—to Him belong all praise and favor—said: “They are five in practice, yet fifty on the Scales. This is not of the category wherein a single good deed is multiplied tenfold; rather, it is of the category wherein one act suffices for fifty acts. These five prayers stand in lieu of fifty prayers, so it is as though we have performed fifty. Each individual prayer is counted ten times over. Were this merely a matter of multiplying good deeds, the prayers would not be distinguished from other acts, but this ruling is unique: perform five and it is as though you performed fifty.” He said, “They are five in action and fifty in the reckoning,” which shows the tremendous rank of these prayers. For that very reason Allah, exalted be He, made them obligatory upon His servants every day and night—five indispensable times.

You must be with Allah five times each day and night, confiding in Him. If someone were granted an audience with an earthly king five times a day, he would boast of it as an honor, rejoicing and saying, “Every day I sit with the king five times!” Yet you converse with the King of kings—Glorified and Exalted—five times a day at the very least; why then do you not rejoice? Thank Allah for this blessing and establish the prayer.

The Prophet’s words, peace and blessings be upon him, “and you establish the prayer,” mean that you perform it correctly and completely, fulfilling its conditions, pillars, and obligatory elements.

Among its most important conditions is its appointed time, for Allah, the Exalted, says, “Indeed, the prayer has been prescribed upon the believers at fixed times” (An-Nisāʾ 4:103). Since the prayers are five, their times are likewise five for those without a valid excuse, and three—