But first, these five things

A'salaamu alaikum ya'll. A will give us mini-halaqas at night, most especially after maghrib prayer and on Thursday. As he is ensuring his children have a solid Islamic basis, he is going over the basics to make sure they not only know but have an understanding of why.

Tonight he gave a small talk on the fiqh of salaat. This is installment one and insha'Allah it will be of benefit to you. A note: my husband is a respected sheikh both here and overseas; he has been the imam in countless masjids. He is very conservative but he is NOT someone who seeks only the hard way. He seeks the correct path, the sirat-al-mustaqueem. Therefore some of you may have opinions that differ from his and that is your right. OK on with the show!

Five pre-requisites for salaat:

1. Wudhu- Um a no brainer. ;-) We must perform our ablution in the proscribed manner. When water is not available (truly NOT available) you may make tayyamum. One condition for making wudhu is that the water must be clean which means: a) no color b) no taste and c) no smell.

2. Make the salaat in it's proper time- When it's time for dhuhr pray dhuhr. Really this one is pretty simple as well. If you make your salaat late, there is NO hasant for you but it is still obligatory that you make up that missed salaah. Point: don't be late! :-)

3. Free of najasa- This means a) your body b) your clothes and c) the immediate area you are praying on. We assume a place is clean unless we have proof of najasa.

4. Qiblah- You must pray in the direction of Makkah and the Kabbah. Every effort must be made to ascertain the correct direction and only under extreme circumstances should you just "wing" it. Make your best educated guess if you don't have certain knowledge and there is no one you can ask.

5. Halal area- There are 4 areas you cannot pray: in the hammam (bath), in the marketplace, in a slaughterhouse, and on maksooba, which is land unlawfully taken. Most of these are not going to pose a difficulty for us insha'allah.

Bear in mind all of these conditions must be met for Allah to accept your prayer. And then of course there is the correctness of the prayer itself, your niyyat (intention) and other things. But these are the 5 things you must pay attention to before you begin.

OK just sharing some love and spreading some knowledge. Remember once you become aware of a requirement for your faith, you are then held accountable for it. May Allah help us all strengthen in our deen, be supporters for each other, enjoin the good and forbid the evil, and prepare our hearts for a blessed Ramadhan.

Ma salaama...