Building the Islamic Prayer, Unit by Unit

Niyyah is where every prayer starts: the intention in the heart to act for the sake of God. Most scholars hold that it need not be spoken aloud, since there is no report that Muhammad or his companions voiced it.

Qiyam is the standing posture in which salah begins, with hands raised level with the shoulders or the tops of the ears and fingers apart. It is also the only position the funeral prayer requires, and it is distinct from the voluntary night prayer called qiyam al-layl.

Raf al-Yadayn, the raising of the hands, is a Sunnah of Muhammad, yet the schools disagree on how often to do it. The Hanafis generally limit it to the opening takbir, while the Ahl al-Hadith and Salafi traditions raise the hands at further points.

A raka is one full unit of the prayer: takbir and the opening chapter of the Quran while standing, a bow at roughly ninety degrees, then full prostration. The five daily prayers are built from these units, two at dawn and four at midday, afternoon and night.

Sitting is an integral part of salah alongside bowing and prostration. Tradition documents three kneeling or sitting postures, and in the final sitting the worshipper recites the tashahhud, the testimony of monotheism and of Muhammad as messenger.

Sujud sahwi, the prostration of forgetfulness, repairs a prayer in which something obligatory was left out or something extra was added. The worshipper performs two prostrations after the takbir, before the closing tasleem for an omission and afterward for an addition.

Prayer compensation covers a prayer missed to sleep or forgetfulness. Jurisprudence treats making it up as obligatory once the prayer is remembered, and as soon as possible unless a legitimate excuse such as work or health delays it.

Friday prayer replaces the ordinary midday Zuhr prayer each week with a congregational service. Its name in Arabic means Day of Meeting, attendance is obligatory for adult Muslim men, and it joins a sermon from the imam to two units of prayer performed together.

Salatul Tasbih closes the path with a voluntary prayer of four units in two sets. Tradition holds that it brings forgiveness of sins and that Muhammad advised praying it at least once in a lifetime, though it is recommended and not required.