred

لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، لَهُ الْمُلْكُ وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ، وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

Lā ilāha illā Allāhu waḥdahu lā sharīka lah, lahu-l-mulku wa lahu-l-ḥamd, wa huwa ʿalā kulli shay'in qadīr

There is no god but Allah alone, without partner. His is the dominion and His is the praise, and He has power over all things.

A saying of the Prophet ﷺ

Whoever says this after every prayer — glorifying Allah thirty-three times, praising Him thirty-three times, magnifying Him thirty-three times, and completing the hundred with the words above — his sins are forgiven, even if they were like the foam of the sea.

Reported by Abū Hurayrah in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim.

A different practice, easily confused with this one. There is also a well-known remembrance in which that final sentence — lā ilāha illā Allāhu waḥdahu… — is said a hundred times over the course of a day, with a great reward reported for it. That is a separate daily dhikr, usually said as part of the morning remembrance. It is not part of the sequence above, and nobody repeats it a hundred times after each of the five prayers.

5. The three short surahs

Al-Ikhlāṣ, Al-Falaq and An-Nās — once after each prayer, and three times each after Fajr and Maghrib.

Do not try to do all of this from day one. Start with Astaghfirullāh three times and the tasbīḥ, which together take a minute. Add Āyat al-Kursī when you have memorised it. Nobody is watching your count, and a small amount said consistently is what is asked of you.

Why people then stand up and pray again

The other thing you will see: some people rise after the congregational prayer and pray two or four more units alone. This is not a correction and they have not made a mistake.

These are the sunnah prayers — optional units attached to certain of the five, which the Prophet ﷺ prayed regularly. They carry great reward and they are not obligatory. Learn the five obligatory prayers first, properly, and add these later. Nobody expects a new Muslim to be praying sunnah units in their first months.

When it goes wrong

I lost count of the rak'ah

Act on what you are most confident of. If you genuinely cannot tell, assume the lower number, complete the prayer, and make two extra prostrations before the salām. These are the sujood as-sahw — the prostrations of forgetfulness — and they exist precisely because this happens to everyone.

I forgot part of it

The same two prostrations cover most omissions. If you left out something obligatory such as Al-Fatihah in a rak'ah, that rak'ah is repeated.

Someone spoke to me, or my phone rang

Ignore it and continue. You may say Subḥānallāh aloud to signal you are praying. Deliberate speech breaks the prayer and you would begin again; a noise around you does not.

I do not know the Arabic yet

Say what you know and use English for the rest, and keep working at it. Al-Fatihah is the priority — learn that first, out loud, with someone listening who can correct your pronunciation.

How to actually learn this

  1. Learn the physical sequence first, saying the phrases in English. Do this today.
  2. Learn Al-Fatihah in Arabic, a verse at a time, out loud, with someone correcting you.
  3. Learn the short phrases in bowing and prostration — they are three words each.
  4. Learn the tashahhud in four pieces, one piece a day.
  5. Add one short surah.
  6. Then the adhkār after the prayer.

Most people reach the end of that list in two or three months. Praying badly the whole way through is part of the process, not a reason to wait.

How to make wudu  ·  Ghusl  ·  Visiting a masjid

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