Salah al-Fajr (Ritual Prayer in the Morning)

The angels of day and night who congregate in the morning times witness Muslims who wake up and start their day early with the Salah al-Fajr.  (Al-Isra, 17/78; Sahih Bukhari, Adhan, 31) A person who starts the day by performing this salah enters under the protection of Allah (swt). (Sahih Muslim, Masajid, 262)

The time for the Morning Ritual Prayer begins when a white horizontal light –fajr al-sadiq i.e. true dawn- illuminates the Eastern horizon in the morning, and its time ends when the sun rises. Performinh the salah al-fajr when there is plenty of natural light but before the sunrise is deemed more virtuous.  After the time of this salah, that is, the time of imsak, has started, no supererogatory prayers other than the sunnah of the salah al-fajr are performed. Similarly, one cannot perform salah within the first 50 minutes after the Morning Ritual Prayer time ends i.e. after sunrise.

The Morning Ritual Prayer consists of a two-rak’ah Sunnah prayer and a two-rak’ah fardh prayer: a total of four rak’ah Prophet Muhammad (saw) has said that the two rak’ah emphasized sunnah prayers are “worth more than the world and whatever is in it”. (Sahih Muslim, Musafirun 96) The Salah al-Fajr is completed by performing two rak’ah fardh salah afterwards. Generally, the Prophet Muhammad (saw) would recite a middle-long parts of the Qur’an after reciting Surah al-Fatiha. (Sahih Bukhari, Mawaqit, 13)