(ii) Salāt Helps in Spiritual Training The five daily...

(ii) Salāt Helps in Spiritual Training The five daily prayers have different numbers of cycles known as rak‘ah . Each rak‘ah consists of the act of standing while reciting two short chapters from the Qur'ān, the act of bowing and two prostrations. The fajr (dawn) prayer consists of 2 cycles. The zuhr (noon) prayer consists of 4 cycles. The ‘asr (afternoon) prayer consists of 4 cycles. The maghrib (evening) prayer consists of 3 cycles. The ‘isha (night) prayer consists of 4 cycles.

One wonders why Islam prescribed a different number of cycles for these prayers? Why could not they be the same for all ritual prayers? Many people have attempted to explain it in different ways, but I have also looked at this question and came to the conclusion that there is no particular reason for this variety in the number of cycles. It seems that this difference in the number of cycles was introduced by Islam in order to create a sense of discipline among the Muslims and to…