Chapter: The Preconditions of the Prayer

In linguistic usage, a sharṭ is a sign; in the juristic sense it is something whose absence renders the act void, whereas its presence does not, in and of itself, guarantee the act’s validity or invalidity. The conditions of the prayer are those matters on which its soundness depends whenever they can be fulfilled.

The prayer has prerequisites without which it is not valid. If any of them is missing, the prayer is unsound. Among them is:

1. The entry of its appointed time.

Allah the Exalted says: “Indeed, the prayer is obligatory for the believers at fixed times” (Q 4:103). In other words, it has been made compulsory within defined limits; tawqīt is the act of setting such limits, and Allah has fixed a span of time for every prayer. The Muslims unanimously agree that the five daily prayers each have specific, limited times and that praying before those times begins does not suffice.

The Commander of the Believers ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “The prayer has a set time that Allah has stipulated; it is not valid without it.”