How To Pray
When a person takes the decision to become Muslim, the most urgent thing for him or her to do is to learn to pray. This is because becoming Muslim is sort of like a contract between you and Allah: you are agreeing to do certain things, most notably the Five Pillars. Of these, prayer, (also known as ‘salah’/'salat’ in Arabic, and ‘Namaaz’ in Urdu) is the most urgent as it is an obligation for every adult Muslim to pray five times a day.
The best way to learn, as with most things, is from a teacher. Ideally you can spend time with a shaykh or Imam who can show you how to do it properly (ordinary Muslims, with the best of intentions, often do small things incorrectly). If that’s not possible, begin with a Muslim brother or sister who seems to know what they are doing. Contact any Muslim, or walk into any mosque, and they will surely be very pleased to be able to help you.
Having said that, there are some who cannot or do not wish to do this (like myself – Shaykh Google was my guide in the beginning). For those, the internet has a wealth of good guides on how to pray.
The Basics
Every sane adult Muslim must pray five times a day. The times for these prayers are set:
- Fajr – between dawn and sunrise
- Dhuhr – from just after midday until mid afternoon
- ‘Asr – from mid afternoon until just before sunset
- Maghrib – from just after sunset until dusk
- ‘Ishaa – from dusk until dawn
Before you are able to pray, you must have a certain level of cleanliness, and perform a ritual washing / ablution called ‘wudhu’.
There is an excellent guide to performing wudhu here.
And another excellent guide to all issues related to praying here.
