Every Muslim has to
know by heart the thirty-three binding duties which are called fard (farz).
They are:
Essentials
(fards) of îmân :
SIX
Pillars of Islam : FIVE
Conditions for namâz (prayer) : TWELVE
Conditions for ablution (wudû, abdast) : FOUR
Principles for ghusl (ritual bath)
:THREE
Conditions for tayammum
:THREE
There are also scholars
who say that tayammum has two conditions. In that case, there will be
thirty-two in all. The fifty-four fards (orders) are another matter and are
written in my Turkish book Islâm Ahlâkı[1]. Performing Amr-i ma’rûf and Nahy–i munkar and not uttering any bad and
ugly words are not included in the thirty-three fards, but they are in the
fifty-four fards.
It is fard for every
Muslim who is sane and has reached the age of puberty to perform the five daily
prayers. When a prayer time comes, it becomes fard for him/her the moment
he/she begins performing the prayer. If he/she has not performed it and if
there is time left enough to make an ablution and begin the namâz before the prayer
time is over, it becomes fard for him/her to perform it. If the prayer time is
over before he/she has performed it without a good excuse[2] not to do so, he/she will have committed a grave
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[1] The fourth edition of his English version, Ethics of Islam, was accomplished in 1424 A.H. (2003).
[2] By 'a good excuse' we mean 'an excuse which
Islam recognizes as an excuse that will absolve a Muslim from the responsibility of not performing an Islamic commandment. An excuse of
this sort is termed 'udhr. The third
chapter of the present book gives examples of such 'udhrs (excuses) pertaining to (the prayer
termed) namâz.
sin. Whether he/she has had a good excuse or not, qadâ will be
necessary. The same applies to situations such as when a child reaches puberty,
when a disbeliever or a renegade becomes a Muslim, when a woman becomes
canonically clean, when an insane or unconscious person recovers, and when a
sleeping person wakes up. It is fard for a new Muslim to learn the principles
of namâz first. After learning them, it becomes fard to perform namâz. Sleep is
not a good excuse if it begins after the prayer time has begun. If a person
does so, it is fard for him to make sure that he will wake up before the prayer
time is over, while it would be mustahab for him to make sure to wake up before
the end of the prayer time if he were to go to sleep before the beginning of
the prayer time. These five daily prayers add up to forty rak’ats (units), out
of which seventeen are fard, three are wâjib (essential, almost obligatory),
and twenty are sunnat, as follows:
1 - Morning prayer [Salât-ul-fajr] consists of four rak’ats. First,
two rak’ats of the sunnat prayer are performed. Then two rakats of the fard
prayer are performed. The sunnat (the first two rak’ats) is very important.
Some scholars classify it as wajib.
2 - Early afternoon
prayer [Salât-uz-zuhr] consists of ten
rak’ats, the initial sunnat consisting of four rak’ats, the fard consisting of
four rak’ats, and the final sunnat consisting of two rak’ats. The early
afternoon prayer is performed in this order.
3 - Late afternoon
prayer [Salât-ul-’asr] consists of eight
rak’ats. First the sunnat, which consists of four rak’ats, and then the fard,
which consists of four rak’ats, are performed.
4 - Evening prayer [Salât-ul-maghrib] contains five rak’ats. First
the fard, which is composed of three rak’ats, then the sunnat, consisting of
two rak’ats, are performed.
5 - Night prayer [Salât-ul-’ishâ] consists of thirteen rak’ats.
The initial sunnat contains four rak’ats. The fard also contains four rak’ats.
But the final sunnat has two rak’ats, while the Witr prayer has three rak’ats.
The initial sunnats of
the late afternoon prayer and night prayer are Ghayr-i
muakkada. When sitting during their second rak’at, after reciting
the attahiyyâtu.., the prayers of Allahumma salli alâ... and... bârik âlâ...
are recited completely. After standing up for the third rak’at, the prayer
Subhânaka... is recited before
saying the Basmala. But the first sunnat of the early afternoon prayer
is Muakkad. That is, it has been
commanded emphatically. There are more thawâbs (blessings) for it. During its
second rak’at, as in the fard prayers, only the Attahiyyâtu is said and then we
stand up for the third rak’at. After standing up, we first recite the Basmala
and then the sûra (chapter) of Fâtiha.
It is mustahab to
perform four more rak’ats after the fard of early afternoon and night prayers
and six more rak’ats after the fard of early evening prayer. In other words, it
is very blessed. One can perform all of them with one salâm or by saying the
salâm after every two rak’ats. In either case the first two rak’ats are deemed
to be the final sunnat. These prayers, which are mustahab, can be performed
separately after the final sunnat of the two prayers of namâz as well.
The first rak’at
commences with the beginning of the prayer and the other rak’ats begin right
after standing up, and each rak’at continues until one stands up again. The
final rak’at continues until the salâm. No prayers can be less than two
rak’ats. All prayers contain an even number of rak’ats, except the fards of the
early evening prayer and the witr prayer. After the second sajda (prostration)
of each second rak’at we sit.
Each rak’at of prayer contains its fards, wâjibs, sunnats, mufsids (things or acts which disrupt prayer), and makrûhs (actions, words, thoughts avoided and disapproved by the Prophet). On the pages ahead, we shall explain these in accordance with the Hanafî Madhhab.