User:Pramisha110/Fajr prayer

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Before each salah, a call to prayer is said, called the Adhan. For Fajr salah, there is an additional line: "as-salaatu khayrum minan nawm", which translates to, "Prayer is better than sleep" . This is to encourage each Muslim to awaken and pray to God.

The Islamic tradition seems to have a lot to do with astronomical measurements and calculations; is dawn defined as the sun being a certain number of degrees below the horizon. In Islam the most commonly used term to describe the time of fajr is twilight. Twilight is defined according to the solar elevation angle θ_s, which is the position of the geometric center of the Sun relative to the horizon. The solar elevation angle of the white twilight of fajr is between 17.5 and 16 degrees.

Delay in Fajr Prayer

If one is late to the congregation and the leader has already started to lead the mandatory Rakat, then the person should join the congregation and offer the sunnah after the Fard .

If for some reason, such as sleeping in, the Fajr salah is missed, one is to make up that salah as soon as they wake up, which is called Qada (Islamic term) . For the rest of the four daily prayers, only the fard rakah are to be made up, however if one prays Qada of Fajr before noon, they will also pray qada of the two Sunnah rakat of Fajr salah .

Recitation in Fajr Prayer

The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) would shorten the 2 sunnah of Fajr prayer by reciting short surah (chapters) of the Quran such as the Surah al- Kafiroon (Chapter 109) and Surah Ikhlas (Chapter 112) .

When travelling, the number of rakat in certain salah are shortened and the sunnah rakat are dropped, for ease. However, the sunnah rakat in Fajr will still be necessary to pray, and the number of rak’ah prayed is not condensed, since it is already only two .

Other Prayers during the Fajr time

Before the fajr salah, is the time for Tahajjud, a voluntary prayer that is regarded very highly in Islam. Up until the time for fajr starts, Muslims will offer any amount of voluntary prayers for extra rewards and acceptance of supplications .

Once the fajr time has started, one should only pray the two sunnah rakah of fajr; no other voluntary salah should be performed. After performing the two fard rakah of fajr, it is disliked for one to offer any nafl prayer until the sun has risen fully.  Once the time for fajr has ended and the sun is rising, no prayer, fard, sunnah or nafl is permitted during that time .

After the time of Fajr ends, it is recommened for a person to sit and engage in supplications and the remembrance of Allah until the sun has fully risen, after which they offer 2 rakat nafl prayer called Salat ul Ishraq. This was the practice of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH). The reward for this prayer is the equivalent to performing Umrah and Hajj .