Why 5 Times a Day?

Muslims in Brunei as do Muslims throughout the world pray five times a day - Subuh (Dawn Prayer), Zuhur (Noon Prayer), Asar (Afternoon Prayer), Maghrib (Sunset Prayer) and Isyak (Evening Prayer). Each prayer has different rakaats. If you are a Muslim, you would know that Nabi Muhammad SAW received the divine command for all Muslims to perform the five-time daily prayers during Israk Mikraj but have you ever wondered how the prayer times were derived and how the rakaats are determined?

I remembered reading about this quite a long long time ago and accidentally found the publication while searching for something else. It was in one of those Pusat Dakwah Islamiah publications in English - Understand Islam Series No.6 which talks about the Rationalistic Teachings of Islam. This must have published in the early 1980s because I don't think I have seen it anymore at Pusat Dakwah. I have been in the habit of collecting and keeping these and I remembered thinking then that this might come in useful one day and this is one of those times when it did.

So how were the prayer times derived and why the different rakaats for each prayer?

It is said that the prayers are following or according to the practices of some of the earlier Prophets of Allah. The Dawn or Suboh Prayer is said to have been offered by Nabi Adam A.S., the Noon or Zuhor Prayer by Nabi Ibrahim A.S., the Afternoon or Asar Prayer by Nabi Sulaiman A.S., the Sunset or Maghrib Prayer by Nabi Isa A.S. and the Night or Isyak Prayer by Nabi Musa A.S.

The form and the sequence of the 'Call' for prayer may have differed during the time of the other prophets but the prayers of the five stipulated periods were of the same form as they are today.

There are also many reasons given for the varying number of Rakaats in each prayer at the prescribed periods but the one described by the publication by Pusat Dakwah is considering the rationale which the Almighty has endowed man with the many blessings of which the greatest of them is the blessing known as the "Five Senses" or the "five kinds of knowledge" or Hawassul-Khams. These are the five kinds of knowledge we derive through our five senses of Smell, Taste, Touch, Sight and Hearing.

The two Rakaats of Suboh Prayer at Dawn are offered in gratitude for the Almighty's blessings for giving the Sense of Smell which can be both sweet and foul. The four Rakaats of Zuhor prayer is for the four responses to the Sense of Taste - Sweetness, Sourness, Bitterness and Astrigence. The four Rakaats of Asar prayer is for the four responses to the Sense of Touch - Hot, Cold, Hard or Soft. The three Rakaats of Maghrib prayer is for the three directions of our Sense of Sight - Front, Right or Left. The four Rakaats of Isyak prayer is for the four directions of our Sense of Hearing - all four directions.


If you want to read the full text of the above, refer to yesteday's postings on www.bruneiummah.blogspot.com.

Comments

Anonymous said…
wasn't the number prayers initially 40? then eventually it came down to 5. i'm only remembering from what i have learned in IRK class
Anonymous said…
yeap....it was around that number....and was decreased to 5....but it is as we pray 10 times for each of our solat....
Anonymous said…
aslmkm....

i would also like to add the 5 times of prayers also serves as a remembrance 2 us in that day....to constantly remember allah at each time of the day...so when we deter abit from the straight path, the solat makes us come back or into align with that path again....

...we start the day in allahs name and end the day in allahs name...

...also in solat we also ask for forgiveness and glorifying allah...

allah has blessed us with our solat so we can stay on the path he has chosen for us and also with the wudhuk that we take, it cleans us and takes away some of our sins...how merciful allah is 2 bestow this upon his servants...if im not mistaken...it is said that on the day of judgement, there are those whose parts of the body that we take the wudhuk with will shine...and if im not mistaken, "bilal" one of the followers of the prophets always is in the state of maintaining his wudhuk and retakes it soon after the wudhuk is "batal"....

also...does anybody realise that we renew our testament of faith when we do our solat during our "tahyat" awal and akhir???

so throughtout the day, 10 times a day... we constantly renew our testament to allah and his prophet(pbuh)...

interesting isnt it?? :)

may allah forgive me for anything i have said wrong...
Anonymous said…
Espeed is crap. I'm annoyed. Am I the only one who suggest the editor to write a letter to TelBru to actually IMPROVE and quit bullcrap they're pulling now?

Hey Mr BR, please take this up with TELBRU. They are impeding the nation's progress and productivity!

Cheers, YOU'R D"BEST!
Anonymous said…
Assalamualaikum Wa Rahmatullah,

As Muslims, we should not accept anything from anybody about Islam unless they can show us that it is from the Al-Quran or authentic Hadith. We should not believe what has been stated in the above posting unless the writer can prove to us that it is sourced from Al-Quran and authentic Hadith. Too many untruths have already been imported into Islam by too many irresponsible Muslims and enemies of Islam.

Wassalam.

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