‘Salah’: Five Times A Day
‘Why
have prayers been prescribed for Muslims five times a day? It may be asked:
would not once or twice, or whenever one happens to feel like it, be
sufficient?’
In response to this set of questions from Mr. Louis Babel
Christopher from Algeria, Hazrat Imam Muhyiuddin Al Khalifatullah Al Mahdi Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of
Mauritius states:
In answering these questions, it must first be
pointed out that the Islamic prayers (salat) are somewhat different from
"prayer" as used in the Christian sense, although personal
supplication and glorification of God (known as Duah) are also a very important
part of the Muslim's worship.
Basically, Islamic prayers consist of recitations from the Holy Quran and glorification of God accompanied by various bodily postures. The five times of worship correspond to the five periods of the day: daybreak, noon, afternoon, the close of day and night, corresponding to the organization of Man's time around various activities.