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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books What Everyone Should Know about Islam Chapter 6: Branches of Religion 6.1. Branches of Religion God-Almighty has determined a series of commandments and practical programs for us that if they are practiced, our lives of the world would be administered in an excellent manner and would be prosperous and would also make us prosperous and righteous in the hereafter. These commandments are called as branches of the religion (Fru‘-e-din).

There are plenty of branches of religion but the most important among them consist of eight things named as: Prayer, fasting, charity, one fifth annual saving (khums), hajj, jihad, encouraging of good and forbiddance of evil. 6.2.

Prayer The compulsory prayers consist of six types as follows: Daily prayers Prayer of signs Prayer of the dead body Prayer of circumambulation (tawaf) Prayers which become compulsory upon an individual due to taking of an oath, promise, or offering a vow (solemnized to God). Compulsory prayers that have not been offered by a father (but has not been done as a disobedience, and he was able to offer them as a make-up) thus are incumbent upon the elder son to offer them as make-up (qad’a) prayers.

Daily Prayers Prayers are pillars of the religion and bring a servant nearer to the God; the Holy Prophet (S) said: “By God my intercession does not include anyone who considers the prayer insignificant and is negligent towards it.”[^1] It is incumbent upon each Muslim to offer five times prayers daily: in the morning two units, four units at noon, four units in the afternoon, three units in the evening and four units at night.

Time of Prayers The time of Morning Prayer is from the breaking of the whiteness of dawn until sunrise. The time of the Noon and Afternoon prayer is from noon until sunset coinciding with the religious time of the evening prayer. The time of Evening and Night prayer is from sunset until religious midnight, which is approximately at eleven past fifteen minutes. 6.3.

Ablution Before offering prayer one should perform ablution in the following manner: He should make intentions (Niyyat) that he is doing ablution for the pleasure of God. He must wash the face, from top down starting from the forehead where hairs start growing to the chin. He must wash the right hand, from the elbow to the tip of fingers from the top down. He must wash the left hand from the elbow to the tip of fingers from the top down.