Question: The Holy Quran and Praying

[jasmine_c]

Salaam everyone.

Cos I'm in the process of learning how to pray, I have this help sheet that I have with the Arabic words, English translations and illustrations. The problem is I'm still confused on what rakats are, and how many you need to do for each type of prayer, so if anyone could give me some information it'd be great

Another thing is that it says, "For the first two rakats at any time of prayer, recite an additional short selection from the Qur'an after al Fatiha." I'm reading an English translation of the Quran, and I was wondering if this has to be said in Arabic, and if so, could anyone could give me some "short selections from the Quran" in Arabic with English translations so I know what it is?

If anyone could help me with this I'd really appreciate it, so thanks everyone

[chacha_jalebi]

salaam

bless ya sista

i hope you learn quickly and you can pray and Allah (swt) rewards you propa for your efforts

each prayer has it own rakats for the fard (compulsory) salaahs, you gota pray ...

2 rakahs for fajr

4 for zuhr, asr and isha

and 3 for maghrib

also sister you will find loads of short selections of surah in the Quran from juz 30, part 30 of the quran contains the most small surahs,

one of the smallest & most easy to remem surahs in the quran are surah kawthar...

"inna tainaka kawthar, fi salli rabbika wanhar, inna shaani aka huwal abtaar"

and thats it its short and easy to remem

also another short one, surah al asr, -

Wal asr, innal insana lafee khusr, illal lazeena aamanu, wa aamunis salihaati wa tawasaw bil haqqi wa tawasaw bis sabr

also any of the surahs in part 3o of the quran are easy to remem

surah ikhlaas, surah kafiroon, surah nasr, surah falaq, suran nas, surah fil, surah lahab these are kind of short, but jus have a search through a transliterated quran and check out part 30 and see what surahs are easy to remem for you

also yesh, you should say the prayers in arabic, because thats the way RasoolAllah (sal Allah hu aley hi wasalam) said them

[ehmad]

All Praise is Due to Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Beneficient. Peace and Blessing be upon our beloved Prophet Muhammad, His family and Companions.

Dear Sister in Islam, You have possed a very interesting question and May Allah teach you to understand how to perform his obligatory prayers. Sister as you may be aware that one has to perform his obligatory prayers five times a day starting at the time of Fajr ending at the time of Isha. Now I am going to Stress only on the Obligatory prayers and not the sunnah prayers (optional prayers perform by the Holy Prophet (pbuh) ). There may be time variations in the prayer timings from region to region and there may be difference of timmings if u are stationary in one region like England. I am going to list all the obligatory prayers and the number of rakats performed accordingly. A Rakat consists takbir (saying allahu - akber) followed by surah al-fatiha + any surah from the holy quran (depending on the prayer), one bowing and two prostrations.

FAJR Prayer: 0606 GMT Approx.

Two rakats, each starting with Surah al- fatiha + any surah from holy quran. You can memorised all the small surah in chapter 30 of the holy quran, for example; from surah 100 (Al Adiyat) till 114 (Surah Al Nas) as this surah's are short in length.

ZAHUR Prayer: 1203 GMT Approx.

Four rakats, first two starting with surah Al - fatiha + any surah from the holy quran. The rest two with surah Al - Fatiha only.

ASR Prayer: 1347 GMT Approx.

Four rakats, first two starting with surah Al - fatiha + any surah from the holy quran. The rest two with surah Al - Fatiha only.

MAGRIB Prayer: 1606 GMT Approx

Three rakats, first two with surah - Al - Fatiha + any Surah from the holy quran. One with Surah Al- Fatiha only.

ISHA Prayer : 1803 GMT Approx.

Four rakats, first two starting with surah Al - fatiha + any surah from the holy quran. The rest two with surah Al - Fatiha only.

Although I advise you to confirmed the timmings with the local Islamic authorities where you reside. Hope it answered your question.

Jazakumullahu khair

[rubiesand]

Salaam sister,

When you want to pray a short surah after the Fatihah you could say surah Al Ikhlas, which is surah number 112. It's very short.


Qul hu Allahu ahad
Allahu somad
Lam yalid wa lam yulad
Wa lam yakul lahu kufuwan ahad


translated as:


Say, He is Allah, the One
Allah, the Eternal, Absolute
He begets not, nor is He begotten
And there is none like unto Him



Hope this helps!

[Malaikah]

Heres a great website that teaches how to pray:
http://muslimconverts.com/prayer/how-to-pray-intro.htm

Here you can find the transliteration of the whole Quran:
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/transliteration/

And one rakat is like a unit of pray, so, when you do the standing up part where you read surat al-fatiha and another short surah, and then you bow, then you stand straight again, then you prostrate twice, collectively this is called one rakah(unit).

So when a pray has two rakat, it goes something like this:

1. start prayer and read al fatiha and 1 chapter
2. bow
3. stand
4. prostrate twice
5. stand up again, and read al fatiha and 1 chapter
6. bow
7. stand again
8. prostrate twice
9. sit and recite the tashahud and the supplication
10. finish the prayer

I did each rakah in a different colour. Can you see how they are two units here?

If that doesn't make sense, just ask me to explain further inshaallah.

p.s. congratulations on your reversion mashaallah!

[jasmine_c]

Thanks very much for the help everyone

[- Qatada -]

Try checking the links from here too inshaa'Allaah:

http://www.islamicboard.com/cyber-co...g-salaat.html?


Especially these:

http://english.islamway.com/sindex.php?section=prayer

http://www.bahagia.btinternet.co.uk/prayer1.html

http://muslimconverts.com/prayer/how-to-pray-intro.htm

[UmmSqueakster]

Wa Alaikum Assalam wr wb,

I've detailed how I learned to pray here.

If you are looking for some short surahs to learn, I have a few sites to recommend:

Qur'an 101 - recites surahs very very slowly

Mount Hira - has little programs set up to help learn some surahs of the Qur'an.

Check the link in my siggy for helpful sites for converts, as well as my blog at www.onlinerihla.blogspot.com. And, feel free to pm me. I've been there, done that, if ya know what I mean