Salah

Salat (صَلَاة, plural salawat, romanized: sʕaˈla or Old Arabic [t͡sʕaˈloːh], (sʕaˈlaːt or Old Arabic [t͡sʕaˈloːth] in construct state) prayer), also known as namāz (نماز), are prayers performed by Muslims. Facing the qibla, the direction of the Kaaba with respect to those praying, many to most 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. Salat is composed of prescribed repetitive cycles of bows and prostrations, called rakat ( () 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. Salat 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 ("leader"). Special prayers are exclusively performed in congregation, such as the Friday prayer and the Eid prayers, and may be coupled with two sermons each, delivered by the imam. The daily obligatory prayers collectively form the second of the five pillars in Islam, observed three or five times (the latter being the majority) every day at prescribed times. These are usually Fajr (observed at dawn), Zuhr (observed at noon), Asr (observed late in the afternoon), Maghrib (observed after sunset), and Isha (observed at dusk). ALA (sʕaˈla صلاة) is an Arabic word that means to pray. The word is used primarily by English speakers only to refer to the five obligatory prayers of Islam. This term is spelled as solat in Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, salaad in Somalia, and swalah in Tanzania and by other Swahili speakers. The origin of the word salah has become a matter of debate, particularly in relation to Quranism. Some have suggested that salah derives from the root و ص ل (w-ṣ-l) which means "linking things together", hence why the obligatory prayers in Islam are referred to by the word salah (in the sense that through prayer one "connects" to God).