Thefajr prayer,[a] alternatively transliterated asfadjr prayer, and also known as thesubh prayer,[b][c] is one of the five daily mandatoryIslamic prayers (salah). Consisting of tworak'a ("bows"), it is performed between thebreak of dawn andsunrise.[2][3] It is one of two prayers mentioned by name in theQur'an.[4][5]
Fajr is mentioned twice in the Qur'an. The verse in which Muhammad is commanded to recite at dawn (11:114)[6] is taken as foundational for prescribing the times for prayer.[7]
In Qur'an 17:78, dawn is one of the three times that prayer is to be performed.[8] According toJalal al-Din al-Suyuti's commentary on angels (Al-Haba'ik fi Akhbar al-Mala'ik), this verse describes the witnessing of dawn prayer by the angels of the day and the night.[9]
Salat al-duha replaced fajr as the morning prayer when the five prayers were standardized.[10]
The most burdensome prayers for the hypocrites are theIsha prayer and the Fajr prayer. If only they knew what (reward) there is in them, they would come to them even if they had to crawl.
The fajr prayer consists of two compulsory (fardh) units of prayer (rak'a). In addition, the voluntarysunnah prayer consists of two units of prayer and can be performed before the compulsory prayer.[11]
In fajr,Al-Fatiha and the additional surah are to be read aloud (jahr), as duringMaghrib andIsha.[12] It is commonly performed silently when waking up in the morning.[13]
The prayer includeswudu (ritual purification) andsalat (ritual prayer).[14]
"the true dawn" (al-fajr al-sadiq) The true dawn is indicated by a white line appearing across the horizon, in contrast to "the false dawn" (al-fajr al-kadhib) shortly before which appears as a vertical line.[21][20][1]
sunrise; in theMaliki school, untilifsar or until sunrise with a valid excuse[20][1]
^Some Malikis do not use them interchangeably, referring to the two-rakat voluntarySunnah prayer as "fajr" and the two-rakat mandatoryfardh prayer as "Subh"[1]
^abYüksel, Edip; Shaiban, Layth Saleh al-; Schulte-Nafeh, Martha, eds. (2007).The Quran: A Reformist Translation. United States of America: Brainbow Press. p. 509.ISBN978-0-9796715-0-0.
