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Preface

Praise be to Allah, you have chosen Islam to be your way of life. Now you would naturally like to start learning and practising Islam in your daily life, as much as you can. The first and most important step on this path is that you start performing Prayers.

This book, accompanied by a CD and Pocket Guide, has been prepared for just that purpose: to support you as you embark on this process of learning and performing Prayers. They have been compiled from the very important Islamic viewpoint: that nothing that Islam requires you to learn or practise is difficult. Indeed everything should facilitate the fulfilment of your daily life, enhancing its value and joy, rather than become an obstacle or a burden for you. They have been compiled also with mindful consideration of the experiences expressed by those who, on embarking on their chosen journey into Islam, have found some of the available literature particularly confusing and overburdening at this important transitional stage.

These guidelines, we hope, will assist you towards understanding the meaning of Prayer, its form and significance as well as learning how to perform it. Once you have accepted and declared your faith – Islam – your concern must be to purify and develop both your heart and your behaviour. This is a continuous and life-long process. It is achieved by making everything you do in life an act of worship: eating, drinking, the physical relationship with your spouse, earning a livelihood, friendships. It is easy. You do everything for the sake of Allah alone, avoiding those things which He dislikes, things which you would naturally be ashamed of. Prayers help you to make your everyday life a life of worship, without disturbing your normal activities.

While we hope that this provision will be a great help, it is important for you to seek out regular contacts during which learning opportunities will present themselves as you come to know and interact more with the Muslims in your area. Attending the congregational Prayers in the local Mosque should be highly useful for this purpose. By watching, listening and joining in, you can enjoy the blessings of communal worship as well as develop your skills and confidence. Never be deterred when you feel the need to ask ʿHow, when, where or why?’; sincere Muslims will value your questions and be thankful for an opportunity to help. To learn is a virtue as much as it is an aid towards self development.

As you perhaps know by now, Muslims are required to learn and recite their Prayers in Arabic, and according to a given sequence. Though at first glance it may look substantial, in reality the extent of what has to be remembered is little, as there is considerable repetition throughout the Prayer. To Pray in Arabic is not only to use the language through which Allah has communicated with us, but it also brings with it a unifying dimension as Muslims throughout the world Pray in exactly the same manner and in the same language.

Some of the most important factors are highlighted here: the main purpose of the Prayer is to take you away, for a few moments, from your routine activities, to remember Allah and spend some time in your Lord’s presence. To be conscious of this fact, together with millions of other Muslims, is sufficient for you to acquire the spiritual blessings of the Prayer.

That you understand both what you are saying and what you are doing is most important. Therefore:

(i) Start with the essentials.

(ii) Keep them simple and correct.

(iii) Learn a little more, regularly, if possible.

The New Muslims Project would like to express sincere thanks and heartfelt gratitude to all those who took the time to read the manuscript, offered suggestions for its improvement and helped bring it to its final stage of publication. We are especially grateful to Sheikh Abdullah Al-Judai, Director of the Islamic Research Centre, Leeds who, in his capacity as member of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, read the manuscript and advised on matters of Fiqh. A special note of thanks for his gentle advice in this, and his unrelenting support for the New Muslims Project generally, must go to our dear departed Br. Khurram Murad who would wish only that you remember him in your Prayers.

Batool Al-Toma

New Muslims Project

The Islamic Foundation