Questions people ask at the start

How to pray, lesson 8 of 8

These lessons are shared with the GABLVM app. Where a lesson mentions the app, this site has the same tools: Prayer Times, Qibla Finder, and the Quran Player.

I cannot pronounce the Arabic yet. Say what you can, as best you can. Everyone started there. Keep the app's recitation of Al Fatiha playing and copy it line by line. Until you have it, in the place of Al Fatiha say the phrases the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, taught a man who could not yet learn the Quran. Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah, La ilaha illallah, Allahu Akbar, La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah. Glory to God, praise to God, there is no god but God, God is greatest, there is no power and no strength except with God.

I forgot a step or lost count. If you forget a bow or a prostration, the prayer is not complete without it. Go back and do it, then carry on. If you forget the middle sitting, carry on. If you are not sure whether you did two units or three, take the smaller number and pray one more. Either way, at the end, before closing, add two extra prostrations. That fixes an honest mistake. For the finer details, ask your local imam.

I cannot get down to the floor. Pray sitting on a chair. Bow by leaning forward a little, prostrate by leaning forward more. If you can stand but not kneel, stand for the standing parts and use the chair for the rest.

I am a woman. Is anything different for me. During your monthly period you do not pray, and you do not make those prayers up. When it ends, do Ghusl, lesson 3, and pray the prayer whose time you are in, if there is still time for it. Then carry on as normal. Otherwise the prayer is the same. Some women keep the arms closer to the body in prostration. That is a preference, not a rule.

I am not Muslim. Can I try this. Yes. Nothing here is closed to you. Wash, stand, and go through one unit. If it ever becomes yours, the words that make someone a Muslim are already in the Tashahhud in lesson 7.

Does it matter which way I face if I am not sure. Do your best with the Qibla screen. If you find out later you were off, the prayer still counts.

How long does one prayer take. Fajr, about three minutes. A four unit prayer, about six. It gets shorter as the words become familiar.

What if I miss one. Pray it when you remember, then carry on with the day. God is described in the first line of every prayer as the most merciful.

المصادر

Hadith from Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim are authenticated collections. Other hadith show their grading and who graded them.