Salah is a pillar of Islam – a core belief and practise that is intrinsic to the faith itself. The five daily prayers have been declared obligatory by Allah (swt) upon every Muslim of a mature age.

There are five prayers which take place throughout the day. Their times are not fixed and actually relate to the length of the day, and thus change each day. The five prayers are:

• Fajr – to be performed before sunrise
• Zuhr –performed at midday
• Asr –between Zohr and sunset
• Maghrib –performed at sunset
• Isha –between Maghrib and midnight

Each salah prayer consists of a certain number of rakaat (units), which are obligatory (fard). There are additional rakaats which are sunnah or voluntary as nafl. The fard rakaats are as follows:

• Fajr – 2 rakaat (units)
• Zohr – 4 rakaat (units)
• Asr – 4 rakaat (units)
• Maghrib – 3 rakaat (units)
• Isha – 4 rakaat (units)

There are a number of rules that Muslims must follow while praying. Muslims must be wearing specific types of clothing which keep areas of their body covered, face Mecca before beginning and must recite certain phrases and passages from the Qur’an at certain points.