Foundations
How to pray Fajr and understand daily prayer units
Fajr is the dawn prayer. Its obligatory prayer has two rak‘ahs (units), offered after true dawn and before sunrise. The site’s Hanafi reference also lists two emphasized sunnah units before Fajr; these are a separate prayer, not extra units inside the obligatory prayer.
The walkthrough below follows the Hanafi approach for someone praying alone. Read detailed timing guidance, check the prayer types, or find local Fajr and sunrise times. Calculated prayer starts are different from a mosque’s congregation times.
How to pray Fajr
- Prepare with wudu, suitable clothing and a clean prayer place. Face the qiblah and intend the two-unit obligatory Fajr prayer.
- Begin with the opening takbir. In the first unit, recite the opening supplication and seek refuge, then al-Fatihah and additional Qur’an.
- Bow, rise and stand upright, then prostrate, sit and prostrate again. Recite the words for each posture.
- Stand for the second unit. Recite al-Fatihah and additional Qur’an, then repeat bowing, rising and the two prostrations with their sitting. In this Hanafi walkthrough, do not repeat the opening supplication or seeking refuge.
- After the second unit, sit for tashahhud, blessings on the Prophet ﷺ and a supplication. Finish with salam to the right and left.
Follow every Fajr posture with Arabic, transliteration and meaning in the complete two-unit salah guide. No particular short surah is prescribed by this learning example; al-Ikhlas is one available example after al-Fatihah.
Recitation, congregation and Qunut
The imam recites Qur’an aloud in both obligatory Fajr units. A Hanafi follower does not recite Qur’an behind the imam. This walkthrough teaches praying alone; see the congregation reference for following an imam.
Fajr Qunut, a supplication within the prayer, differs by school. The existing studio shows Shafi‘i Qunut after rising from the second bow and Maliki Qunut before the second bow. The Hanafi and Hanbali sequences do not include regular Fajr Qunut. Compare the school explanations and sources.
Practice Fajr in the existing Prayer Studio →
Rehearse outside prayer. Choose your school in the studio if you follow another approach.
The five daily obligatory 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.