Book of Prayer
Chapter: The Obligation of the Five Daily Prayers

The prayer (salah) is the most emphatic pillar of Islam after the two testimonies of faith. It has been instituted in the most perfect and beautiful form of worship, and it gathers within itself many acts of devotion: remembering Allah, reciting His Book, standing before Him, bowing, prostrating, supplicating, glorifying, and declaring His greatness. It is the chief of all bodily acts of worship, and no revealed law of any messenger has ever been without it.

Allah made it obligatory upon His Prophet Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him, the Seal of the Messengers—on the night of the Ascension in the heavens, unlike every other commandment. This alone points to its grandeur, the certainty of its obligation, and the high esteem it holds with Allah.