SALAT By. Drs. H. M. Nurhadi Hanuri

SALAT
By. Drs. H. M. Nurhadi Hanuri

Salat is an important thing for Muslims. There are two kinds of salat. First is obligatory prayer and the second is Nafl prayer. Everyday, the obidiant muslims must offer prayer minimize five times. These are called obligatory salat.

1. TIME SALAT

Each salat must be offered at or during it proper time. No salat can be offered before its time. There five obligatory salat in a day.
a.Fajr Prayer ( salat subuh )
The time for the Fajr or the morning prayer starts at dawn and ends at sunrise.

b.Zuhr Payer ( salat Zuhur )
The time for zuhr or early afternoon prayer starts when the sun begins to decline from its zenith and ends when the size of an object’s shadow is equal to the size of the object.

c.Asr Prayer ( salat Asar)
The time for Asr or late afternoon prayer starts when the shadow of something is equal to itself and ends just before sunset.
It is better to offer Asr prayer before the sun becomes yellow because even though it is allowed to offer the prayer at this time the prophet (S.A.W) dislike Muslim to delay Asr prayer up to ths time. He remarked that the Munafiq (Hypocrite) offered his prayer at this time.

d.Maghrib Prayer (salat Maghrib)
The time for the Maghrib or the sunset prayer starts just after sunset and ends when twilight has disappeared

e.Isha Prayer ( salat Isha )
The time for Isha or night prayer starts from the disappearance of twilight and ends just before midnight.
It is preferable to offer this prayer before midnight but it can be offered right up to the break of dawn.

Note : In countries where due to cloudy weather the sun is not always visible it is
advisable to follow printed calendars giving the accurate time of each prayer.

FORBIDDEN TIME OF PRAYER
Uqbah bin Amir said : “There were three times at which Allah’s messenger
(S.A.W) used to forbid us to pray or bury our dead.
1. When the sun began to rise until it was fully up
2. When the sun was at its height at midday til passed the
meridian.
3. When the sun drew near to setting till it hat set.

FORBIDDEN TIME FOR NAFL PRAYER (SALAT SUNAH)
1.Abu Sa’eed al Khudree (R.A) reported Allah’s messenger (S.A.W) as saying. “No
prayer is to be after the Fajr prayer until the sun rises, or after the Asr prayer until the sun sets. ( Bukhari and Muslim)
2.A nafl prayer can not be offered once the Iqamat for fard prayer has been said.
Abu Hurairah narrated that the messenger of Allah (S.A.W) said, “when the Iqamat
has been said, then, there is no prayer valid (nafl or sunnat) except the fard
prayer for which the Iqamat was said.” (Ahmad and Muslim)

2. PLACE FOR SALAT

A place or a building which is used for the purpose of worship and prayer is called a Masjid ( Mosque ). A hadith tells us that “All the earth has been rendered for the Muslims., a mosque (pure and clean).”
This means that wherever a muslim might be he can offer his paryer but the reward of a prayer offered in a mosque is far greater than that offered in ordinary place. The following points should be noted when choosing a place for prayer.

a.The place should be pure and clean. Salat in dirty , filthy and impure place such
as rubbish tip, slaughter hous, bathing place and a camel pen is forbidden.
b.The place should be free from danger. The danger could be due to someone or
something that may disturb the worship.
c.A prayer place where the worship might hinder movement of others should be
avoided. E.g. busy pavements, public roadways etc.
d.It is forbidden to pray on top or facing towards a grave.
e.It is forbidden to pray on the roof of Baitullah ( Ka’bah )

3. DRESS FOR SALAT

If Muslims offer the prayer they must wear dress which is required.
a.Dress for salat for Men
The dress for men should be such that it covers from navel to the knees at least.
The shoulders should not be left uncovered
Salat can be prayed in one garment if it covers the body from the navel to the knees as well as the shoulders

b.Dress for salat for Women
The dress of women should be such that it covers her whole body from head to foot leaving only the face and the hands uncovered. A prayer offered in transparent clothing is not valid. Also tight fitting clothing which shows the shape of the body should be avoided.

4. TYPES OF SALAT

There are many types of salat . They are :
a.Fard or Obligatory Salat
Fard prayer is an obligatory prayer. Every believer is ordered by Allah to offer five obligatory prayers in a day. Failure to observe any one of the five obligatory prayers is a serious and punishable sin.

b.Nafl Prayer
This is a voluntary prayer which the prophet (S.A.W) observed before or after Fard at special and isolated occasions. It also includes those which he encouraged Muslim to pray.

After we know much about salat , Don’t forget to offer obligatory prayers in our life everyday minimize five times a day. Let’s keep our salat because by salat Allah swt will love us and we will be showed in right way so we will be safe in the world and hereafter.