As-Salat (prayer) is regarded one of the most important acts of worship decreed by God; it is narrated in the Had?th that it is ‘the pillar of religion; if it is accepted every other act of worship (by that person) will be accepted, and if it is rejected every other act of worship (by that person) will be rejected’; great reward will be bestowed upon whoever performs it and grave punishment upon whoever abstains from it.
There are five types of obligatory prayers:
1- The daily prayers, which are five in number: al-Sobh/Fajr (dawn), adh-Dhohr (noon), al-Aser (afternoon), al-Maghrib (sunset) and al-‘Ish?’ (evening). Al-Jomo‘ah (Friday) prayer is also included with these, in place of Friday’s noon prayer.
2- Al-Ayat (signs) prayers.
3- At-Tawaf (circum-ambulation) prayer during pilgrimage; it is mentioned in the book Menasik al-Hajj(Rituals of the Pilgrimage).
4- Prayer for the dead, as explained in the previous chapter.
5- The obligatory prayer that the person must offer on the behalf of others, such as al-Ijareh, i.e. hiring a person, or offering the unperformed prayers of the dead father by his eldest son, or offering a prayer related to a vow, or the like.
As for recommended prayers (mostahabb), there are many of these, such as the daily nawafil(singular n?fileh, i.e. additional prayer), istisqa prayer (asking God for rain in times of drought or scarce rainfall) etc.