The [prayer] time.
Chapter: the six conditions of prayer
The [prayer] time.
Purification in all its forms.
Covering the nakedness (ʿawra).
Facing the qibla.
Intention (niyya).
The opening takbīra (takbīrat al-iḥrām).
Its pillars are six: standing (qiyām).
Recitation (qirāʾa).
Bowing (rukūʿ).
Prostration (sujūd).
Moving from one pillar to the next.
The final sitting.
… Its obligations are eleven: al-Fātiḥa … in the first two rakʿas.
Two (second listed obligation).
A sūra or the equivalent thereof in length.
Three (third listed obligation).
Audible recitation in prayers recited aloud—for the imām.
Four (fourth listed obligation).
Quiet recitation in prayers recited quietly, absolutely.
Five (fifth listed obligation).
Stillness (ṭumaʾnīna) in bowing and prostration.
Six (sixth listed obligation).
Correct order of its actions.
Seven (seventh listed obligation).
The first sitting.
Eight (eighth listed obligation).
The tashahhud in the two sittings.
Nine (ninth listed obligation).
The salām.
Ten (tenth listed obligation).
The qunūt.
Eleven (eleventh listed obligation).
The extra takbīrs of the two Eids.
Its sunnas: everything else of its prescribed words and deeds.
First condition—time: Fajr is from true dawn until sunrise.
Ẓuhr is from noon until every thing’s shadow equals twice its [noon] length—excluding the noon shadow … that is the start of ʿAsr.
Its end is sunset: that is the start of Maghrib; its end is disappearance of the white twilight after the red … that is the start of ʿIshāʾ; its end is true dawn.
Witr is in the time of ʿIshāʾ, and delaying it after ʿIshāʾ is obligatory.
[Preferred times] It is recommended to keep Fajr long (isfār), except the pilgrim at Muzdalifa, for whom darkness (taghlīs) is better.
Delaying Ẓuhr in summer and hastening it in winter is recommended.
Delaying ʿAsr until the sun’s disk has not yet changed [colour] in summer and winter.
Hastening Maghrib always.
Delaying ʿIshāʾ to a third of the night in winter, and hastening it in summer.
On an overcast day he hastens ʿAsr and ʿIshāʾ and delays the rest.
Two prayers are not combined in one time except at ʿArafāt and Muzdalifa.
Witr at the end of the night is recommended if he trusts wakefulness; otherwise at its beginning.
Friday prayer is in the time of Ẓuhr.
The two Eid prayers are from when the sun has risen until noon.
There are eight disliked times: three in which every prayer, the prostration of recitation, and the sahw prostration are disliked: at sunrise.
When it stands at meridian.
At sunset—except the ʿAsr of that day.
Two times in which voluntary prayer, a vowed prayer, the two ṭawāf rakʿas, and making up a spoiled voluntary are disliked—and nothing else is—namely between dawn and sunrise.
And from after ʿAsr until sunset.
Three times in which only voluntary prayer is disliked: after sunset before Maghrib.
During the Friday sermon.
Before the Eid prayer.
Second condition—purity: the worshipper’s purity, his clothing, and his place are conditions.
Impurity is of two kinds: lightened—it is horse urine, what may be eaten of its flesh, and droppings of birds whose flesh is not eaten; a quarter of a limb or a quarter of an “injury site” such as tail, dock, or elbow blocks, not what is below that.
Heavy [impurity] is the rest of najāsāt; a mithqāl in solid filth is overlooked with dislike; a handspan in liquid and more blocks.
The place of istinjāʾ is excluded from [the] overlooking.
Urine spray like needle heads is overlooked.
If he prays on a small rug with impurity at an edge, it is invalid; if the rug is large, it is valid.
If the worshipper carries a pouch of musk: if water would not spoil it—i.e. not make it foul—it is valid in any case, whether from a slaughtered animal or not; if water would spoil it, it is valid only if from a slaughtered animal.
Whoever finds nothing to remove impurity and a quarter of his garment is pure prays in it necessarily without repeating the prayer; if less than a quarter is pure, he chooses between praying in it or naked, the former is better.
Third condition—covering ʿawra: a man’s ʿawra is between his navel and knee; the knee is ʿawra, the navel is not.
A free woman’s ʿawra is her entire body; her hair is ʿawra except face, two hands, and two feet.
A female slave’s ʿawra is like a man’s plus her belly and back.
Heavy and light degrees of ʿawra are treated alike.
Less than a quarter of a limb is overlooked; a quarter prevents [prayer].
A thin cover that does not block seeing the ʿawra does not suffice.
Whoever lacks a cover prays naked sitting, gesturing bowing and prostration; or standing bowing and prostrating—the former is better.
Fourth condition—facing the qibla: for a Meccan the obligation is the Kaʿba itself; for others its direction.
Whoever is uncertain of the qibla does not investigate when someone present can tell him, nor under a clear sky in the desert.
If in the desert he lacks markers and an informer, he forms an opinion and prays; if error appears in that prayer he rebuilds; if it appears after, he does not repeat.
Fifth condition—intention: willing the prayer in the heart.
Uttering [the intention] is sunna.
The follower intends the prayer itself, following his imām, and the like.
Safer is intention concurrent with the takbīr; if he precedes it, it is valid unless broken by something that cancels intention.
Sixth condition—opening takbīr: valid opening with takbīr, tahlīl, basmala, any name of Allah, or “Allāhumma”; not valid with only “Allāhumma forgive me.”
If he catches the imām bowing and says takbīr for bowing, he has [validly] opened.
If he says takbīr before his imām intending to follow, his prayer is void from the outset.
Prefer matching the imām in takbīr and delaying in the salām.
He raises his hands with the takbīr until his thumbs align with his earlobes without spreading his fingers.
Likewise raising in qunūt and the extra Eid takbīrs.
The woman raises to shoulder height.
He does not raise his hands except for the opening takbīr.
It is sunna for the imām and congregation to stand at the muʾadhdhin’s “ḥayya ʿalā l-falāḥ.”
The imām says takbīr when [the caller] says “qad qāmat aṣ-ṣalāh.”