Book of Prayer
The obligatory prayers are five:
- Ẓuhr: its time begins when the sun passes the zenith (zawāl) and ends when an object’s shadow equals its length in addition to the noon shadow.
- ʿAṣr: its time begins once the shadow exceeds that length; its preferred window lasts until the shadow becomes twice the object’s length, though it remains valid until sunset.
- Maghrib: it has a single interval that starts at sunset and lasts only long enough to make the adhān, perform ablution, cover the body, pronounce the iqāma, and pray five rakʿahs.
- ʿIshāʾ: it begins when the red twilight disappears and, in the preferred time, lasts until one-third of the night; it remains permissible until the appearance of the second dawn.
- Ṣubḥ (Fajr): it starts at the second dawn and, in the preferred time, lasts until daybreak becomes bright; it remains permissible until sunrise.
Section. Three conditions render prayer obligatory: being Muslim, having reached puberty, and possessing sound intellect—sanity being the threshold of legal responsibility.
The prescribed non-obligatory prayers are five: the two ʿĪd prayers, the two eclipse prayers, and the rain-seeking prayer (istisqāʾ).
The emphasized Sunnah prayers attached to the obligatory ones total seventeen rakʿahs: two before Fajr; four before Ẓuhr and two after it; four before ʿAṣr; two after Maghrib; and three after ʿIshāʾ, ending with one rakʿah that makes the set an odd-numbered witr.
There are three further strongly affirmed supererogatory prayers: the night prayer (tahajjud), the ḍuḥā prayer, and the tarāwīḥ prayer.
Section. The conditions to be met before entering the prayer are five: purification of the body from both minor and major impurities, covering the ʿawrah with a clean garment, standing on a pure spot, certainty that the time has begun, and facing the qiblah; it is permissible to omit