I'm fairly confident you read the title of this post and your imagination began painting a much more interesting picture than I could ever do with words (or video in this case), but I'll give it a shot.
Below is a video of my fellow teachers at Effat University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia taking a timeout to perform one of their five daily prayers.
I asked my colleague, Dr. Mohammad Khalid, Professor of Islamic Studies here at Effat University, exactly what they were doing and why they were doing it. He offered the following highlights as a good introduction to the many prayers of Islam.
1) Before you pray, you must be in a state of purity, or "Taharah." This can be acquired by washing certain parts of your body, and is known as "Wudu" in Arabic. It must be performed after losing that state of purity. This is about inner purification as much as it is about outer purification.
2) Since there is no proper mosque, they use portable prayer rugs to ensure a clean area for prayer.
3) After the rugs are put down, there is an "Adhan", or call for prayer. It is performed by the "Muadhdhin", the caller. The group is gathered like this because the five obligatory, daily prayers must be performed collectively.
4) The "Imam" is the person who leads the prayer, and in this case, it is Dr. Khalid. Generally, the Imam is more knowledgable about Islam than the others, but anyone can lead the prayer - there is no criteria. Everyone in the group must follow the Imam, and as you can see in the video, they all follow in harmony.
3) After the rugs are put down, there is an "Adhan", or call for prayer. It is performed by the "Muadhdhin", the caller. The group is gathered like this because the five obligatory, daily prayers must be performed collectively.
4) The "Imam" is the person who leads the prayer, and in this case, it is Dr. Khalid. Generally, the Imam is more knowledgable about Islam than the others, but anyone can lead the prayer - there is no criteria. Everyone in the group must follow the Imam, and as you can see in the video, they all follow in harmony.
5) This particular prayer is known as the "Asr" prayer, and is one of the five daily prayers. The movements, known as "Rakah", are performed four times each.
6) During the prayer, the Quran is recited. The first chapter of the Quran, "Al Fatihah", is recited in every Rakah. Other than that, it's up to you what verses you recite.
7) Before changing positions (ex: transitioning from standing to kneeling), they hail God by saying "Allahu Akbar", meaning "God is great."
8) Upon ending the prayer, the Imam extends blessings and peace to those on his right and THEN his left (in this order). Then the rest do the same for everyone else.
Did I get that right Dr. Khalid?!?!
Did I get that right Dr. Khalid?!?!
OR you can watch the video here.