In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

Preface

All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, seek His help, ask His forgiveness, and seek refuge in Allah from the evil within ourselves and from the consequences of our deeds. Whomever Allah guides, none can mislead; and whomever He allows to stray, none can guide. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone, without partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

“O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims.” (Āl ʿImrān 3:102)

“O humankind, fear your Lord who created you from a single soul, and from it created its mate, and from the two of them spread many men and women. And fear Allah, in whose name you ask one another, and the ties of kinship. Indeed, Allah is ever Watchful over you.” (An-Nisāʾ 4:1)

“O you who have believed, fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice; He will rectify your deeds for you and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has truly achieved a great triumph.” (Al-Aḥzāb 33:70–71)

All praise belongs to Allah who made the prayer obligatory upon His servants, commanded them to establish it and perform it well, linked success and prosperity to humility within it, and made it a criterion between belief and disbelief and a deterrent against indecency and wrongdoing.

Blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad—he to whom Allah addressed the words: “We have sent down to you the Reminder so that you may explain to the people what has been revealed to them” (An-Naḥl 16:44). The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, fulfilled this duty perfectly, and the prayer was among the greatest matters he clarified for people, both by word and by deed—for on one occasion he even prayed upon the pulpit, standing and bowing on it, and then said to them: