An Authenticated Summary of the Prophet's Prayer

The Prayer is the first matter about which the slaves of Allah will be asked on the Day of Resurrection. The Messenger of Allah said: "The first matter about which the slave will be called to account [on the Day of Resurrection] is the prayer." - an-Nasa'i [468], with a Sahih Isnad according to Hafiz Zubair 'Ali Za`i [rahimahullah]. Therefore it is a matter of utmost importance that a Muslim takes care to pray his obligatory prayers conscientiously and completely. And the completeness of the prayer is not only that he prays it in its prescribed time, but also that he adopts the procedure taught by the Prophet . It is precisely for this extremely important purpose that this translation of the book of the Hadith scholar Hafiz Zubair 'Ali Za`i [rahimahullah] into the English language, serves: - An Authenticated Summary of the Prophet's Prayer . One of the many features that motivated the translation of this book for English readers is the extensive Takhrij [referencing] and Tahqiq [verification] of the Ahadith and Athar [narrations] used for the individual points. This, among other things, makes it possible for students of Islam of any level to benefit from this book. Someone who is just beginning to learn prayer and needs guidance based on authentic narrations that is neither too crude nor too overwhelming, will be able to derive as much benefit from this book as an advanced student who wants to deal with the Fawa`id [benefits] regarding the Isnad [chain] of the narrations, Athar and points of Fiqh [jurisprudence] that the author addresses. In order to make a variety of the Fawa`id accessible to as many Muslims as possible, many of the words used in the Hadith-terminology have been summarised in English by the translator. Furthermore, additional Fawa`id have been mentioned in some places. [...] Hafiz Zubair Ali Za'i has added two chapters in this book, in addition to the chapters of Wudu` and a step-by-step guide to prayer: some authentically narrated Adhkar after Prayer and a guide with regards to how the Janazah prayer is to be prayed. All the Du'a's [supplications] in this book have been rendered both in their Arabic form and in English. As an additional benefit, an appendix has been added in which the transliterations of some selected supplications have been compiled by the translator, as a benefit for those who are still learning Arabic or who cannot yet read Arabic correctly.