Rabbit - Proof Fence

Salaht is the ritual prayer practiced by Muslims in supplication to God. The term is commonly used to refer to the five daily prayers, which are compulsory upon all mature Muslims. The salaht is performed each day at dawn, midday, midafternoon, sunset, and nightfall, as commanded by the prophet Mohammad. The purpose of Salaht is primarily to act as an individual's communion with God. It enables one to stand in front of God, thank and praise Him, and ask for Him to show one the "right path". In addition, the daily ritual prayers serve as a constant reminder to Muslims that they should be grateful for God's blessings. It ensures that every Muslim prioritizes Islam over all other concerns, thereby revolving their life around God and submitting to His will. Prayer also serves as a formal method of God's remembrance. The rituals that I am mainly focused on are the Wudu, the cleansing of the body with water and performing the actual pray, Salaht. The term ritual refers to the patterned, recurring sequence of events. The repetitive sequence of this act of washing oneself is a ritual. The Salaht is a ritual as well because it is an act that is performed five times a day everyday in the same way for the same reason every time. In fact these activities are called religious rituals which involve the manipulation of religious symbols.

The person performing Salaht is termed a musallee. When praying, a musallee's clothes and the place of prayer must be clean. Men and women are directed to cover their bodies in reasonably loose-fitting garments, with women covering all but their faces, hands, and sometimes feet, and men covering at least from their navels to their knees, with preference given to covering their chests and to just above the ankles.

Before conducting prayers, a Muslim has to perform a ritual ablution. I observed my mother while she was performing ablution at sunset. She performed ablution using water instead of sand that some Muslims use if water is not available. She started by saying "Bismillah" which means with the name of Allah while washing her hands. She washed her hands including her wrists three times. Then she rinsed her mouth three times using her right hand. She washed her nose with her right hand and she blew out of her nose with her left hand. She began to wash her face from the hairline to the chin and from one ear to the other, three times. Then she washed her hands, forearms and elbows three times each starting with the right arm and the left one. My mother began to wipe part of her head with her wet hand between the normal hairline and occiput and she also wet wipe both her ears three times. She washed her feet including her ankles starting with her right foot, three times. And finally she finished her Wudu by saying supplication at the end. All of the above steps have to be done three times in order for the ritual to be complete. Through out this process she used very little water. She did not talk to anyone and did not let anyone distract her while she was performing this act.

After she was done with the Wudu, she came in her room and took her traditional mat which Muslims use to pray on, on the floor facing the qibla, which is an Arabic word for the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays. The direction of the qibla is faced towards Mecca which is the city that has revered as the holiest site of Islam. My mother wore her garment and started to pray. Salaht is performed in units of prayer called raka'ah. One raka'ah consists of a series of positions (and movements from one position to the next), along with specific supplications and verses from the Qur'an which are read in each position. A raka'ah begins in a standing position called qiyaam. She began the prayer by standing in qiyaam, facing qibla, raising her hands next to her ears and spoke aloud the takbir which is an Arabic name for the phrase Allвhu Akbar, a common Arabic expression, which can be translated as "God is great," or "God is greatest". Then she put her hands down in front of her holding her wrist of the left hand with her right hand, placing both above the naval. She began to recite the first chapter of the Qur'an. After she finished the first chapter, she bowed from the waist, kept her knees straight and placed her hands on her knees and recited a short sentence from the Qur'an. The bowing position is called Rukoo. Quickly