Before commencing with salaat, several things are wajib.

1. If one does not have wudu, then wudu should be made. If there is a need to have a bath, then a bath should be taken. If there is any impurity on the body or clothes, it should be purified. The place where salaat is being offered should also be pure. Apart from the face, hands and feet, the entire body from head to toe should be well covered. One should face the qiblah. An intention should be made for the salaat which one wishes to offer. The salaat should be offered after the entry of that salaat time. All these are prerequisites or conditions for salaat. If any one of these prerequisites are not found, salaat will not be valid.

2. It is not permissible to offer salaat with a very thin, flimsy or lacy scarf.

3. If a quarter of a woman’s calf, thigh or arm gets exposed while offering salaat and it remains exposed to the extent that she can read Sub’haanallah three times; then her salaat will break and she will have to repeat it. But if she covers that part the moment it is exposed, her salaat will still be valid. In the same way, if a quarter of any part that is supposed to be covered when offering salaat gets exposed, then the salaat will not be valid. For example, if a quarter of the ear, head, hair, stomach, back, neck, bosom, chest, etc. gets exposed; then the salaat will not be valid.

4. If the scarf of a girl who has not reached the age of puberty as yet slips off while offering salaat and her head gets exposed, her salaat will still be valid.

5. If there is any impurity on the body or clothing but water cannot be found anywhere, then the salaat should be offered with the impurity.

6. If the entire clothing is impure, or most of it is impure,i.e. less than a quarter of it is pure and the balance of it is impure, then in such a case one could either offer the salaat while wearing those impure clothes or remove those clothes and offer the salaat while naked. However, it is preferable to offer the salaat with the impure clothes. If a quarter or more of the clothes are pure, it will not be permissible to offer the salaat naked. It will be wajib to offer the salaat in those impure clothes.

7. If a person offering salaat is wrapped in a sheet which is so large that its impure section does not move about with the standing and sitting movements of the person, then there is no harm in it. Similarly, the thing which a person offering salaat is carrying also has to be pure. This is on the condition that it does not hold on to the person of its own accord.

For example, a person offering salaat is carrying a child and that child did not come onto him out of its own accord, then it is a prerequisite that the child be also pure for the validity of salaat. If that child’s clothing or body is impure to an extent which does not permit salaat, then in such a case, that person’s salaat will not be valid. But if that child sits on him or clings to him of its own accord, then there is no harm in this because the child sat on him of its own accord and of its own will. So this impurity on the child will be attributed to the child and will not be connected to the person offering salaat.

Similarly, if there is such an impurity on the person offering salaat which is still in its actual place of formation and whose traces have not come outside as yet, then there is no harm in this. For example, a dog comes and sits on the person offering salaat and there is no saliva coming out of its mouth – there is no harm in this. This is so because its saliva is inside its body, and that is where it is formed. It is the same as that impurity which is in the stomach of man and for which purity is not a prerequisite.

Similarly, if there is an egg whose yolk has turned into blood and it is on the person offering salaat, there is no harm in this. This is so because its blood is in that very place from where it was formed and its effect has not come out as yet.

On the contrary, if urine has been filled in a bottle and it is on the person offering salaat, then this is not proper even if the bottle is completely sealed. This is so because this urine is not in its actual place of formation.

8. The place on which salaat is being offered has to be pure of all impurities (such as urine, stool, semen, etc.). However, if the impurity is of an excusable amount, there is no harm in this. The “place on which salaat is being offered” refers to that place where the feet are placed and also those places which touch the ground when in sajdah, i.e. wherever the knees, hands, forehead and nose are placed.

9. If the place of only one foot is pure and the person lifts his other foot, this will be sufficient.

10. If a person is offering salaat on a piece of cloth, even then the same extent as mentioned above will have to be pure. It is not necessary for the entire piece of cloth to be pure. This is irrespective of whether the cloth is big or small.

11. If a cloth is spread out over an impure place and salaat is offered on it, then it is also a prerequisite that the cloth must not be so thin that whatever is under it can be clearly seen.

12. If the clothing of a person offering salaat touches any impure place which is dry, there is no harm in this.

13. If a person has no clothes at all, he should offer his salaat naked. However, the salaat should be offered at such a place where no one can see him. Furthermore, the salaat should not be offered standing, but sitting; and he should make gestures (ishaarah) for the ruku and sajdah. But if he offers his salaat while standing and even goes down for his ruku and sajdah, his salaat will still be valid. However, it is preferable to offer the salaat sitting.

14. If a person is excused from wearing clothes because of some reason which has been caused by a human being, he will have to repeat his salaat when this excuse is no more. For example, a person is in prison and the wardens have removed his clothes, an enemy has removed his clothes or an enemy tells him that if you wear your clothes I will kill you – in all the above cases he will have to repeat his salaat. But if it is not because of a human being, he does not have to repeat his salaat. For example, if he has no clothes at all.

15. A person has only one piece of cloth and has the choice of either covering himself or spreading it on the floor and offering salaat on it. He should rather cover himself with it and offer salaat on the impure place if no clean place can be found.

16. A person is travelling and has so little water that if he had to wash off the impurity he will not have sufficient water for wudu. And if he had to make wudu first, he will not have sufficient water to wash off the impurity. Such a person should utilise the water to wash off the impurity and make tayammum for his wudu.

17. A person offered zuhr salaat. On completing his salaat, he realized that the zuhr time had already expired and asr time had already entered. He will not have to make qada of that salaat. The salaat which he had offered will come under the rule of qada and it will be considered to be a qada salaat.

18. But if he offered a salaat even before the entry of its time, it will not be valid.

19. It is not necessary to make a verbal intention. If a person thinks in his heart that I am reading the fard of zuhr for today, or if it is a sunnah, then I am reading the sunnah of zuhr; then this will be sufficient. All those lengthy intentions which are popular among the people are not necessary at all.

20. If one wants to make a verbal intention, it is sufficient to say thus: I am making intention for todays fard of zuhr, or, I am making intention for the sunnah of zuhr. To say: I am reading four rakaats forzuhr salaat, facing the qiblah, etc. is not necessary. If one wishes, he could say so, if not, then he does not have to.

21. In his heart a person has the intention of zuhr salaat, but when he utters his intention, he mistakenly says asr salaat. Even then his salaat will be valid.

22. If he mistakenly says six rakaats or three rakaats instead of four rakaats, his salaat will still be valid.

23. If a person has missed several salaats and decides to make qada of them, he should specify the time of the salaat when making his intention. That is, he should make intention in this way: I am offering the fard of fajr salaat. If it is the qada of zuhr, then he should say: I am offering the fard of zuhr salaat. In the same way, he should make the intention of whichever salaat he wishes to make qadaof. If in his intention he merely said: I am offering qada salaat, and did not specify which salaat it is, then this qada will not be valid. It will have to be repeated.

24. If salaat of several days has been missed, one should also specify the day and date when making the intention. For example, a person missed the salaats of Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. When making his intention it will not be proper for him to merely say that he is making qada of fajr salaat. Instead he will have to make intention in the following way: I am making qada for the fajr salaatof Saturday. When zuhr time comes, he must say: I am making qada for the zuhr salaat of Saturday. In this way he should continue making intention.

Once he completes making the qada of all the salaats of Saturday, he should say: I am making the qada for the fajr salaat of Sunday. In this way he should offer all his qada salaats. If he is making qada for several months or years, he should also specify the month and year and say: I am offering the qada of fajr salaat of a particular day in a particular month and in a particular year. Without saying it in this way, the intention will not be correct.

25. If a person does not remember the date, month or year, he should make his intention as follows: Of all the fajr salaats that I have to make qada of, I am making qada of the first one that I had missed, or, of all the zuhr salaats that I have to make qada of, I am making qada of the first one that I had missed. He should make his intention in this way and continue offering his qada salaat. Once the heart is satisfied that qada of all the missed salaats has been made, he can stop offering qada salaat.

26. For sunnah, nafl and taraweeh salaats; it will be sufficient to merely say: I am offering salaat. It will be proper even if he does not mention whether it is a sunnah or nafl salaat. However, caution demands that he makes a specific intention for the sunnah of taraweeh salaat.

27. It is a prerequisite for the muqtadi to make the intention of following the imam.

28. As for the imam, he has to make intention for his own salaat only and does not have to make an intention for imaamat. But if a woman wishes to follow him in salaat, and she is standing in line with the men, and the salaat is not a janaazah, jumu’ah, or eid salaat, then in order for her iqtidaa to be correct, he will have to make the intention of imaamat for her. But if she is not standing in line with the men, or the salaat is a janaazah, jumu’ah, or eid salaat; then this will not be a prerequisite.

29. The muqtadi does not have to specify the imam by name, that he is following Zayd or Umar. Instead, it is sufficient for him to say that I am offering salaat behind this imam. If he specifies the imamby name, and later learns that he was someone else then his salaat will not be valid. For example, a person made intention that he is offering salaat behind Zayd when in actual fact the imam is Khalid, then this person’s salaat will not be valid.

30.The following intention should be made for the janaazah salaat: I am offering this salaat for the pleasure of Allah Ta’ala and as a dua for this deceased person. But if the person does not know whether the deceased is a male or female, it will be sufficient for him to say: For whomever my imam is offering this salaat, I am also offering it.

According to some ulama, the correct procedure is that apart from fard and wajib salaats, it is sufficient to make a general intention for all the other salaats. It is not necessary to specify that it is a sunnah or mustahab salaat. Nor is it necessary to specify that the sunnah is for fajr time or zuhr time, or that this sunnah is tahajjud, taraweeh, kusuf or khusuf. However, the preferred opinion is that one should make a specific intention.

Back to top