From 50 Prayers to 5: The Night That Changed Prayer Forever
The Book of Salah: Definition, History, and the Five Daily Prayers
Summary
Sh. Ali Mashhour begins teaching the book of Salah (prayer) from Alwis, transitioning from the completed book on purification. He explains the linguistic and Islamic definitions of salah as a set of specific statements and actions initiated with Takbir (Allahu Akbar) and concluded with Taslim. Sh. Ali Mashhour discusses the five daily obligatory prayers named after their times of day (Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha), and provides historical context about how prayer was first obligated as 50 prayers during the night of Isra and then reduced to five, with believers receiving the reward of fifty prayers for performing five. He clarifies that salah was obligatory from the beginning of the Prophet's mission, though the specific structure of five daily prayers was established during Isra in the tenth year of prophethood.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
Look at that beautiful.
[Silence]
Alhamdulillah.
[Silence]
Today inshallah this morning we are going to begin in the book of salah of alwis. So we are we finished the book of purification and now we are starting with the book of salah. This is not a small feat because we have reviewed almost 100 pages of knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah. And so being that we have finished purification, purifying oneself, his body, his clothing, his place of salah from various types of filth, making all of these various rulings in Islam and various scenarios, the things that invalidate a person's woo the things that obligate or necessitate that a person make all of these things we discussed. So now we are transitioning into the book of him.
[Silence]
So the author tells us, he breaks it down for us. What does the word salah mean? What does this word mean? We use this word often. What does it mean? Well, in the Arabic language, it essentially means to pray or to make dua for something good. So you say that a salah is dua is asking is praying, right? And it has been used in its linguistic sense in the Quran. But usually when a salah is mentioned in the Quran, when a salah is mentioned in the Sunnah, it is used in its legislative and Islamic meaning. What is that? The author tells us that a salah is defined as a group of select statements and actions which are begun with a with saying Allahbar and they are ended with a and it has very specific parameters and conditions. Interesting. Does any person here not know what a salah is? I think that we all know what a salah is, right? You will not find these things defined in the earliest books of the scholars. So the first book of f ever written ever was the book of affe that's the first official book of you will not find anywhere that he gives us a definition of salah gives us a definition of zak gives us a definition of fasting gives us a definition of Hajj gives us a definition of why because these are things that are well known. Every single Muslim knows these things. These are not things that need to be defined. However, this became the the a priority to very later scholars. They started to define these things. Why? Because as knowledge becomes more and more refined and as is as it is deliberated more and as it is contemplated more and as it is discussed and debated more, it starts to file down and it starts to become more sharp, right? And each aspect of that knowledge starts to become you know taken to its extreme. However, these things, if you were to ask a regular person, what is a salah? It's asking a regular person, what is bread? We all know what bread is, right? Do we know how to define it according to the definitions of a botonist or the definitions of a worldrenowned chef in the sciences of no we don't know how to define but every one of us knows what bread is correct likewise every one of us knows what what salah is and so these definitions they are mentioned they are mentioned anecdotally in passing but these are not necessarily a priority because we all know what salah is. There is one benefit though to these definitions and that is that based on how we define it we are going to build upon it. So notice for instance he says salah is a set of statements and actions which are initiated by a and ended with aim. So now we know that in order for it to be considered salah it has to be initiated with Allahbar those exact words and in order for it to be complete it has to be ended with it cannot be valid without these two parameters. Right? come soon. He says, "And the obligatory prayers," meaning daily prayers. There's more than this obligatory prayers but daily recurring as daily prayers. They are five and and these prayers are named after their time of day after movements of the sun. So bor is afternoon is evening and is sunset and is early night and is dawn. That's exactly what they translate to and that is why they are named with.
[Arabic recitation]
That the prayers as five daily recurring prayers and every day and night they were obligated on the night of does anyone remember what night what year was what year 10th year after hij does that mean that there was no salah before that absolutely not salah was one of is one of the first obligations in all of Islam. What was done on the night of Isra making it into five daily prayers that? That's what was changed on the night of Isra. Does it mean that there wasn't any prayer before that? There was prayer in the first year after his prophethood. Sallallahu alaii wasallam. Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala commanded him with salah. And the second or the third chapter of the Quran to be revealed is what does Allah say to him? This is right. And so salah was obligatory from the very start. However, making it into five prayers divided up throughout the day. This was on the night of which was in the 10th year after prophethood three years before hijra. He says that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala first obligated it as 50 and then it was reduced and reduced until it settled on five prayers in every day and night. And it was then called out, "Oh Muhammad, indeed no obligation, no ruling will be changed before me." And so being that it was obligated at first as 50 and now it has been reduced to five as an allowance, you will make five. You and your nation will make five prayers, but you will be rewarded 50 prayers. Allahbar, every single salah we make is at least 10 times if it is accepted by Allah. If you make it to where it is accepted, you will be rewarded for each prayer at least 10 times. Right now, we made salah. If it was accepted by Allah, this means that we essentially made 10 times. 10 times. He says,.
[Silence]
He tells us that a Bedwin man once came to the messenger of Allah saiam who was out of sorts and he asked, "Oh messenger of Allah, tell me what Allah and inform me of what Allah has obligated upon me in terms of prayer. And the prophet sallallah.aii was responded the five daily nightly prayers. That is what is obligatory upon you. Except if you want to make more than that, you are you are allowed to right etc. However, what has been obligated upon you is the five daily prayers and.