Raka'ah

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2007)

Part of a series on the Islamic Jurisprudence – a discipline of Islamic studies

Fields

Economical Political Marital Criminal Etiquette Theological Baligh Salat Raka'ah Qibla Turbah Sunnah salat Tahajjud Tarawih Nafl salat Sawm Hajj Ihram Ihram clothing Mut'ah of Hajj Tawaf Umrah Umrah with Hajj Hygiene Military This box: view • talk • edit

The word rakaʿah (Arabic: ركعة‎, pl. ركعات rakaʿāt) refers to one unit of Islamic prayer, or Salah. Each daily prayer is made up of a different number of raka'at:

• Fajr — The dawn prayer: 2 raka'at
• Dhuhr — The noon prayer: 4 raka'at
• Asr — The afternoon prayer: 4 raka'at
• Maghrib — The sunset prayer: 3 raka'at
• Isha'a — The night prayer: 4 raka'at

The Friday prayer consists of 2 raka'at and is prayed in place of the Dhuhr prayer on Friday.

[edit] What constitutes a Raka'at

• Takbir
• Supplications / Iftitah¹
• Recitation of Sura Fatiha
• Recitation of another sura
• Ruk'u (Bowing)
• Straightening up from Ruk'u
• Sajdah (The prostration)
• Rising from Sajdah
• The second Sajdah
• Tashahhud ²
• Salam (The salutation) ³

¹ Only performed in the first raka'ah of the prayer.
² Only first half of it is performed in the second raka'ah in a 3/4-Raka'ah prayer like Al-zuhr(4) or Al Maghreb(3), whereas all of it is performed in the final (last) raka'ah in any standard n-Raka'ah prayer (Salah).
³ Only performed in the final raka'ah of the prayer.