Islamic Shari‘ah of the Prayer (2)

This is the second episode of Mr Javed Ahmad Ghamidi’s article on the ritual prayer. It covers many topics of utmost importance. Starting with the description of the timings of the prayer, it discusses the number of obligatory rak‘at for each of the five prayers, words of adhan, status of the mosques, the imam (the leader) and the muqtadis (the followers) in the prayer are also spelled in addition to an explication of the congregational prayer, and the concession in the prayer. Apart from the five daily prayers, some other forms of the prayer have also been instituted among the Muslims. In this article, these prayers are comprehensively discussed under the headings like Friday Prayer, Funeral Prayer, and Id Prayers. A brief description of the optional prayers then follows which ends with the prayer of istikharah.