{"id":1537,"date":"2021-04-08T11:17:54","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T08:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/about-prayer-the-second-pillar-of-islam\/"},"modified":"2021-04-08T11:17:54","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T08:17:54","slug":"about-prayer-the-second-pillar-of-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/about-prayer-the-second-pillar-of-islam\/","title":{"rendered":"About Prayer: The Second Pillar of Islam"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Muslims<\/a><\/p>\n

Muslims pray or, perhaps more correctly, worship five times throughout the day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Prayer (Salah<\/i>) is the daily ritual prayer enjoined upon all Muslims as one of the five Pillars of Islam<\/a>. It is performed five times a day<\/a> by all Muslims. Salah is a precise worship<\/a>, different from praying on the inspiration of the moment. Muslims pray or, perhaps more correctly, worship <\/a>five times throughout the day:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Between first light and sunrise.<\/p>\n

\u2022 After the sun has passed the middle of the sky.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Between mid-afternoon and sunset.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Between sunset and the last light of the day.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Between darkness and midnight.<\/p>\n

Each prayer may take at least 5 minutes, but it may be lengthened as a person wishes.\u00a0 Muslims can pray in any clean environment, alone or together, in a mosque or at home, at work or on the road, indoors or out. Under special circumstances, such as illness, journey, or war, certain allowances in the prayers are given to make their offering easy.<\/p>\n

A Reminder<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Having specific times each day to be close to God helps Muslims remain aware of the importance of their faith, and the role it plays in every part of life. Muslims start their day by cleaning themselves and then standing before their Lord in prayer. The prayers consist of recitations from the Qur\u2019an in Arabic and a sequence of movements: standing, bowing, prostrating, and sitting.<\/p>\n

All recitations<\/a> and movements express submission, humility, and homage to God. The various postures Muslims assume during their prayers capture the spirit of submission; the words remind them of their commitments to God<\/a>. The prayer also reminds one of belief in the Day of Judgment and of the fact that one has to appear before his or her Creator and give an account of their entire life.<\/p>\n

This is how a Muslim starts their day. In the course of the day, Muslims dissociate themselves form their worldly engagements for a few moments and stand before God. This brings to mind once again the real purpose of life.<\/p>\n

These prayers serve as a constant reminder throughout the day to help keep believers mindful of God in the daily stress of work, family, and distractions of life. Prayer strengthens faith, dependence on God, and puts daily life within the perspective of life to come after death and the last judgment. As they prepare to pray, Muslims face Makkah, the holy city that houses the Ka`bah<\/a> (the ancient place of worship built by Abraham and his son Ishmael, peace be upon them). At the end of the prayer, the Shahadah (testimony of faith) is recited, and the greeting of peace, \u2018Peace be upon all of you and the mercy and blessings of God’, is repeated twice.<\/p>\n

The Call<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Though individual performance of\u00a0salah<\/i>\u00a0is permissible, collective worship in the mosque has special merit and Muslims are encouraged to perform certain\u00a0salah<\/i>\u00a0with others.\u00a0 With their faces turned in the direction of the Ka`bah in Makkah, the worshipers align themselves in parallel rows behind the imam, or prayer leader, who directs them as they execute the physical postures coupled with Qur\u2019an recitations. In many Muslim countries, the \u2018call to prayer<\/a>\u2019, or \u2018Adhan<\/i>\u2019, echoes out across the rooftops. Aided by a megaphone the muezzin calls out:<\/p>\n

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar<\/i>\u00a0(God is the greatest, God is the greatest),<\/p>\n

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar<\/i>\u00a0(God is the greatest, God is the greatest),<\/p>\n

Ash-hadu an-laa ilaaha ill-Allah<\/i>\u00a0(I witness that none deserves worship except God).<\/p>\n

Ash-hadu an-laa ilaaha ill-Allah<\/i>\u00a0(I witness that none deserves worship except God).<\/p>\n

Ash-hadu anna Muhammad-ar-Rasul-ullah\u00a0<\/i>(I witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God).<\/p>\n

Ash-hadu anna Muhammad-ar-Rasul-ullah<\/i>\u00a0(I witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God).<\/p>\n

Hayya `alas-Salah<\/i>\u00a0(Come to prayer)<\/p>\n

Hayya `alas-Salah<\/i>\u00a0(Come to prayer)<\/p>\n

Hayya `alal-Falah<\/i>\u00a0(Come to prosperity)<\/p>\n

Hayya `alal-Falah<\/i>\u00a0(Come to prosperity)<\/p>\n

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar<\/i>\u00a0(God is the greatest, God is the greatest),<\/p>\n

La ilaaha ill-Allah<\/i>\u00a0(None deserves worship except God).<\/p>\n

Friday Prayer<\/b><\/h2>\n

Friday is the weekly day of communal worship in Islam<\/a>. The weekly convened\u00a0Jumu`ah<\/i>\u00a0(Friday Prayer) is the most important service. The Friday Prayer is marked by the following features:<\/p>\n

\u2022 It falls in the same time as the noon prayer which it replaces.<\/p>\n

\u2022 It must be performed in a congregation led by a prayer leader, an \u2018Imam.\u2019 It cannot be offered individually. Muslims in the West try to arrange their schedules to allow them time to attend the prayer.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Rather than a day of rest like the Sabbath, Friday is a day of devotion and extra worship.\u00a0 A Muslim is allowed normal work on Friday as on any other day of the week. They may proceed with their usual activities, but they must break for the Friday prayer. After the worship is over, they can resume their mundane activities.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Typically, the Friday Prayer is performed in a mosque, if available. Sometimes, due to unavailability of a mosque, it may be offered at a rented facility, park, etc.<\/p>\n

\u2022 When the time for prayer comes, the\u00a0Adhan<\/i>\u00a0is pronounced. The Imam then stands facing the audience and delivers his sermon (known as\u00a0khutbah<\/i>\u00a0in Arabic), an essential part of the service of which its attendance is required. While the Imam is talking, everyone present listens to the sermon quietly till the end. Most Imams in the West will deliver the sermon in English, but some deliver it in Arabic. Those who deliver it in Arabic usually deliver a short speech in the local language before the service.<\/p>\n

\u2022 There are two sermons delivered, one distinguished from the other by a brief sitting of the Imam. The sermon is commenced with words of praise of God and prayers of blessing for Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 After the sermon, the prayer is offered under the leadership of the Imam who recites the Fatihah<\/a> (the 1st<\/sup>\u00a0chapter of the Qur\u2019an) and the other Qur\u2019anic passage in an audible voice.\u00a0 When this is done, the prayer is completed.<\/p>\n

Special, large congregational prayers, which include a sermon, are also offered at late morning on the two days of festivity<\/a>. One of them is immediately following the month of fasting, Ramadan<\/a>, and the other after the pilgrimage, or hajj<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although not religiously mandated, individual devotional prayers, especially during the night, are emphasized and are a common practice among pious Muslims<\/a>.<\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

Source: islamreligion.com<\/i><\/p>\n

[ica_orginalurl]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why is Prayer the second pillar of Islam? Performed five times a day, is it a kind of ritual or worship? Learn how to pray, learn how to worship God\u2026 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1538,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[341,2],"tags":[6598,6599,1283,6600,6601,167,762,345,824,1039,1951,348,5581,424,6602,6603,352,6492,6604,55,354,575,5803,6605,6606],"class_list":["post-1537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acts-of-worship","category-new-muslims","tag-bowing","tag-collective-worship","tag-congregation-prayer","tag-constant-reminder","tag-direction-of-kabah-in-makkah","tag-featured","tag-friday-prayer","tag-guide-to-prayer","tag-how-to-pray","tag-jumuah-prayer","tag-mosque","tag-muslim-prayer","tag-performance-of-salah","tag-prayer-in-islam","tag-prostrating","tag-recitations-and-movements","tag-ruku","tag-second-pillar","tag-sitting","tag-submission-to-god","tag-sujud","tag-testimony-of-faith","tag-the-shahadah","tag-times-of-prayer","tag-worship-allah-standing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/About-Prayer-the-Second-Pillar-of-Islam1.jpg?fit=540%2C359&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ZvKT-oN","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quran-for-all.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}