Types of Salah

Types of Salah

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Sal'ah may be classified into four categories of obligation: fard, wajib, sunnah and nafl.

• Fard sal'ah are compulsory, non-performance of which renders one a non-Muslim according to the Hanbali Sunni School, for the other Sunni schools it renders one a sinner. The denial of its compulsory status however is agreed upon by all Sunni schools to render the denier outside the fold of Islam.
• Wajeeb As-salat are compulsory, non-performance of which renders one a sinner and the denial of its obligatory nature renders one a 'fasiq' a transgressor whose witness would not be accepted in an Islamic court. There are some who believe that as the 5 prayers are obligatory, it automatically renders all other prayers optional.
• Sun'nah sal'ah are optional and were additional voluntary prayers performed by Prophet Muhammad—they are of two types—the 'Sun'nah Mukkaddah', those practiced on a regular basis which if abandoned cause the abandoner to be regarded as sinful by the Hanafi School and the 'Sun'nah Ghair Mukkaddah' those practiced on a semi-regular practice by Prophet Muhammad which all are agreed upon that its abandonment doesn't render one sinful.
• Nafl sal'ah are optional and regarded as extra prayers which bring more reward.

Fard As-salat

The fard As-salat are the five compulsory daily prayers, the Friday prayer (Jumu'ah) and the funeral prayer (Janazah). Fard prayers (as with all fard actions) are further classed as fard al-ayn (obligation of the self) and fard al-kifayah (obligation of sufficiency). Fard al-ayn are those actions which are obligatory on each individual; he or she will be held to account if the actions are not performed. Fard al-kifayah are actions obligatory on the Muslim community at large, so that if some people within the community carry it out no Muslim is considered blameworthy, but if no one carries it out all incur a collective punishment.

Men are required to perform the fard salah in congregation (jama'ah), behind an imam when they are able. According to most Islamic scholars, performing salat in congregation is obligatory for men, when they are able, but is neither required nor forbidden for women.

source: www.wikipedia.com

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