Salah is the Islamic ritual prayer. It is a set sequence of standing, bowing and prostrating, combined with specific recitations, and it is performed five times a day at fixed times. It is the second of the Five Pillars of Islam, coming right after the Shahadah, the declaration of faith.

It helps to know how Salah differs from dua. A dua is a personal supplication, a private conversation with God in your own words. Salah is not free-form in that way. It has a defined structure, which the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, taught by his own example, and Muslims aim to pray it the way he prayed. That is why Salah looks broadly the same wherever in the world it is performed.

The word Salah is usually translated as prayer. But it carries a wider sense of connection, of remembrance, and of turning towards God.

The lesson points to a well-known hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari, number eight. In the English translation shown on the page, it begins: “Islam is based on the following five principles.” The first is “To testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and Muhammad is Allah's Messenger.” The second is “To offer the compulsory congregational prayers dutifully and perfectly.” Prayer, in other words, stands immediately after the testimony of faith.

For someone just starting out, the key point is that Salah is learned as a fixed form, step by step. The Salah Centre walks through it in order: first what is needed before you begin, then the conditions, the movements and the recitations.

Before learning how to pray, though, it is worth understanding why prayer matters so much. That is where the next lesson, Importance of Salah, begins.