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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| learning to pray |
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| Stephanie |
| 10/18/03 at 19:53:12 |
| Assalamu Alaikum I am brand new to the Islamic faith. I want to begin to learn the prayers as soon as possible. This might be a slow progression as I work, go to school and am a single mom. I figure it is best to start from the beginning. I know that when a muslim goes to the Friday prayer they should begin with 2 or 3 ? rakats. Can someone explain to me what is said, when to prostrate etc. Also, I am also completely Arabic illiterate. Until I can get a grasp of the language is it okay to say the prayers in English or is it absolutely mandatory to say them in Arabic. If I say them in Arabic, I will completly butcher the language and would probably even have to read from a tranliteration while praying. This seems extremely disrespectful. Any suggestions from reverts or lifetime muslims appreciated. Ma'salamah your sister in Islam Stephanie |
| Re: learning to pray |
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| Ameeraana |
| 10/18/03 at 19:59:16 |
| [slm] This is the best!!! I used this link and it is very well put together Mashallah!! http://english.islamway.com/prayer/BegSound.htm I started doing the prayers in English then slowly memorized little by little in Arabic. Ameera |
| Re: learning to pray |
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| WhiteSomali |
| 10/18/03 at 22:02:15 |
| [slm] ;D Sis Ameera beat me to posting that link. I can't remember if that video puts the number of rakas and sunnah rakahs so in case you don't know them, here's all the mandatory prayers plus the most important sunnah rakas... Before Fajr: 2 Rakas Sunnah (Optional) Fajr: 2 Rakas Fardh (Mandatory) After fajr, it's haram (forebidden) to pray until after the sun has risen a bit above the horizen. It's also haram to pray when the sun is exactly at it's median. Before Dhuhr: 4 Rakas Sunnah (these 4 rakas are prayed in groups of 2) Dhuhr: 4 Rakas Fardh After Dhuhr: 2 Rakas Sunnah Asr: 4 Rakas Fardh After you've prayed asr, it's haram to pray until the sun has set. Maghrib: 3 Rakas Fardh After Maghrib: 2 Rakas Sunnah Isha: 4 Rakas Fardh After Isha: 2 Rakas Sunnah Witr: One last odd raka it's very important Sunnah. EDIT: Forgot about Jumuah on Friday ;D When you attend the Friday congregation, it replaces Dhuhr. There are 2 Rakas Sunnah before the Khutbah (speech, sermon) starts, and after the Khutbah is over there are 2 Rakas Fardh instead of 4. If you don't attend Jumuah and pray alone during Dhuhr time, then just pray Dhuhr as normal. But it all looks confusing like that so you might want to right it down and just focus on memorizing how many rakas are in each fardh salah., but that shouldn't take long. Fajr: 2 Dhuhr: 4 Asr: 4 Maghrib: 3 Isha: 4 The twelve optional rakas I put up for you are very important. Whoever does those 12 rakas daily, Allah will build an established dwelling in Paradise ;D You can find the prayer times for your area from [url]www.islamicfinder.com[/url] ;D I suggest writing down the english-alphabet transliterations of the Arabic, one stage of prayer at a time, until you can do the whole Salah in Arabic. You can get the English translation and transliteration of all the Salah from the link Sis Ameera posted for you. The video has sound so you can correct you pronunciation ;D My Allah make it all eeeeezz for ya Sis. Religion is supposed to be easy. ;D [slm] |
| 10/18/03 at 22:08:13 |
| WhiteSomali |
| Re: learning to pray |
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| timbuktu |
| 10/18/03 at 22:11:51 |
| [slm] very happy to see your question sister, & the two replies before me. Until such time as one is able to memorise the Arabic to be said in the Salah (prayers), the prophet [saw] told a convert to say Subhanallah. so in the Salah, until you have learnt all that, say "Subhanallah" 3, 5, or 7 times at every stage in the prayer. i do not remember the Hadith, but i am sure brother bhaloo or someone else will have a reference, & perhaps the full text of the Hadith. may Allah (swt) accept all your prayers & rward you amply. aameen |
| Re: learning to pray |
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| AbdulJalil |
| 10/21/03 at 13:57:57 |
| Assalamu alaikum welcome to Islam sister! The first link give you information on doing wudu( for cleaning oneself before we pray). It also teach the prayer. The rest teach you the prayer. We can "vary" our prayers to some extend, so don't worry if you see slight difference in the way the prayers are made. Just choose one you like, and that you find easy http://www.jannah.com/learn/prayer.html This is a software that teach how to pray. You need the winzip software. if you don't have winzip on your computer,let me know. http://www.iisna.com/downloads/cybersalat.htm http://www.islam.org/Mosque/salat.htm http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/7974/contents.html http://www.iad.org/books/prayer.html |
| 10/21/03 at 16:35:58 |
| AbdulJalil |
| Re: learning to pray |
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| eleanor |
| 10/22/03 at 08:37:58 |
| [slm] Jazak Allah to all the brothers and sisters who replied. Stephanie - the links provided are very helpful and the advice is helpful too. This is all for the situation that you are learning your prayers *alone*. With no one to help you. What is waaay better is to find some willing sisters who will show you the right way to pray. You should find some at the mosque. Just go there any prayer time and get into conversation with someone. They will be able to advise you and help you. I found out way too late that there are sisters' meetings here once a week and amongst others they teach new sisters how to pray. I also learnt the prayers off a piece of paper - with transliteration. Two years later I find out that I have been pronouncing stuff really badly :'( Alhamdulillah I am getting Arabic lessons from the mosque now and soon will be able to read the prayers in Arabic. So what I would advise you to do is to get to know people in your community and find out about the different courses and meetings which are on offer. And finally, take your time. Start off with learning how many Fardh (obligatory) rakats are for each prayer and when you have them learned then move onto Sunnah. Finally Insha Allah you will know all the Fardh and Sunnah and will move onto Nafil (voluntary). I read about some early converts in Iran who couldn't learn the Arabic prayers and the prophet said it was okay for them to pray in Persian until they learned the Arabic. Personally I would prefer to have the prayers on a page in front of me and read off the page as I go along. This is also permissible. Get your fiance to help you. Don't be shy!! Insha Allah you will learn quickly and remember you get loads and loads of rewards from Allah ;D take care |
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