Islam

For prayers to be accepted, we must pray to Allah in the manner He has prescribed it.

1 – Prayer Times

The five obligatory prayers which are required day and night are Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib,and Isha. A good website that will give you the prayer times based on where you are is:  http://www.islamicfinder.org/. The general timings for each of the daily prayers are as follows:

1. Fajr : begins at the time of the true dawn, and ends when the sun starts to rise.
2. Dhuhr : begins when the sun has passed its zenith, and ends when the length of an object’s shadow becomes equal to the length of the object itself.
3. Asr : begins immediately when Dhuhr ends, and ends when the sun starts to set.
4. Maghrib : begins immediately when Asr ends, and ends when the red afterglow disappears from the sky.
5. ‘Isha : begins immediately when Maghrib ends, and ends at midnight (i.e. the time halfway between sunset and when Fajr begins).

2 – Which direction do you pray in?

A Muslim is required to face the direction of the Ka’bah (the Sacred House of Allah in Makkah) for each salah. This direction is called the qiblah. The same website mentioned above will give you the qiblah direction based on where you are.

3 – Other requirements

1. The prayer is obligatory upon every sane Muslim (who has reached the age of puberty) once the prayer time has started.
2. A Muslim man must wear clothing that covers him at the very least from navel to knee, and he should see to it that his shoulders are also covered. A Muslim woman must wear loose clothing that covers her entire body, except for her hands and face.
3. One must make sure there is no impurity on his/her clothes, body, or the spot he/she will pray.
4. A Muslim must be in the state of purity. If he/she has passed wind, urinated, defecated or woken up from sleep, he/she must perform wudu (i.e. ritual ablution). Additionally, he/she must perform the ghusl (ritual bath) if he/she woke up from a wet-dream, ejaculated semen, had intercourse and/or, in the case of a woman, she ended her menstrual cycle or her post-childbirth bleeding.
5. He/she should face the direction of prayer (qiblah).
6. He/she should make the intention (in the heart) to perform the current prayer.

The Steps of Wudu

1. Make the intention in your heart that you’re about to perform wudu.
2. Begin by saying Bismillah (this means: in the name of Allah).  
3. Wash your hands up to the wrists three times.
4. Rinse your mouth and nose, three times each.
5. Wash your face three times, from the hairline to the chin and from ear to ear. If a man has a thin beard in which the skin can clearly be seen beneath it, then water must reach the bottom of it. If the beard is thick, it is sufficient to take a handful of water and to run it through the beard.
6. Wash your hands and arms from your fingertips up to your elbows. Do this three times, and preferably begin with your right side.
7. Beginning at the front of your head, run wet hands to the back of your head and then back to the front again. With the remaining water on your hands, wipe the inside of your ears with your index fingers, and wipe the back of your ears with your thumbs. Do all of this one time.
8. Wash your feet up to and including the ankles. Do this three times, and preferably begin with your right side.
9. All the aforementioned steps must be performed in their proper order, and there must be no lengthy lapse of time in between them.

The Steps of Ghusl

1. Form the intention to purify oneself from the state of major ritual impurity.
2. Wash the entire body with water once, as well as rinsing the mouth and nose.