The Book Of Prayer (Kitaab-ul-Salaat)

Leaving the Sunnah habitually is close to forbidden (Haraam) and it is feared that (We seek
Allah's refuge) such a person may remain deprived of the Holy Prophet's intercession. The Holy
Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has proclaimed: "Whoever abandons the Sunnah will
not obtain my intercession."
THE CONDITIONS OF PRAYER (SHARAAET)
The 6 conditions of Prayer are as follows:
1. Purity - The body and the clothes of the one offering Prayer must be pure. Further, the
place of worship must be clean. One must either have a bath (if the bath is compulsory)
or else just the ablution (which is a must).
2. Concealing the body - This is also called Satr-e-Aurat. That is to conceal / cover the
necessary parts of the body. For men, this consists of the body between the navel up to
and including the knees. For women this consists of the entire body, except the face,
hands and soles of the feet. Women must hide their faces from strangers whilst not in
Prayers. Wearing clothes that are so thin that body colour is exposed will make the Prayer
void. Similar is the case of the head scarf if the shine of hair is revealed. In fact, wearing
such clothes is prohibited even outside Prayer.
3. Direction towards the “ Qiblah” (Kaaba) - this is called "Istiqbaal-e-Qiblah". The face
and the chest must be directed towards the “ Qiblah” , whilst offering Prayer.
4. The Time of Prayer - proper timing is the fourth condition of Prayer. The time for Dawn
Prayer starts from actual dawn and ends at the beginning of sunrise. It should be offered
within this period. The time for Afternoon Prayer starts from the time the sun crosses its
zenith until the shadow of any object becomes double its actual length. (The actual length
means the length of a shadow when the sun is at the meridian - i.e. half distance between
sunrise and zenith).
The time for Evening (Asr) Prayer starts from the time the Afternoon (Zohr) Prayer ends,
and finishes at sunset. The period of 20 minutes before sunset is undesirable (Makrooh),
therefore one should complete the Evening Prayer before this. If the Prayer could not be
offered before this due to some reason, then one should offer it during this period before
sunset. The time for the Sunset (Maghrib) Prayer starts immediately after the setting of