Foundations
The five daily prayers
| Prayer | Obligatory units | Beginning | Usual recitation when leading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fajr | 2 | True dawn | Audible |
| Dhuhr | 4 | After solar noon | Quiet |
| Asr | 4 | Afternoon shadow threshold | Quiet |
| Maghrib | 3 | Sunset | First two audible |
| Isha | 4 | Night twilight threshold | First two audible |
Sunrise is a boundary, not a sixth obligatory prayer. Fajr ends at sunrise. Detailed preferred, disliked, and necessity periods are not identical across schools. Calculated start times are not the mosque’s iqamah times.
Sunnah prayers and Witr are additional to the obligatory units above. Witr is wajib in Hanafi law and an emphasized sunnah in the other three schools.