Salah (Arabic: صَلاة, pl salawat, romanized: Arabic pronunciation: [sˤa'laː(h)], ([sˤaˈlaːt] in construct state) lit. 'prayer'),[1] also known as namāz (Persian: نماز) and also spelled salat, are prayers performed by Muslims. Facing the qibla, the direction of the Kaaba with respect to those praying, Muslims pray first standing and later kneeling or sitting on the ground, reciting prescribed prayers and phrases from the Quran as they bow and prostrate themselves in between. Salah is composed of prescribed repetitive cycles of bows and prostrations, called rakat (sing. rak'ah). The number of rak'ahs, also known as units of prayer, varies from prayer to prayer. Ritual purity and wudu are prerequisites for performing the prayers.[2][3][4]
The daily obligatory prayers collectively form the second of the five pillars in Islam, observed five times every day at prescribed times. These are Fajr (observed at dawn), Zuhr prayer (observed at noon), Asr (observed late in the afternoon), Maghrib (observed at dusk), and Isha (observed after sunset). Salah can be performed either in solitude, or collectively (known as jama'ah). When performed in jama'ah, worshippers line up in parallel rows behind a leader, known as the imam. Special prayers are exclusively performed in congregation, such as the Friday prayer and the Eid prayers, and are coupled with two sermons each, delivered by the imam.[2]
Ṣalāh ([sˤaˈlaː(h)] صلاة) is an Arabic word that means to pray or bless.[5] The word is used primarily by English speakers only to refer to the five obligatory prayers of Islam.
Outside the Arab world, the most widespread terms are the Persian word namāz (Persian: نماز) and its derivatives. It is used by speakers of the Indo-Iranian languages (e.g. Persian and some languages of South Asia),[6] as well as by speakers of the Turkic and Slavic languages. In Lak and Avar, chak (чак) and kak (как) are used, respectively. In Malaysia and Indonesia, the term solat is used, as well as a local term, sembahyang (meaning "the act of worshipping", from the words sembah - worship, and hyang - god or deity).[7]
The noun ṣalāh (صلاة) is used 82 times in the Quran.[8] Gerrans listed: 2:3, 2:43, 2:45, 2:83, 2:110, 2:153,2:157, 2:177, 2:238,2:277, 4:43, 4:77, 4:101, 4:102, 4:103, 4:142, 4:162, 5:6, 5:12, 5:55, 5:58, 5:91, 5:106, 6:72, 6:92, 6:162, 7:170, 8:3, 8:35, 9:5, 9:11, 9:18, 9:54, 9:71, 9:99, 9:103, 10:87, 11:87, 11:114, 13:22, 14:31, 14:37, 14:40, 17:78, 17:110, 19:31, 19:55, 19:59, 20:14, 20:132, 21:73, 22:35, 22:40, 22:41, 22:78, 23:2, 23:9, 24:37, 24:41, 24:56, 24:58, 29:45, 30:31, 31:4, 31:17, 33:33, 35:18, 35:29, 42:38, 58:13, 62:9, 62:10, 70:23, 70:34, 73:20, 98:5, 107:5.[9]
There are about 15 other derivatives of its triliteral root ṣ-l.[8] Words connected to salah (such as mosque, wudu, dhikr, etc.) are used in approximately one-sixth of Quranic verses.[10] "Surely my prayer, and my sacrifice and my life and my death are (all) for God",[11][a] and "I am Allah, there is no god but I, therefore serve Me and keep up prayer for My remembrance"[12][b] are both examples of this.