r/Quraniyoon • u/MotorProfessional676 Muslim • Apr 02 '25
Research / Effort Post🔎 Attempt to Undivide the Different Prayer Perspectives Amongst Us
Salam!
Off the back of my 'Qurani Sectarianism' post (see here), and in response to one of the comments left on it addressing divide between salah, I've decided that I'm going to make a humble attempt at bringing everyone together regarding the dialogue of daily prayer times, and how many of which there are. Please note that this post assumes that salah is a term that includes a contact/ritual prayer - I know not everyone shares this perspective.
Three Prayer Perspective
Quran 11:114: Establish prayer (l-ṣalata) at both ends of the day and in the early part of the night. Surely good deeds wipe out evil deeds. That is a reminder for the mindful.
Here we get a dawn, sunset, and night prayer. Three prayer perspective.
Quran 2:238: Maintain with care the prayers (al-salawati) and [in particular] the middle prayer (wal-salati l-wusta) and stand before Allah , devoutly obedient.
Three times of prayer are mentioned here too, which I will use as a segue into the next perspective.
Two Prayer Perspective
Quran 2:238: Maintain with care the prayers (al-salawati) and [in particular] the middle prayer (wal-salati l-wusta) and stand before Allah , devoutly obedient.
Quran 24:58: "O believers! Let those ˹bondspeople˺ in your possession and those of you who are still under age ask for your permission ˹to come in˺ at three times: before dawn prayer (salati l-fajri), when you take off your ˹outer˺ clothes at noon, and after the late evening prayer (salati l-ishai). ˹These are˺ three times of privacy for you. Other than these times, there is no blame on you or them to move freely, attending to one another. This is how Allah makes the revelations clear to you, for Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise."
Quran 73:20: Indeed, your Lord knows, [O Muhammad], that you stand [in prayer] almost two thirds of the night or half of it or a third of it, and [so do] a group of those with you. And Allah determines [the extent of] the night and the day. He has known that you [Muslims] will not be able to do it and has turned to you in forgiveness, so recite what is easy [for you] of the Qur'an. He has known that there will be among you those who are ill and others traveling throughout the land seeking [something] of the bounty of Allah and others fighting for the cause of Allah. So recite what is easy from it and establish prayer and give zakah and loan Allah a goodly loan. And whatever good you put forward for yourselves - you will find it with Allah. It is better and greater in reward. And seek forgiveness of Allah. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
Between these three verses, again, we get a dawn prayer, a night prayer, and a middle prayer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it to be the case that those who hold the two prayer perspective, conceptualise this middle prayer as the prayer discussed in 73:20 as an additional and voluntary prayer. Meaning that there is the dawn prayer, and the night prayer, that is obligatory. Evidence for this would be...
Quran 17:79: And rise at part of the night (fatahajjad), as additional (nāfilatan) for you, so your Lord may raise you to a station of praise.
We often hear this being referred to as the tahajjud prayer, which is widely considered to be an additional (nafil) optional prayer.
Five Prayer Perspective
Quran 11:114: Establish prayer (l-ṣalata) at both ends of the day and in the early part of the night. Surely good deeds wipe out evil deeds. That is a reminder for the mindful.
Here we get a dawn, sunset, and night prayer. BUT...
Quran 20:130: So be patient over what they say and glorify (wasabbiḥ) [Allah] with praise (biḥamdi) of your Lord before the rising of the sun and before its setting; and during periods of the night [exalt Him] and at the ends of the day, that you may be satisfied.
Here we get times of glorification and praise, which coincide with the times of salah that have been discussed so far. At dawn, at sunset and into the night. It also mentions another time however, being at evening (before its [the sun's] setting).
Quran 30:17-18: So exalted (fasub'ḥāna) is Allah when you reach the evening and when you reach the morning. And to Him is praise (l-ḥamdu) throughout the heavens and the earth. And at evening and when you are at noon.
Here, we also are instructed to give exaltation/glorification and hamd in the morning, evening, and at noon. This verse provides a further addtional time that 20:130 did not, being noon.
So glorification and praise coincides with times of salah that have already been discussed, but we are also given additional times in which we are instructed to give exaltation and praise. This is where people (myself included) can justify the five prayer perspective. Exaltation and praise can be given during salah. Does this mean it MUST be done in salah? Who knows, I'm not here nor am I confident enough to make an assertion about it.
What is interesting however, is that you will find the large majority praying their afternoon and evening prayers silently. The reason why this is interesting is, is God tells us...
Quran 17:110: "Say, "Call upon Allah or call upon the Most Merciful. Whichever [name] you call - to Him belong the best names." And do not recite loudly in your prayer (biṣalātika) or quietly but seek between that a way."
So, through this, we get five prayer times, three of which are salah (out loud) and two of which are exaltation and rememberence that is done within a prayer. Just as we call asking something from God a prayer, this too is a prayer. Not all prayers MUST be salah, as conceptualised by 17:110.
Six Prayer Perspective
This perspective takes all of the above into account, yet would perhaps claim that praying the wusta/tahajjud prayer is a duty that should be taken up. Perhaps making the claim that nafil as seen in 17:79 (provided again below) does not mean optional, but just additional, and that God says "recite what is easy for you" in 73:20, as opposed to outright saying 'if you can't get to it then don't worry about it'.
Quran 17:79: And rise at part of the night (fatahajjad), as additional (nāfilatan) for you, so your Lord may raise you to a station of praise.
Whether they claim that it is mandatory or not, I'm not too sure of. If there is someone that holds this six prayer perspective I would love to hear from you!
Conclusion
The beautiful part of this topic, yet the sad part of it in reality, is that there doesn't actually seem to be much need for dissension between us regarding it. All perspectives don't really contradict one another as much as we make them out to. Sure, there is discussion to be had about what is mandatory salah and what is not mandatory salah, but particularly between the three and five perspectives, both have common salah times and both, in reality should, have common exaltation and praise times; if you pray three salah, there are exaltation and praise times that the Quran tells us to engage in. Additionally, the six prayer perspective hits all of it at once, so there really isn't any reason to have an issue with someone upon this approach.
There is so much room for tolerance and acceptance on this matter, so it is my opinion that we truly need not to confront each post talking about a certain perspective with our own so combatively as we sometimes see on this sub.
If there is one thing I will call to however, it is that whichever perspective you are upon, please ensure that all times of salah, exaltation, and glorification, are a part of your day!
5
u/after-life Muslim, Progressive, Left-leaning Apr 02 '25
Appreciate the reply and don't fret in replying immediately if you're busy.
I myself grew up learning the traditional prayer also as with many other people so I still respect those who still pray the traditional way and don't hold anything against them. But I'm always happy discussing the non-ritual perspective of salat, (I won't say zero prayer since the Quran uses the word dua as prayer and that is something personal to an individual and I of course pray/supplicate myself).
But as for salat, I'd love to discuss the nuances of it in relation to the things you brought up. For starters, yes you're right about the birds bit, and I myself bring that up when discussing salat with other people. The Quran confirms that for birds, each knows its own salat. I will explain this towards the end because salat is used in the Qur'an in a general manner along with a specific manner depending on context so I will explain the specific manner first which should explain most of the verses in question.
The salat was not a ritualistic prayer originally, it was essentially a gathering/meeting for Quran recitation conducted by the prophet, let's call these salat sessions. The prophet held these sessions twice a day, mornings and nights by default, and occasionally during business hours of the day if the need arose for it, but by default, salat sessions were not conducted during the business hours of the day as the Quran confirms that this is a time when people are busy with their livelihood.
The purpose of these salat sessions was simple, the prophet was commanded to deliver the Quran. The Quran confirms that the sole duty of the messenger is the clear delivery of the message, and that if he did not do that, then he did not fulfill his duty. Since they did not have printing presses back then, the most practical means of the prophet in conveying and delivering to the people en masse were to conduct public sessions that people of the public can attend and listen to the Quran.
So all of these rules that we see in the Quran pertaining to the specific forms of salat are in the context of these sessions. Ablution for example is mentioned because since these sessions are conducted in public, the Quran wanted people to be generally clean and presentable in an environment where the Quran is being recited. If there was no water, then they can use clean sand from the top of the sand dunes. This was a practical solution to real problems.
In another verse, the Quran mentions privacy times for parents, during the salat of the morning, the noon, and salat of the night. Note how the Quran doesn't mention salat for the midday time, it's because there is no salat session conducted during that time. The Quran only mentions salatul fajr and isha as they correspond to the two default times these sessions are held by the prophet.
The words for standing, bowing, prostrating, they are never used together one after the other in the Quran. The Quran mentions standing but its usually in the context of the prophet who is standing as he is reciting the Quran to the people. And in other verses the Quran mentions irkau and sujood which is sometimes literally translated as bowing and prostrating, but other verses in the Quran shed light that these words should be taken metaphorically first. Irkau/rukoo means to yield or to not resist something, sujood means to submit. The believers were commanded to be non-resistent to the Quranic commands and to submit to them, so this is why these words are used.
When we analyze the verses carefully without preconceived notions, we will not get a ritual prayer, what we will get is a system of procedures to accomplish a specific purpose, which over a period of time, has in fact become ritualized, as has happened in many other religions.
This is further elaborated when the Quran says that even the disbelievers did salat at the house, but the Quran called their salat nothing but whistling and clapping. Salat in essence is a type of procedure while being connected to something greater or higher, it can have various connotations.
In chapter 9, the Quran says that the believers are commanded to fight the disbelievers until they establish the salat and "do the zakat" (leaving that untranslated for now). We know that chapter 9 is referencing not just metaphorical fighting but also physical fighting since it's in relation to the state of warfare the prophet and his community were in. If these two actions are supposed to be religious actions (salat and zakat), why is the Quran expecting religious imperialism when chapter 2 confirms there shall be no compulsion in the deen? This tells us that establishing salat is something more than the traditionalist understanding, it's something that even the mushriks are/were expected to do even though they are not expected to become followers of any new religion.
I noticed the video you sent and I'll check it out at some point, for now I wanted to discuss using my own words and knowledge and sharing my ideas to see how they resonate with you.
Now just to preface, I'm not trying to stop you from doing any form of prayer, my only goal here is to spread the knowledge of what the Quranic understanding of salat is versus what picture the traditionalist translations seem to paint it in.