Salah: Prayer

What the day is built around

You have already met the duties that structure a Muslim life, and how Sunni Muslims describe them as the Five Pillars while Shi'a Muslims organise the same duties as the Ten Obligatory Acts. This module takes one of them and goes into it properly. Salah is prayer performed at set times through the day, and what makes it worth studying closely is that it is not an occasional act. It is a pattern that the rest of the day is arranged around. Meals, work, travel and sleep all take their shape from prayer times rather than the other way round, which is a different relationship between religion and daily life from the one many students assume. Three things are worth understanding, and this module covers each in turn. How Muslims prepare, since Salah is not simply begun. When and where it happens, including what changes on a Friday. And what Sunni and Shi'a Muslims share and where their practice differs, which your specification asks about throughout practice and not only in belief. One point about how to write on this topic, and it matters for marks as well as for accuracy: report what Muslims hold and do, and attribute it. Write "Muslims believe", not "God requires". The examiner is assessing your understanding of a religion, not your agreement with it.

Words for prayer and preparation

Six terms your specification uses. Learn the spellings, since the exam uses them and so should you.

What wudu is for

Muslims perform wudu before Salah. What best explains why?

• It prepares a person for prayer, marking the move from ordinary activity into standing before God
• It is a hygiene rule, so that worshippers do not spread illness in the mosque
• It is a practical custom that developed because of the climate
• It is performed once a day, before the first prayer

The call, and the times

Prayer at set times needs those times to be announced, and the adhan is how that is done: a call declaring that the time for prayer has arrived. In a place with a mosque it may be heard from it; elsewhere Muslims may use an app, a clock or a printed timetable, since the times shift slightly through the year as the sun does. The times are tied to the movement of the sun rather than to fixed clock hours: around dawn, at the middle of the day, in the afternoon, after sunset, and at night. Because they follow the sun, a prayer timetable in one town differs slightly from another, and the same prayer arrives at a different clock time in December than in June. Two things follow that are worth knowing. First, the day is shaped around them. A Muslim planning a journey, a shift or a meal is working around fixed points that are already in place. Second, Salah does not require a mosque. It may be performed almost anywhere that is clean, using a prayer mat, which is why Muslims pray at work, at school, when travelling or at home. Congregational prayer at the mosque carries particular value, and the Friday midday prayer, Jummah, is a congregational occasion including a sermon. But the daily prayers do not depend on a building.

Match the word to the practice

Which two are true of Jummah

Select the TWO accurate statements about Jummah.

• It is the Friday midday congregational prayer and includes a sermon
• It brings the community together, which the daily prayers performed alone do not
• It replaces the other prayers, so no other Salah is performed that day
• It is the only time Muslims are permitted to pray in a mosque

Two traditions, the same prayer

Salah is held by Sunni and Shi'a Muslims alike, and most of it is shared. Your specification asks for differences in practice as well as belief, so here is both, with neither tradition treated as the standard the other departs from.

Salah in words

Before praying, Muslims perform _____, the washing that prepares them for prayer. They face the _____, the direction of the Ka'aba in Makkah. The call announcing that the time for prayer has come is the _____. Each prayer is made up of a set number of units called _____. On Friday, Muslims gather at the mosque for _____, the midday congregational prayer with a sermon.

Getting ready, then praying

Put the stages of performing Salah into order.

• The time for prayer arrives, announced by the adhan
• Wudu is performed, following its set sequence
• A clean place is chosen, often using a prayer mat, and the worshipper faces the qiblah
• The intention to pray is made
• The rak'ahs are performed, each with its sequence of standing, bowing, prostrating and sitting
• The prayer is completed with the words said at its close

Why it matters, answered well

A question asks you to explain the importance of Salah for Muslims. Here is an answer that would score well, and it is worth noticing how carefully it attributes. "Salah is important to Muslims for several reasons. It is one of the duties Muslims hold to be obligatory, described by Sunni Muslims as one of the Five Pillars and by Shi'a Muslims as one of the Ten Obligatory Acts, so performing it is part of what it means to live as a Muslim. It gives the day a structure: because the prayer times follow the sun rather than the clock, meals, work and travel are arranged around them, so faith is present throughout the day rather than set aside for one part of the week. It is a direct act of worship, in which Muslims believe they stand before God, and the preparation of wudu marks the move from ordinary activity into that. And it connects the individual to the wider community, since Muslims everywhere face the same direction and perform the same prayers, and since Jummah brings the local community together weekly." Look at what that answer does. Every claim is attributed to Muslims rather than stated as fact about God. It gives both the Sunni and the Shi'a framing rather than only one. It gives more than one kind of reason, moving from obligation to daily structure to worship to community, which is what an explain question rewards. And it uses the specification's own vocabulary precisely, which shows knowledge rather than merely impression.

The sentence that makes one the standard

Four sentences from answers about Salah. Select the ONE that treats one tradition as the normal case and the other as a departure from it.

• Sunni Muslims generally perform the five prayers at five separate times, while many Shi'a Muslims combine them into three periods of the day.
• Sunni Muslims describe Salah as one of the Five Pillars, and Shi'a Muslims as one of the Ten Obligatory Acts.
• Muslims pray five times a day, although Shi'a Muslims do not do it properly and merge some of the prayers together.
• Both Sunni and Shi'a Muslims perform wudu before prayer and face the qiblah.

Attribute it properly

Assemble a sentence that reports practice accurately and attributes it.

When prayer is difficult

Salah is performed under all sorts of circumstances. Work through what Muslims hold about each.

• Someone is travelling and will be on a train at a prayer time. What is generally held?
• Someone is seriously ill and cannot stand or bow. What is generally held?
• A student at school has no mosque nearby and a short break. What is generally held?
• You are writing about these situations in an exam. What register should you use?

Explain how and why Muslims pray

Explain how Salah is prepared for and performed, and why it is important to Muslims. Include both Sunni and Shi'a practice, and attribute every belief.

• Explain what Salah is and when it is performed, including that the times follow the sun
• Explain what wudu is and why it is performed before prayer
• Explain what the qiblah is and what the adhan announces
• Explain where Salah may be performed, and what is distinctive about Jummah
• Give at least one similarity and one difference between Sunni and Shi'a practice of Salah
• Explain two reasons Muslims hold Salah to be important
• Mention that the obligation takes account of illness and travel
• Write throughout in reporting language: "Muslims hold", not "God requires"