Salah Guide

This is a companion for the daily prayer — enough to pray by, with every recitation written out and sourced. Learn the shape here, and pick up the finer points hands-on from a knowledgeable teacher.

"Indeed, I am Allah. There is no deity except Me, so worship Me and establish prayer for My remembrance."

— Quran 20:14 (Saheeh International)¹⁸

How to use this guide. If you're praying for the first time today, start with "One rak'ah, step by step" below — it's the whole shape of the prayer in order. Keep this booklet nearby until the movements and the obligatory recitations are memorized; the Quick reference and Glossary near the end are there for a fast recap once you know the shape and just need a reminder.

The five prayers

Salah is the second pillar of Islam — the prayer a Muslim performs five times a day, each at its own appointed time, for prayer "has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times."⁸ Each prayer has its own number of rak'ahs (units):

Prayer	When	Rak'ahs
Fajr	Before sunrise	2
Dhuhr	After midday	4
Asr	Afternoon	4
Maghrib	Just after sunset	3
Isha	Night	4

(These are the obligatory rak'ahs of each prayer; there are further recommended prayers around them — see "A few recommended sunnahs" below.)

Before you pray

Make wudu first — the ablution the Qur'an commands before prayer.¹⁰ The Wudu, Step by Step poster in this pack walks through it. Then find a clean spot, cover yourself modestly, and face the qibla — the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca, which unites Muslims everywhere in a single direction.⁹ If you're not sure which way that is, a qibla-finder app or a compass will show you; most mosques' prayer halls are already aligned to it. Form the quiet intention in your heart to pray this prayer for the sake of God, and begin.

One rak'ah, step by step

A prayer is built from rak'ahs, and every rak'ah has the same shape. Stand facing the qibla, raise your hands, and say Allahu Akbar ("God is the Greatest"). This opening takbir enters you into the prayer; from here, worldly speech and movement stop. Every posture that follows — standing, bowing, prostrating, and sitting — is an obligatory part of the prayer; the shorter praises said within the bowing and prostration are recommended, and marked so.

Standing, recite Al-Fatihah, the opening chapter of the Qur'an. It is obligatory in every rak'ah — the Prophet ﷺ said there is no prayer for the one who does not recite it.²

In the first two rak'ahs, many add another short passage of the Qur'an after it. If you don't yet know a longer one, a short surah like Al-Ikhlas is a good place to start:

Say Allahu Akbar and bow (ruku), back level, hands on your knees, and stay until you are calm:

Rise from bowing until you are standing fully upright and still:

Say Allahu Akbar and prostrate (sujood), with forehead, nose, palms, knees, and toes touching the ground — the seven points of prostration¹⁵ — and stay until you are calm:

Sit up calmly saying Allahu Akbar, pause for a moment, then say Allahu Akbar and prostrate a second time exactly as before. Rising from this second prostration completes one rak'ah.

The tashahhud and ending the prayer

After every two rak'ahs — and at the end of the prayer — sit and recite the tashahhud, bearing witness to God's oneness and to the messengership of the Prophet ﷺ:

In the final sitting, follow the tashahhud with the salawat — asking God to bless the Prophet ﷺ:

Then end the prayer with the tasleem: turn your face to the right, then to the left, each time saying As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah ("Peace and the mercy of God be upon you"). The Prophet ﷺ taught that the prayer "is exited by the tasleem."⁷

Building each prayer

Every prayer is this rak'ah repeated for the right number of units, with a sitting for the tashahhud after each pair and at the very end:

In the third and fourth rak'ahs, recite only Al-Fatihah — without a second passage after it.

A few recommended sunnahs

Beyond the obligatory shape of the prayer, a few further practices are well attested from the Prophet ﷺ and widely followed. None of them are required for the prayer to be valid, but they are worth learning early:

• Raising the hands. At the opening takbir, before bowing, and on rising from bowing, raise your hands to shoulder height, palms facing forward, then let them fall or fold them again.¹²
• Right hand over left. While standing to recite, place your right hand over your left forearm.¹³
• Saying Ameen. After Al-Fatihah, say Ameen. The Prophet ﷺ taught that when it is said together with the one leading the prayer, it coincides with the angels' Ameen and past sins are forgiven.¹⁴
• Voluntary prayers. Around the five obligatory prayers, the Prophet ﷺ regularly prayed twelve further rak'ahs each day — two before Fajr, four before and two after Dhuhr, two after Maghrib, and two after Isha — and taught that whoever keeps them will have a house built for them in Paradise.¹⁶

Praying in congregation

Where possible, pray with others. Congregational prayer is twenty-seven times more rewarding than praying alone.²⁰ One person leads as imam; everyone else follows a half-step behind, matching each movement only after the imam begins it — never ahead of him. Stand shoulder to shoulder in straight, unbroken rows: the Prophet ﷺ taught that straight rows are part of a correct prayer.²¹ If you arrive after the prayer has already started, join the row quietly and simply follow along from wherever the imam is; make up whatever you missed once he finishes.

After the prayer

When you have given the tasleem, the prayer is complete. Many Muslims stay a moment for the short remembrances of God that follow it — the Morning & Evening Adhkar cards in this pack carry a set, each with its source. There's no need to rush off afterward: a quiet moment of reflection, or a personal dua in your own words and language, is welcome too. God hears both the Arabic you've learned here and whatever you say from the heart.

Notes and common questions

• A missed prayer is made up as soon as you remember it: pray it, then carry on with the prayers of the day.
• If you're sick or unable to stand, pray sitting; if you can't sit, pray lying on your side. The Prophet ﷺ taught this to a companion who could not stand for prayer.¹⁷
• New to Arabic? Learn Al-Fatihah first — even slowly, sound by sound. The rest of the prayer's wording can follow with time; the transliteration in this guide is there to help you start today.
• Obligatory or recommended? The postures themselves — standing, bowing, the two prostrations, and the sittings — are all obligatory, along with reciting Al-Fatihah, the final tashahhud, and the tasleem. The shorter praises said within the bowing and prostration, and the salawat after the tashahhud, are recommended: rewarded, but the prayer is still valid without them.
• Schools differ on small details of posture and wording. Use this guide to learn the shape of the prayer, and learn the specifics hands-on from a knowledgeable, trustworthy teacher.¹¹

Common mistakes to avoid

• Rushing through the postures. Settle calmly in each position — standing, bowing, and prostrating — before moving to the next. Rushing was the flaw the Prophet ﷺ corrected most often when he watched someone pray.¹⁹
• Praying without valid wudu. If you're unsure whether it's still valid, make it again; the prayer isn't valid without it.¹⁰
• Guessing the qibla. If you're travelling or somewhere new, check the direction before you begin rather than guessing.
• Treating the recommended parts as unimportant. They were the Prophet's ﷺ constant practice — aim to include them, not just the bare minimum.

Quick reference: the obligatory core

Once you know the prayer, this is all you strictly need for it to be valid:

Step	What's obligatory
1	Stand facing the qibla; say the opening takbir
2	Recite Al-Fatihah, standing
3	Bow (ruku)
4	Stand up straight again
5	Prostrate (sujood) — twice, with a brief sitting between them
6	Sit for the tashahhud — after every two rak'ahs, and at the end
7	End with the tasleem

Everything else in this guide — the tasbih, the salawat, raising the hands, and the rest — is recommended, not required.

Glossary of terms

A quick lookup for the Arabic words used throughout this guide:

Term	Meaning
Rak'ah	One unit of the prayer
Ruku	Bowing
Sujood	Prostration
Tashahhud	The sitting testimony of faith
Tasleem	The greeting of peace that ends the prayer
Qibla	The direction of the Kaaba, faced in prayer
Wudu	The ritual washing performed before prayer
Niyyah	The intention to pray, made quietly in the heart
Fard	Obligatory — what a valid prayer requires
Sunnah	Recommended — the Prophet's ﷺ constant practice
Imam	The person leading the prayer
Jama'ah	Praying together, in congregation
Adhan	The call to prayer, announcing that its time has begun
Iqama	The second, shorter call, said just before the prayer begins
Khushu'	Attentive presence and humility in prayer
Dhikr	Remembrance of God, often through short recitations

That's the shape of the prayer. Keep the obligatory parts secure, and build up the rest — the recommended words, the etiquette, the confidence — over time. It gets easier with repetition, not with getting it perfect on day one.