Types of Salat
The types of salat can be categorized as:
- Wajib (Obligatory)
- 5 Daily Prayers (Fajr, Zuhr, Asr, Maghrib and Isha), ‘Qadha’ (make up) of daily prayers and prayer of Ihtiyat for daily prayers
- The following prayers are obligatory with some specific conditions:
- Salat al-Mayyit: Prayer for the dead, obligatory upon everyone until someone performs it
- ‘Qadha’ (make up) prayers of the parents, obligatory upon the eldest son (Check the rulings of your Marja-e-Taqlid)
- Prayer of Nazr (Commitment), Ahd (Promise), or Qasam (Oath), obligatory for the one who commits/promises
- Prayer of wajib ‘Tawaf’ of Kaaba, obligatory after performing an obligatory ‘Tawaf’
- Salat-ul-Ayaat, obligatory for the one who experiences an earthquake, eclipse, etc.
- Not obligatory during the Ghaybah of the twelfth Imam (as):
- Mustahab (Recommendable)
- Mustahab prayers performed before and/or after each of the 5 daily prayers
- Salat-ul-Layl: Prayer of the night (11 units; to be performed anytime between the middle of the night and Fajr)
- Salat-ul-Ghufaila: 2 units, to be performed after Maghrib
- Salat of Ja’far-e-Tayyar: Recommended to perform on Friday before noon.
- Many other mustahab prayers on special occasions. For example: Night of Qadr, Ghadeer, Be’that, Ashura, etc.
It should be noted that all mustahab (recommendable) prayers are performed in sets of 2 units. For example: A 4 unit mustahab prayer will be performed as 2 units + 2 units.
Rules of Salat
Daily Prayer: Step by Step
