Prayer details for new muslims
Mu' meneen Brothers
and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa
Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be
upon all of you)
One of our
brothers/sisters has asked this question:
being a new
muslim, i would like to know the cycle of prayer, what does one rakah consist
of...
(There may be some
grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not
change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our
readers for circulation in confidentiality.)
Answer:
Prayer details for new muslims
In the name of Allah, We praise
Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none
can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright.
We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam,
no dai, nobody!) worthy of
worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His
slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Beloved brother in Islam, of all the innumerable blessings and mercies
the Merciful Lord bestows upon His slaves, the guidance to Al-Islam is the
absolute single biggest mercy of the All-Merciful Lord of the Worlds. May Allah Subhanah bless your reversion to
Al-Islam, help you, guide you, and give
you the wisdom and the courage to understand and abide by His Guidance and His
Teachings. Ameen.
All the brothers and sisters on
the forum welcome you wholeheartedly in this beautiful deen of Al-Islam, and call Allah Subhanah to witness that you
are our brother in faith. All Praise
is due to Allah Subhanah Alone for guiding the believers to the deen of Truth:
Al-Islam. We humbly beseech and
implore the Merciful Lord to take not our lives, except that we are at the best state and peak of our faith. Ameen.
We are forwarding you two
attachments:
How to perform the ‘wudu’ or
ablution (physical cleaning before prayer)
What to pray whilst in prayer.
Beloved brother, we will try our best to give you a brief on
what exactly constitutes the cycle of prayer,
and what a rakah consists of;
and seek your forgiveness and understanding for our short-comings in our
writings. Because the act of prayer
requires particular physical movements, etc.
it is best learnt in practical formation with a believer who will guide
you in person. We request you to learn
the basics of prayer from any believing brother, or the local imam at the mosque,
who should be more than honored to teach you how and what to pray. And any believer, whether he is born of believing parents and has never learnt how
to pray, or a new muslim who wants to
learn the ritual of prayer….he should never hesitate or feel embarrassed to ask
any believer to teach him how to pray.
No matter whom you ask to teach you,
if the person is a believer, he
will take it upon himself as a duty and an honor to teach you the act of
prayer.
Once you have done the ‘wudu’ or
ablution, the cycle of prayer consists
of the following acts:
Stand facing the direction of
Makkah (Qibla), and make an intention
in your heart to offer the appropriate prayer.
Raise both your palms above your
shoulders, making sure the palm is
facing towards your ears, and
declare the ‘takbeer’ by saying
‘Allah-o-Akbar’ (Allah is Great) once,
signaling the beginning of the prayer.
Focus your sight at the place of
prostration, place your right palm over the back of your left palm, and place them on or near the navel.
Recite the first Surah of the
Quran (Surah Fateha) and any other Surah or Aayahs of the Quran after it.
After completing the
recitation, you may raise both your
palms above your shoulder or place them near your ears, and declare ‘Allah-o-Akbar’ (Allah is Great)
once, and move towards the ‘ruku’
position.
Bend forward until you place
your hands on your knees, and
straighten your back until it is parallel to the ground.
Glorify the Lord in ruku,
preferably any odd number of times (1,3,5,7…)
Rise from the ‘ruku’ position
and stand straight again saying ‘:
“Sameh Allah ho Leman Hameda”
(Allah listen to the one who is grateful for the bounties received by
Allah) and say: “Rabbana lakal hamd” (O
our Lord, we are grateful to you.)
Raise your palms above your
shoulders again, and declare
‘Allah-o-Akbar’ (Allah is Great) and move to ‘sujood’ or prostration position.
Bow down in humility to the Lord
with only the tips of your feet-fingers, your knees, your forehead, and your
palms resting on the ground.
Glorify your Lord in your
‘sujood’ or prostration position any odd number of times (1,3,5,7…)
Sit on the floor, with your shins placed parallel on the
ground, and your knees pointing towards
the Qibla, and your palms placed
downwards on your thigh near your knees.
The above sequence will
constitute one rakah, and depending on
what time of day you are offering prayers,
complete the required number of rakahs in the prayer.
Beloved brother in Islam, the above is a brief description of a cycle
of prayer; and since it requires
several body movements and placements,
it is best learnt in person from any believing brother, who will be more than honored to teach you
the rites of prayer in person.
Whatever written of Truth and
benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error
is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He
is the Only Source of Strength.
Your Brother in
Islam,
Burhan