Date: 4th Rabi al Awwal 1442
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين اللهم صلى وسلم على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وأصحابه و من ول و بعد
In the name of God The Infinitely-Good The Merciful, all praise to God, The Lord of all creation. Oh God grant blessing and peace to our master Muhammad and his family and his companions and the righteous and those who come after.
This series is meant to teach us How to Pray.
All knowledge here is according to the Shafi’i “Madhhab”(1) . {alertInfo}
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Introduction
Part One is meant to be a stand alone article capable of teaching anyone how to perform the Prayer/Namaz such that it will be valid. It does not include any Sunnah or Recommended acts of Purity or Prayer, but only that which the prayer would not be valid without.
Part Two is meant to build on the knowledge of Prayer Level One. It includes some details and recommended acts of purity and prayer.
Part Three is meant to build on the knowledge of Part Two, and will include more recommended acts of purity and prayer which are not mentioned in Part Two.
Types of Prayer
Prayer is of two types:
1. Solah(2) : Solah is the ritual prayer and its direction is toward the “Kaaba”(4).
2. Dua(3) : Dua is the supplicatory prayer and its direction is toward the sky.
In Arabic these prayer directions are called “Qiblah”(5) . Dua is where you speak to God. Solah is where God speaks to you, for His word is the Quran.
Please, if you find someone who prays differently do not bother them.
If you see people pray in a way you are not aware of, admit your own smallness of knowledge. Only the corrupt and hypocrite will think themselves to have knowledge while the other is ignorant. There are many valid ways of praying. Also, there are many optimal ways of praying. What is provided here is one such method: complete from minimum to maximum. Do not stop people or argue with people who pray according to another understanding, nor be bothered by the ignorant who insist you follow their understanding or method.
Likewise, if you see someone pray in a minimal way (Part One) while you are praying in an intermediate (Part Two) or advanced (Part Three) way, do not tell them they are praying wrong or that their prayer is invalid. If you do so, you have lied against Allah, Rasulullah ﷺ, and the religion of Islam. A minimum prayer is a valid prayer, and to speak against it is to claim that it is not a valid prayer. That would be going astray from the ijma of scholars - even those who follow another Madhhab acknowledge the authenticity of the Shafi’i Madhhab, which is one of the Four Madhahib of “Fiqh”(6) .
1. Madhhab pl. Madhahib- School of thought; specifically one which is accepted as authoritative↩
2. Solah- Meeting or connecting with God, this is the ritual prayer↩
3. Dua- Supplication and pleading with God↩
4. Kaaba- House of worship originally built by Prophet Abraham↩
5. Qiblah- Direction; specifically direction for prayer especially the ritual prayer↩
6. Fiqh- Understanding of religion; specifically legal understanding↩
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Anything I said here which is true, is from Allah. Anything I said here which is false if from myself. I ask forgiveness for my shortcomings. I seek refuge in Allah from knowledge which does not benefit. May Allah grant us understanding of things as they are. May Allah bless and grant peace to our master Muhammad and his family.