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3. Dressing properly in such a way as to meet the moral regulations aimed at covering
the private parts. For the male, the body should be covered at least from the navel to
the knees. For the female the whole body should be covered except the face and the
hands, feet should also be covered in prayer. For both, transparent clothes must be
avoided in prayer;
4. Having the intention of prayer (Niyyah) by heart; Reason: the intention emanates
from the heart and is not essential to declare verbally according to sunnah
5. Facing the right direction of “ Qiblah” , the direction of the Ka’ bah at Mecca. There
are many ways to decide the right direction. If a person has no means of telling, he
would follow his best judgement
The Kinds of Prayer
The following are the various kinds of prayer:
1. Obligatory (Fard), which includes the five daily prayers and the Friday’ s noon
congregational prayer. Failure to observe these prayers on time is a serious and
punishable sin. However, funeral prayer which is known as “ Farad Kifayah” in
Arabic, which is a collective duty, is also obligatory in the sense that if no one comes
out to perform the prayer on a deceased Muslim in a given community, the
community as a whole is deemed sinful in the sight of Allah, but if it is performed by
some of the people, then, the rest of the community are absolved of the sin
2. Supererogatory (Wajib and Sunnah), which includes the prayers accompanying the
obligatory services, and the congregations of the two great festivals (Eeds). Failure to
observe these is a harmful negligence and a reproachable conduct
3. Optional prayer which includes all voluntary prayers at any time of the day or the
night. Two periods have a special preference: the later part of the night until just
before the breaking of the dawn and the mid-morning period.
The Times of Prayer
Every Muslim, male or female, must offer at least five daily prayers in time, if there is
no lawful reason for exemption, combination, or temporary delay, They are:
1. The Early Morning Prayer (Salatu-l-Fajr), which may be offered anytime after the
dawn and before sunrise, a total period of about two hours
2. The Noon Prayer (Salatu-l-Zuhr). This prayer may be offered anytime after the sun
begins to decline from its Zenith until it is about midway on its course to setting. For
example, if the sun sets at 7:00 p.m. the prayer time begins a little after 12:00 noon
and continues until a little after 3:30 p.m. Soon after that, the time of next prayer
begins. However, there are accurate calendars telling the time of each prayer. But if
there is none available, one must resort to one’ s best judgement
3. The Mid-Afternoon Prayer (Salatu-l-‘Asr), which begins right after the expiration
of the Noon Prayer time and extends to sunset
4. The Sunset Prayer (Salatu-l-Maghrib). The time of this prayer begins immediately
after sunset and extends till the red glow in the western horizon disappears. Normally
it extends over a period of one hour and twenty to thirty minutes
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