How to perform Salah

A guide to performing Salah including preparation.

This is an overview which highlights what you need to know in order to perform Salah – If you want to follow a step by step guide for the obligatory Salah’s, simply select one of the links below.

Salah is made up of Rakats (units of prayer) which differ according to the Salah you’re reading.

The five daily Salah’s are; Fajr (2 Rakats), Dhuhr (4 Rakats), Asr (4 Rakats), Maghrib (3 Rakats) and Isha (4 Rakats).

Ghusl

The purifying of your body is required to remove any impurities. Performing Ghusl only needs to be done every time you enter a state of major impurity.

Wudu

All Salah’s require you to make Wudu (ablution) beforehand. This involves the washing of your hands, mouth, nose, face, arms and feet.

Time

Each prayer is at a certain time based on the the location of the sun. You can usually find these times on your local Mosques website as it will be different based on your location.

Cover your Awrah

Awrah is the covering of your intimate body parts. To summarise men need to cover their naval (belly button) to their knee where as women need to cover everything apart from their hands, face and feet to read Salah.

Clean Space

You need to pray in a place that is generally clean. You can use something to cover a surface in order to pray.

Face the Qibla

This is the direction of the Kaaba to your current location. You can use Googles Qibla finder to find out the direction here.

Exceptions

If a woman is on her period then she doesn’t need to pray until her cycle is finished. Ghusl needs to be performed in order to start praying again.

Related posts

Dhahibah

A guide on how Dhahibah is performed and how it compares to other methods.