Are there 3 or 5 Daily Prayers in the Quran?
There is much debate on how many daily prayers are mentioned in the Quran. With careful study, we learn without doubt that there are only 3 prescribed prayers that God Himself authorised.
We find 3x Salat Names mentioned in the Quran:
-
Salat Al-Fajr (the Dawn Prayer) - 24:58
-
Salat Al-Wusta (the Middle Prayer) - 2:238
-
Salat Al-Isha (the Evening Prayer) - 24:58
We also find 3x specific times for the Salat:
The Salat has been decreed upon the believers at specifically appointed times. 4:103
Since God has mentioned there are specifically appointed times for the Salat, we must find both start AND end times for each prayer.
Let’s begin with Salat Al-Wusta - The Middle Prayer. Its timeframe is from solar noon until dusk:
Observe the Salat at the duluk of the sun until the darkness of the night, as well as the Quran at dawn; the Quran at dawn is witnessed. 17:78
Note the 'duluk' of the sun is the decline of the sun from its highest point in the sky, also known as solar noon. This occurs around midday in most countries.
17:78 gives us the timeframe for the Middle Prayer; from solar noon up until the darkness of the night, which is when the sun has just disappeared and it is no longer considered daytime (the start of dusk).
This timeframe for the Middle Prayer also cancels out any opportunity for a sunset prayer!
Some translators such as RK have translated “the darkness of the night” in 17:78 to mean “sunset.” However when we check the Arabic and the Word for Word Corpus, the Arabic word is layl which means night and not sunset.
There are 2 other prayers found in the Quran; Salat Al-Fajr (the Dawn Prayer) and Salat Al-Isha (the Evening Prayer), which are during the dawn and dusk periods:
Observe the Salat at the two ends of the day; and during the near parts of the night. The good deeds wipe out the bad deeds. This is a reminder for those who remember. 11:114
The majority declare that verse 11:114 proves there are five prayers in the Quran, but in actual fact this verse gives us specific start and end timeframes for two prayers only.
“Two ends of the day” is the end of dawn and start of dusk, which gives us an end time for Al-Fajr and start time for Al-Isha.
God then adds “during the near parts of the night", which is the start of dawn (start timeframe for Salat Al-Fajr) and the end of dusk (end timeframe for Salat Al-Isha).
"Near parts of the night" is literally right before the sky is pitch black, causing the timeframe for Salat Al-Fajr and Salat Al-Isha to be mirrored as dawn and dusk time periods.
Zhohr and Maghrib prayers are not mentioned by name nor are they given a specific start and end timeframes in the Quran. Thus there are only 3 prayers authorized by God.
God has made it easy for us. The 3 prayers are self-explanatory by their names alone; Dawn, Middle and Evening prayers.
Although most Muslims insist we have always prayed 5 times a day, we discover something very interesting in our history of religion:
In Judaism, the Jews see themselves as descendants of Abraham and consider Abraham as the “first Jew.”
As we know, the rites of the religion came to us from Abraham (16:123).
The Jews also believe the prayers came from Abraham. They pray 3 times a day, morning, afternoon and evening.
Peace & God Bless
Related Articles