Salah in Islam (AQA GCSE Religious Studies A (8062))

Salah in the Home & the Mosque

Salah in the Home

• It is perfectly acceptable for Muslims to pray at home

• It is important that Wudu is performed before they pray as it is when praying in the Mosque

• The room must be clean and suitable

• Many Muslims will use prayer mats and position them facing Makkah (Mecca)

• Women find it helpful to pray at home especially if they have children to look after

• It also helps those who are elderly or sick or others who cannot get to the mosque

Salah in the Mosque

• Mosques have special carpets that look like rows of prayer mats, facing mihrab giving people a suitable space to pray

• Prayers are led by Imam who is at the front of the congregation but also facing the mihrab

• Men and women are separated by a curtain or they pray in separate rooms

  • The imam’s voice is broadcasted in the women’s room

  • Whilst praying both genders perform a series of movements in a sequence

  • This involves bowing and kneeling as well as prostration and reciting praises to God

  • Men and women praying separately has changed in some mosques where mixed prayer is permitted

Jummah

The importance of Jummah

• Jummah is the midday communal prayers held on Friday, these are considered special

• There are various hadiths regarding the importance of Friday as a day of worship

• The sixty-second chapter of the Qur’an is named ‘al-Jumuʿah’ because it mentions the Friday prayer

• To prepare for prayers, Muslims bathe, apply perfume and brush their teeth to make their appearance pleasant to their fellow worshippers

• Getting together is meant to develop the feeling of unity among the Muslim community

• All male Muslims are expected to attend unless they are ill or too old, and women can too but they are also able to pray at home

• Muslims will read the Surah Al Kahf on Fridays and believe that the one who reads it will find his entire week enlightened until the next Friday

• Once the prayer is completed, the Imam will deliver a sermon to remind Muslims of their obligation to God

• The imam gives two sermons to remind Muslim’s of their obligations and duties to God and a series of rak’ahs is performed

• There is time between the two parts of the sermon for personal prayer (du’a)

• Salutations are sent on the Prophet Muhammad during the Friday service

  • The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, ‘Whoever sends Salah upon me once, Allah would send Salah upon him tenfold, erase 10 sins from him, and raise him ten degrees in rank’

Differences Between Salah in Sunni & Shi'a Islam

Prayer within Sunni and Shi’a Islam

• There are some differences in the rituals and frequency in which Sunni and Shi’a Muslims pray