عَدَدُ الرَّكَعَاتِ

Each obligatory prayer has its number of rak'as:

🌄 Fajr (dawn): 2 rak'as ☀️ Dhuhr (after midday): 4 rak'as 🌤️ 'Asr (afternoon): 4 rak'as 🌇 Maghrib (sunset): 3 rak'as 🌌 'Isha (night): 4 rak'as

In all: 17 rak'as a day. A little trick to remember: 2-4-4-3-4.

A prayer of 2 rak'as (Fajr) Rak'a 1, rak'a 2, then I sit for the tashahhud, the prayer on the Prophet ﷺ, and the salaam. That is exactly what you learned in the last lesson.

A prayer of 3 or 4 rak'as (Maghrib, Dhuhr, 'Asr, 'Isha) • After the second rak'a, I sit for the first tashahhud (only "At-taḥiyyaatu…" up to the shahada). • Then I stand up saying "Allaahu akbar" for the third rak'a. • In the third and fourth rak'as, I recite only the Fatiha, with no other surah. • At the end of the last rak'a, I sit for the last tashahhud, with the prayer on the Prophet ﷺ, then the salaam.

Out loud or quietly? The imam recites out loud in the first two rak'as of Fajr, Maghrib and 'Isha, and quietly at Dhuhr and 'Asr. When you pray alone, you can recite softly. [À VÉRIFIER : les écoles diffèrent, l'imam tranche]

Extra prayers (sunnah) The Prophet ﷺ also prayed extra rak'as, before or after the obligatory prayers. He said that whoever prays twelve extra rak'as every day, Allah builds them a house in Paradise (Muslim 728). And at night, after 'Isha, he prayed the witr, a prayer with an odd number of rak'as. [À VÉRIFIER : les écoles diffèrent, l'imam tranche]

Friday On Friday, at the time of Dhuhr, men go to the mosque for the Jumu'ah prayer: the imam gives a talk (the khutbah), then we pray 2 rak'as (62:9). Those who do not go to Jumu'ah pray Dhuhr at home.

Little activity: make a prayer wheel: a cardboard circle cut into five parts, with the name of each prayer, its picture (🌄 ☀️ 🌤️ 🌇 🌌) and its number of rak'as.

Understanding the lesson

Explanation During the night journey (al-Israa' wal-Mi'raaj), Allah first prescribed fifty prayers, then He reduced them to five, with the reward of fifty (Bukhari 349, Muslim 162). Five prayers, seventeen rak'as: that is little time in a day, and a huge reward. All the prayers are done in the same way: only the number of rak'as changes. If you can make a prayer of two rak'as, you know almost everything! For 3 or 4 rak'as, we add a sitting in the middle, and rak'as with only the Fatiha. Extra prayers (sunnah) are like gifts: they are not obligatory, but they make up for what is missing in our prayers and bring us closer to Allah.

Lessons to draw from it • I remember 2-4-4-3-4, and I no longer get the number wrong. • If I am unsure about the number of rak'as, I ask my parent what to do. [À VÉRIFIER : les écoles diffèrent, l'imam tranche] • One day, I try to add an extra prayer, for the house in Paradise.

Key points to remember • Fajr 2, Dhuhr 4, 'Asr 4, Maghrib 3, 'Isha 4 = 17 rak'as. • First tashahhud after the 2nd rak'a; last tashahhud at the end. • 3rd and 4th rak'as: the Fatiha only. • Twelve sunnah rak'as a day: a house in Paradise (Muslim 728).

The main message Five prayers, seventeen rak'as, all made the same way: I know their number, and I perform them every day for Allah.