1. Before praying: wudu (ablution)

Before praying you must be clean. Wudu is done with clean water, in this order:

1. The intention (niyyah). Think in your heart that you are going to do wudu in order to pray. You do not need to say it out loud.
2. Wash your hands up to the wrists, three times.
3. Rinse your mouth three times, with a little water each time.
4. Clean your nose: sniff a little water in and then blow it out, three times.
5. Wash your face completely, from ear to ear and from the forehead to the chin, three times.
6. Wash your arms up to the elbows, first the right one and then the left one, three times each.
7. Pass your wet hands over your head and then clean your ears inside and outside, once.
8. Wash your feet up to the ankles, first the right one and then the left one, three times each.

Remember: if you go to the toilet, sleep deeply or pass wind, your wudu is broken and you must repeat it before praying.

2. The five daily prayers

Muslims pray five times a day. Each prayer has a number of obligatory rakats (fard) and recommended sunnah rakats:

Prayer	Time of day	Obligatory rakats (fard)	Recommended sunnah
Fajr	At dawn, before sunrise	2	2 before
Dhuhr	At midday, when the sun passes its highest point	4	4 before and 2 after
Asr	In the afternoon	4	4 before (voluntary)
Maghrib	Just after sunset	3	2 after
Isha	At night, when the light of dusk has gone	4	2 after, and then Witr (3 rakats)

That is 17 obligatory rakats in total each day. If you are a beginner, start with the obligatory ones and add the sunnah ones little by little.

3. Prayer step by step

Each rakah follows the same movements. Here are the seven steps, with the phrase in Arabic, its pronunciation and its meaning.

Step 1. The intention (Niyyah)

Before you start, think in your heart which prayer you are going to pray, for example: “I am going to pray Fajr.”

Step 2. The Takbir: raising the hands

Raise your hands to shoulder or ear height and say:

اللهُ أَكْبَرُ

Allahu Akbar

“Allah is the Greatest”

Then place your right hand over your left, on your chest, and stay standing.

Step 3. The Qiyam: standing, recite Al-Fatiha

Standing, recite quietly Surah Al-Fatiha and then a short surah, for example Al-Ikhlas:

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim

“In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful”

After Al-Fatiha say “Amin” and recite another short surah that you know by heart.

Step 4. The Ruku: bowing

Say “Allahu Akbar”, bow and place your hands on your knees, with your back straight. Say three times:

سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْعَظِيمِ

Subhana Rabbiyal Adhim

“Glory be to my Lord, the Most Great”

Then stand up and say: “Sami Allahu liman hamidah” (Allah hears those who praise Him) and then, once standing, “Rabbana wa lakal hamd” (Our Lord, to You belongs all praise).

Step 5. The Sujud: prostration

Say “Allahu Akbar” and prostrate: place your forehead, nose, palms of your hands, knees and toes on the ground. Say three times:

سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْأَعْلَىٰ

Subhana Rabbiyal A’la

“Glory be to my Lord, the Most High”

Sit for a moment, say “Allahu Akbar” and prostrate again in the same way. With this, one rakah is finished: stand up and start the next one.

Step 6. The Tashahhud: sitting at the end

In the last rakah, sit down and recite the Tashahhud:

التَّحِيَّاتُ لِلَّهِ وَالصَّلَوَاتُ وَالطَّيِّبَاتُ، السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكَ أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ، السَّلَامُ عَلَيْنَا وَعَلَىٰ عِبَادِ اللَّهِ الصَّالِحِينَ، أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

At-tahiyyatu lillahi was-salawatu wat-tayyibat, as-salamu ‘alayka ayyuhan-nabiyyu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, as-salamu ‘alayna wa ‘ala ‘ibadillahis-salihin. Ashhadu an la ilaha illallah wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan ‘abduhu wa rasuluh.

“All greetings, prayers and good things are for Allah. Peace be upon you, O Prophet, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Peace be upon us and upon the righteous servants of Allah. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.”

Step 7. The Taslim: the final greeting

To finish the prayer, turn your head to the right and say:

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ

As-salamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullah

“Peace and the mercy of Allah be upon you”

Then turn your head to the left and repeat the same phrase. Your prayer is finished.

4. Common mistakes when starting

• Praying without wudu or with broken wudu. Without a valid ablution the prayer is not accepted: do wudu just before praying.
• Praying in a hurry. Prayer is a moment of calm: do each movement peacefully and think about what you say.
• Moving or looking around. Keep your gaze on the place where you will put your forehead and avoid distractions such as your phone.
• Not learning the words little by little. At first you can read Al-Fatiha from a piece of paper or your phone while you memorise it; the important thing is to practise every day.

Keep learning

To know what time to pray each day, see the prayer times page. And after each prayer, you can use the digital tasbeeh and read the duas for after prayer.

See prayer times →  ·  Duas after prayer →

How to pray with calm: tips for beginners

Learning how to pray takes time, and that is normal: nobody learns all the words and movements in one day. Start with one prayer a day, for example Fajr or Maghrib, and add the others little by little as the words become familiar. The most important thing when you learn how to pray is to keep going every day, even if you make mistakes.

Learn the words of the prayer in small pieces. Begin with Al-Fatiha, the first surah of the Quran, because every rakah begins with it: read it from the Quran or from a card at first, and repeat it until you can say it by heart. Then add one short surah, such as Al-Ikhlas, and the phrases of ruku and sujud, one at a time. Children learn how to pray the same way, a little at a time, and the kids page has short surahs to memorise for children who are learning how to pray.

Pray in a clean, quiet place where nobody will disturb you, and put your phone away before you start. Face the qibla, stand still for a moment and think about who you are standing before: prayer is a conversation with Allah, not a task to finish quickly. If your mind wanders while you learn how to pray, bring it back gently to the words you are saying.

Use the prayer times page to know when each prayer begins, and set a reminder for the next prayer so you do not miss it. This matters most when you are learning how to pray, because the times change a little every day. The five prayers spread through the day — Fajr before sunrise, Dhuhr at midday, Asr in the afternoon, Maghrib at sunset and Isha at night — so each one is a short pause that brings you back to Allah. After each prayer, use the digital tasbeeh to count your 100 dhikr.

If you miss a prayer, do not give up: pray it as soon as you remember, and try again the next day. Allah loves the worship that is small and steady more than a big effort that stops after a week. The best way to learn how to pray is to pray with others when you can — at the mosque, with family or with a friend who can guide you.

Keep learning how to pray step by step: read the Quran every day, even a few verses, and learn the duas for the morning and evening so your day is full of remembrance. The 99 names of Allah are a beautiful way to know Allah better, and the Islamic calendar shows you the Hijri dates of Ramadan and Eid. If you have a question about how to pray, contact us and we will try to help.

If you want to read more about how to pray in Islam, see the article about Salat on Wikipedia: it explains the five prayers, the wudu and the history of salah. You can also open the Quran and read Surah Al-Fatiha, the surah you recite in every rakah, and reflect on its seven verses.

Many people learn how to pray by watching others: if you can, pray next to someone who knows the prayer well and copy their movements, then ask them to check your words. Videos and books help too, but a real person can correct your pronunciation and your posture in a way no book can. Do not feel shy about asking: every Muslim learned how to pray from someone else.

Make wudu carefully before every prayer, because a prayer without wudu is not valid: wash each part three times, in order, and take your time. Keep a small bottle of water and a prayer mat with you when you travel, so you can pray wherever you are. With practice, wudu and prayer become a habit, and learning how to pray becomes part of your daily life.

One more thing to remember when you learn how to pray: the prayer is the same in every country, in Arabic, wherever you live. So once you know how to pray, you can pray with any Muslim, in any mosque in the world, and feel at home. Keep practising how to pray every day, and the words and movements will soon feel natural.