2 – The Book of Prayer

1 – It is one of the five pillars, as in the ḥadith: “Islam is built upon five…,” agreed upon by al-Bukhārī and Muslim. Another wording reads: “I shall neither add to them nor detract from them.”

2 – It was first ordained as fifty prayers and then reduced to five. Anas ibn Mālik narrated: “On the night the Prophet ﷺ was taken on the Night Journey, the prayers were made obligatory as fifty; then they were reduced until they became five.” Al-Tirmidhī (1/417) recorded it and declared it sound, and Ahmad (3/161) transmitted it through ʿAbd al-Razzaq → Maʿmar → al-Zuhrī, who said: “Anas ibn Mālik related it to me.” This chain is authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs, and they both preserve a portion of the lengthy Miʿrāj narration with a similar meaning.

3 – It is permissible for the authorities to accept a person’s Islam even if he is not yet prepared to observe all five daily prayers. Naṣr ibn ʿĀṣim al-Laythī reported from a man of his tribe that he came to the Prophet ﷺ, embraced Islam, and stipulated that he would perform only two prayers; the Prophet accepted that from him. Ahmad (5/24–25, 363) transmitted it through Shuʿbah → Qatādah → him. This chain is authentic according to the criteria of Muslim, and there are other ḥadiths on the matter.

4 – At first each prayer consisted of two cycles (rakʿahs) except for Maghrib; later, while residing, two additional cycles were added to every prayer except for Fajr, whereas on a journey they remained as they had been. ʿĀʾishah said: “Prayer was first prescribed in Mecca as two cycles each. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to Medina he added two cycles to every prayer except for Maghrib, for it is the odd-numbered prayer of the daytime, and the dawn prayer, because of the length (of its recitation).”