Salah is a gift from Allah (SWT), and today we learn what it is, how it was given, and why it matters so much.
In Lesson 1, we talked about autopilot and learned that Allah (SWT) loved us first.
In Lesson 2, we learned about Allah (SWT) through four of His Names.
Today we begin studying salah, the act of worship we will spend the rest of this course learning.
Islamic Studies · Worship class · 60 to 75 minutes · every student needs paper and a pen
Last class ended with one challenge: make a private dua before sleeping using one of the Names of Allah (SWT), then speak to Him (SWT) in your own words.
On your own paper:
Your writing stays with you.
In Lesson 1, we said that worship is what love does. When you love someone, you want to talk to them. Salah is where that conversation happens, five times a day.
Last week ended with three questions. Today we answer all three, in this order:
What are we doing when we stand before Allah (SWT)?
Why do we pray five times?
Why is salah so important?
إِنَّ أَحَدَكُمْ إِذَا صَلَّى يُنَاجِي رَبَّهُ
The Prophet (pbuh) said: "Whenever any one of you offers his prayer, he is speaking in private to his Lord."
The word the Prophet (pbuh) used, yunaji, describes a close, private conversation. When you pray, you are not only moving and reciting. You are speaking to Allah (SWT), the One you learned about last week.
What is the difference between saying words and actually talking to someone?
If salah is a private conversation with Allah (SWT), how should a person pay attention during it?
Praying on autopilot means saying the words without really talking to anyone. Seeing salah as a conversation is the first step away from that. In week 6, you will learn how Allah (SWT) responds to each line of Al-Fatihah as you recite it.
One night, before the Hijrah, the Prophet (pbuh) was taken from Makkah to Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, and then up through the heavens. This is called al-Isra wal-Mi'raj, the Night Journey and the Ascension.
Many scholars point out that salah was given differently from the other obligations. The other commands came down to earth through Jibril, but salah was commanded directly by Allah (SWT), in the heavens, on the night of the Mi'raj.
On the next slide, the Prophet (pbuh) tells us what happened when the command of salah was given.
What does it tell you about salah that Allah (SWT) gave this command this way?
فَفَرَضَ اللَّهُ عَلَى أُمَّتِي خَمْسِينَ صَلاَةً، فَرَجَعْتُ بِذَلِكَ حَتَّى مَرَرْتُ عَلَى مُوسَى فَقَالَ مَا فَرَضَ اللَّهُ لَكَ عَلَى أُمَّتِكَ قُلْتُ فَرَضَ خَمْسِينَ صَلاَةً. قَالَ فَارْجِعْ إِلَى رَبِّكَ، فَإِنَّ أُمَّتَكَ لاَ تُطِيقُ ذَلِكَ. فَرَاجَعْتُ فَوَضَعَ شَطْرَهَا، [...] فَرَجَعْتُ إِلَيْهِ فَقَالَ ارْجِعْ إِلَى رَبِّكَ، فَإِنَّ أُمَّتَكَ لاَ تُطِيقُ ذَلِكَ، فَرَاجَعْتُهُ. فَقَالَ هِيَ خَمْسٌ وَهْىَ خَمْسُونَ، لاَ يُبَدَّلُ الْقَوْلُ لَدَىَّ.
The Prophet (pbuh) said: "Then Allah (SWT) enjoined fifty prayers on my followers. When I returned with this order of Allah (SWT), I passed by Musa (AS), who asked me, 'What has Allah (SWT) enjoined on your followers?' I replied, 'He (SWT) has enjoined fifty prayers on them.' Musa (AS) said, 'Go back to your Lord (and appeal for reduction), for your followers will not be able to bear it.' (So I went back to Allah (SWT) and requested a reduction) and He reduced it to half. [...] I again passed by Musa (AS) and he said to me, 'Return to your Lord, for your followers will not be able to bear it.' So I returned to Allah (SWT) and He said, 'These are five prayers and they are all (equal to) fifty (in reward), for My Word does not change.'"
Enjoined means commanded as a duty. Musa (AS) is the prophet known in English as Moses. The Arabic word translated "half" also means "a portion": another narration in Sahih Muslim (162) says the prayers were lowered five at a time.
هِيَ خَمْسٌ وَهْىَ خَمْسُونَ، لاَ يُبَدَّلُ الْقَوْلُ لَدَىَّ
The Prophet (pbuh) said that Allah (SWT) said: "These are five prayers and they are all (equal to) fifty (in reward), for My Word does not change."
So why five? Allah (SWT) first commanded fifty prayers, then reduced them to five, and kept the reward of fifty. Another narration in Sahih Muslim explains the math: each of the five prayers counts as ten. When Musa (AS) told the Prophet (pbuh) to go back once more, he said he felt too shy before his Lord to ask again.
Ibn Hajar, a great scholar of hadith, explained that the prayers are five in what we do and fifty in reward. Scholars also explain that Allah (SWT) knew all along the prayers would be five, and that the story shows His mercy to this ummah and the honor He gave the Prophet (pbuh).
Allah (SWT) is Al-Karim: we pray five, and He gives the reward of fifty. He is also Ar-Rahman: He made the command lighter so that we could carry it.
What does this hadith show you about the way Allah (SWT) treats this ummah?
أَرَأَيْتُمْ لَوْ أَنَّ نَهَرًا بِبَابِ أَحَدِكُمْ، يَغْتَسِلُ فِيهِ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ خَمْسًا، مَا تَقُولُ ذَلِكَ يُبْقِي مِنْ دَرَنِهِ. قَالُوا لاَ يُبْقِي مِنْ دَرَنِهِ شَيْئًا. قَالَ فَذَلِكَ مِثْلُ الصَّلَوَاتِ الْخَمْسِ، يَمْحُو اللَّهُ بِهَا الْخَطَايَا.
Abu Hurairah (RA) said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (SWT) (pbuh) saying, "If there was a river at the door of any one of you and he took a bath in it five times a day, would you notice any dirt on him?" They said, "Not a trace of dirt would be left." The Prophet (pbuh) added, "That is the example of the five prayers with which Allah (SWT) blots out evil deeds."
Scholars explain, from another hadith in Sahih Muslim, that this daily washing is for the small, everyday sins. For bigger sins, a person also turns back to Allah (SWT) in tawbah (repentance), and He loves to forgive.
What kind of dirt does a person pick up during an ordinary day, the kind nobody can see?
Why might it matter that the washing happens five times, spread across the day, instead of once?
اتْلُ مَا أُوحِيَ إِلَيْكَ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ ۖ إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ تَنْهَىٰ عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ ۗ وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ
"Recite, [O Muhammad (pbuh)], what has been revealed to you of the Book and establish prayer. Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing, and the remembrance of Allah (SWT) is greater. And Allah (SWT) knows that which you do."
Here, "prohibits" means that prayer holds a person back from what is shameful and wrong. Scholars explain that the more a person prays with presence, the more strongly the prayer holds them back. A prayer said on autopilot has less of this effect, and the answer is to improve the prayer, not to leave it.
How could meeting Allah (SWT) five times a day change what a person does in between?
What does "the remembrance of Allah (SWT) is greater" mean to you?
Bilal (RA) was the Prophet's (pbuh) main muezzin, the one who usually called the adhan. Once, a Companion (RA) said he wished he had prayed so that he could find rest. When the people around him seemed to disapprove, he told them what he had heard the Prophet (pbuh) say to Bilal (RA):
يَا بِلاَلُ أَقِمِ الصَّلاَةَ أَرِحْنَا بِهَا
The Messenger of Allah (SWT) (pbuh) said: "O Bilal (RA), call the iqamah for the prayer: give us comfort by it."
The iqamah is the second call, made right before the prayer starts. The Arabic word arihna means give us rest, or give us comfort. For the Prophet (pbuh), salah was a place of rest and comfort, not a chore to get through.
People often say, "I have to go pray." How is that different from the way the Prophet (pbuh) spoke about salah?
What would it take for salah to feel like rest instead of a task?
Salah is a conversation with Allah (SWT), who is Al-Wadud and Ar-Rahman. He is also Al-Adheem, the Most Great. Remember the teaching image from Ibn al-Qayyim: love is the head of the bird, and hope and fear are its two wings. In salah, love brings us to stand, and awe keeps us humble and focused.
سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْعَظِيمِ
Subhana Rabbiyal-Adheem
Glory be to my Lord, the Most Great.
The Prophet (pbuh) said this in ruku, as narrated by Hudhayfah (RA) in Sahih Muslim 772.
In this room, some students pray all five prayers and some pray a few. Others are just starting, or are still learning how to pray.
Wherever you are today is where this course starts.
Some of you may be the first in your family to learn salah, or the one who keeps it going at home. This class was built for you too.
Nobody will ask you how many prayers you pray. That stays between you and Allah (SWT).
Each group copies these eleven parts of salah onto separate scraps of paper and mixes them up.
If you are still learning the prayer, you are learning it with your group today, and nobody needs to know every part. Whatever your group could not translate is exactly what this course will teach you. Nothing is collected.
The promise from Lesson 1: by the end of this course, you will understand every word you say in salah, in English. Understanding your own salah is a big part of how the deed to the house moves into your name.
There are no graded answers here. Talking about salah in your own words is the point.
Your writing stays with you.
Before one prayer each day, pause for a few seconds before you say Allahu Akbar. Remember who you are about to speak to.
If you are still building up to five prayers, do this before any prayer you pray this week. If you are not praying yet, pause the same way before one dua each day.
This week, notice what time each of the five prayers falls, and which ones fall during your school day. A prayer-times app or a local masjid's timetable will show you the times. Keep these notes for yourself, and next week you can compare them with what we learn.
Before You Stand: The Conditions. The five times and why those moments, the qiblah, dressing for prayer, niyyah, and the adhan word by word in English.