How to Pray the Daily Salah (All 5 Prayers with Times)

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Islamic leader and faith specialist Rabia M. Baig shares how to work up to all 5 prayers as a beginner

Co-authored by Rabia M. Baig and Elaine Heredia, BA

Last Updated: March 11, 2026 Fact Checked

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• Prayer Tips
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• Prayer Times
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• Spiritual Benefits
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Whether you're preparing for Ramadan or just trying to be a better Muslim, performing the 5 daily prayers, or salah, every day is extremely beneficial. According to the buzz on Muslim TikTok, it's also a struggle for many religious men and women to incorporate the salah into their busy lives. But never fear! We conducted exclusive interviews with Islam experts to bring you the best tips for praying the 5 daily prayers every day without fail. Below, we'll also cover prayer times and the spiritual benefits of praying the salah daily.

How do you pray all 5 prayers every day in Islam?

Islamic leader and faith specialist Rabia M. Baig suggests starting with one prayer a day, then adding one gradually until you can do all 5 daily prayers. Here are some other tips for building a good habit:

• Build your day around the 5 daily prayers, not the other way around.
• Set alarms throughout the day to remind you to stop and pray.
• Leave your prayer rug out between prayers as a visual reminder.
• Catch up on any prayers you missed earlier in the day.
• Commit to saying the 5 daily prayers even if you don't feel like it.
• Say duas asking for Allah's help to say the 5 daily prayers.

Steps

Section 1 of 3:

Tips for Praying the 5 Daily Prayers

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1. 
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   Start with one prayer and work your way up. If you're new to praying the 5 obligatory prayers every day, Baig suggests starting with just one prayer a day. Then, she says, "Once you're firm upon that… start on the second one. And then after that, add the third one, and then the fourth one, until you are firm upon all five daily prayers."

   Meet the wikiHow Experts

   Rabia M. Baig is an Islamic leader and faith specialist. She has several years of experience in her field and provides clear, practical, and faith-based guidance for modern Muslims.

   Mekaeel Mohsin is an imam for the Islamic Community of Salinas in California. He also creates Islamic educational content for his YouTube channel, Voyagers of Knowledge.
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   Build your day around the 5 daily prayers. Instead of scheduling the prayers around your other activities, plan your activities around the prayers. For example, the 4th prayer of the day (Maghrib) is supposed to be spoken right after sunset. If you're planning a fun evening out with friends, find out what time the sun sets and meet up afterward, so you have time to pray the Maghrib first.

   • Baig agrees and says it’s a good idea to prioritize praying first, and then complete your other tasks or plans. She notes that prioritizing prayer creates barakah (blessings) in your time, energy, and life.
   • Baig also adds that it’s important to have a clear mind and not to rush or think about your other tasks, as they can distract you from concentrating during prayer.
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   Set alarms to remind you to stop and pray. People set alarms to wake up or remind them to take medication. So why not use them to remind you to pray, as well? After all, saying the 5 daily prayers is just as important as taking your meds on time! Plus, if you get busy with work, school, or running errands, the beep from your phone or watch will interrupt your train of thought and recenter your priorities on Allah, where they belong.
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   Leave your prayer rug out between prayer times. In this TikTok by @maryxm.mx, Maryam suggests a simple tip to help you remember to say your prayers: set your prayer rug out where you can see it, and leave it there all day. Most people put it away between each prayer. But if it's out of sight, you might have a harder time remembering to use it!
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   Catch up on any prayers you missed earlier in the day. Some people use the excuse that they missed a prayer to skip all 5 daily prayers. In this TikTok by @ayyuilm, Ayyu explains that if her husband doesn't get a chance to say any of the prayers during the day, he will say all of them at night with the 5th and last daily prayer (Isha) before going to bed. Ayyu says that her husband's commitment to saying all 5 daily prayers every day, without skipping, inspired her to commit to it herself.
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   Commit to saying the 5 daily prayers even if you don't feel like it. Even if you don't feel focused or you think you're too sinful to say the daily prayers, in this TikTok by @islamwithseham, Seham says to "just do it." Regardless of how you're feeling or how fast you say the prayers, it's important and beneficial to actually say them. The good news is that if you do it long enough, Seham says, "It gets so much easier." You'll even come to enjoy it!

   • As Baig notes, praying all 5 daily prayers every day simply requires dedication and consistency.
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   Say duas asking for Allah's help to pray the 5 daily prayers. Dua is a personal prayer that you can say at any time of the day. The words you say can be your own, or you can recite a pre-written dua that resonates with you. Allah can fill you with determination to perform the 5 daily prayers every day if you ask dua for His help sincerely. You can also ask for Allah's help (and anything else you want) at the end of each of the 5 daily prayers, says Baig.

   • Not sure how to ask Allah for help with saying the 5 daily prayers? Check out the wikiHow article "Powerful Duas for Success in Studying, Work, Life & More"!
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   Believe in the importance of the 5 daily prayers. In Ayyu's TikTok video, she recalls how she grew up in a household that didn't value saying the 5 daily prayers. She also says that she knew religious Muslims who weren't good people, so she came to view the daily prayers as performative. It wasn't until she watched how highly her husband valued the salah that she began to accept its importance. When she started believing in the 5 daily prayers and their power to bring her closer to Allah, she found it easier to commit to saying them every day.
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   Acknowledge why the 5 daily prayers are in Arabic. According to Baig, it’s important for Muslims to understand why they are reciting the prayers in Arabic, as Arabic is not many Muslims’ first language. She explains that the prayers are recited in Arabic to avoid changing the meaning of the words. Because words have different meanings in different languages, the meaning of the recitation can change if it’s not said in Arabic.
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Section 2 of 3:

5 Daily Prayer Times

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1. 
   Prayer times are at dawn, early afternoon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night. The 5 daily prayers (salah) are the only prayers that are obligatory for Muslims, says Baig. They're spread throughout the day and night to give Muslims multiple opportunities to reconnect with their Creator. Below are the names of each prayer, the time of day to say them, and the number of obligatory rakats to perform with each one:

   • Fajr: Dawn (2 rakats)
   • Zuhr: Early afternoon (4 rakats)
   • Asr: Mid-afternoon (4 rakats)
   • Maghrib: After sunset (3 rakats)
   • Isha: After dark before midnight (4 rakats)

Section 3 of 3:

Spiritual Benefits of the 5 Daily Prayers

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1. 
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   They bring you closer to Allah. According to Baig, the 5 obligatory daily prayers are opportunities for you to connect with and remember Allah. When you say every salah prayer, you're demonstrating how much you value your Creator and your relationship with Him. Consequently, you feel closer to Him. But when you skip a prayer, it's like saying that something or someone else is more important than Allah!
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   They help you solve problems in your life. In Daanish's TikTok, he explains that saying the 5 daily prayers helps you solve any problem you have in your life. Whether you're having issues at work, in a relationship, with your health, with your faith, or with your finances, performing the salah will help you feel better about it and bring about a solution. Remember, Allah controls all living things and what happens in His creation. If you want something to change for the better, you must pray to Him and ask Him!

   • As Baig notes, “Prayer is a relief from the burden that the world puts on us.” She says prayer was designed to help people disconnect from the stress of the world and find relief in remembering Allah.
   • So, while praying all 5 of the daily prayers can sometimes feel like a burden, Baig says they are actually meant to be a relief from your worldly burden, instead.
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   They help you become a better person. In this TikTok by @eternitytowards, the speaker suggests that saying the salah daily makes you a better person. He asks viewers to imagine if one of their parents called them on the phone, but they refused to pick up. He says that's what happens when you skip the 5 daily prayers: Allah is calling you to speak to Him, but you're refusing to answer. But when you fulfill your obligation of speaking to your Creator, you're rising to your potential.

   • If your goal is to become a better Muslim, Imam Mekaeel Mohsin says you can accomplish this by realizing the presence of Allah in your life. Saying the daily prayers can help you with that! "There's no shame in making a mistake," he adds. "The shame is persisting in that mistake without changing yourself."
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