Here’s how you can offer Isha prayer

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Sunday, March 31, 2019 / 0 Comment(s)

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Isha is the fifth and last namaz of the day which Muslims offer in night. Just like all other salats, the time for isha is different in distinct areas and countries.

Parts of Isha namaz:

There are three parts of Isha namaz namely: four rikaat farz, two rikaat sunnat and three rikaat vitter.

Steps of Isha namaz:

Following are the steps involved in the parts of isha namaz but before them wuzu is performed.

1. Steps in four rikaat farz:

• Neeyat is the first step of namaz e Isha. We state our neeyat (intention) that we are going to pray the salat-e-isha. In the neeyat we say, “I intend to perform four rikaat farz for Allah at the time of Isha with my face towards Khana Kabah,” and then we raise hands in a manner in the image below in this blog and say, “Allahu Akbar.”
• After neeyat, first rikaat of four rikaat farz of namaz-e-isha is offered. In first rikaat after neeyat, while folding hands on chest, we recite Subhanaka then taaooz, then tasmeeh and then Surat ul Fatiha. After Surah e Fatiha, we recite a surat of Quran. Usually, Muslims recite Surah e Ikhlas or any surah from the last ten surats of Quran. After reciting Surah e Ikhlas, “Allahu Akbar” is said again. Then we go in Ruku and recite, “Subhana Rabbiyal Azeem” three times. We return to the standing position and recite, “Sami Allahu Liman hamida rabbana lakal hamd.” After that, we again say Allahu Akbar in the same standing position. And we go to prostration (sajdah) and recite, “Subhana Rabbiyal Ala” After sajdah we rise, sit and say, “Allahu Akbar.”  Then we again go in sajdah and say “Subhana Rabbiyal Ala” thrice and rise, sit and say, “Allahu Akbar” again. Here first rikaat of Isha prayer gets over.
• At completion of first rikaat, we stand up again for second rikaat and recite Surah e Fatiha with Surah ikhlas in the same standing position while folding the hands on chest. Same steps of saying Takbir, performing ruku, two sajdahs and all other steps involved in the first rikaat are performed in second rikaat. After second sajdah in second rikaat, while sitting in the position shown below in an image, we recite At-tahiyyat then tashahhud with first finger of right hand raised. Then we lower down the finger after reciting tashahhud till “muhammadan” and continue the recitation of remaining part of tashahhud. At the completion of tashahhud the second rikaat of four rikaat farz of Isha prayer is finished.
• Then we stand up again for third rikaat and recite Surah e Fatiha and say “Allahu Akbar” after it. Then same steps of going in ruku, standing back then going again in sajdas are performed. After second sajdah, we rise and sit down and recite Allahu Akbar. Here third rikaat also gets over.
• Then after saying Allahu Akbar in third rikaat, we stand up for fourth rikaat. In fourth rikaat till second sajdah, everything remains same as it was in the third rikaat. After second sajdah, we again sit, recite Allahu Akbar then At-tahiyyat then tashahhud with first finger of right hand raised. We then lower down the finger after reciting tashahhud till “muhammadan” and continue the recitation of the remaining part of tashahhud. Then we recite darood shareef and Rabbana or Rabb-e-ja’alni.
• After reciting Rabbana or Rabb-e-ja’alni we turn our face towards right side or right shoulder and say, “As Salaam-u alaikum wa rahmatullahe wabarakatu.” Then we turn our face towards left side and say again, “As Salaam-u alaikum wa rahmatullahe wabarakatu.” This is called salam and four rikaat farz of Isha namaz is finished here.

2. Steps in two rikaat sunnat:

• With Neeyat, we start two rikaat sunnat for Isha namaz too. First rikaat of two rikaat sunnat is offered the same way the first rikaat of four rikaat farz is offered.
• After first rikaat of two rikaat sunnat, then we stand up again for second rikaat and same steps of first rikaat of two rikaat sunnat till second sajdah are performed. After second sajdah, we again sit, recite Allahu Akbar then At-tahiyyat then tashahhud with first finger of right hand raised. We then lower down the finger after reciting tashahhud till “muhammadan” and continue the recitation of the remaining part of tashahhud. Then we recite darood shareef and Rabbana or Rabb-e-ja’alni. After reciting Rabbana or Rabb-e-ja’alni, salam is performed the same way it was performed in four rikaat farz and two rikaat sunnat of Isha namaz gets finished here.

3. Steps in three rikaat vitter:

• Three rikaat vitter is also started with neeyat. After neeyat, first rikaat of three rikaat vitter is offered. The first rikaat of vitter is performed the same way the first rikaat of four rikaat farz is performed.
• Then at completion of first rikaat, we stand up again for second rikaat. Second rikaat of vitter is also performed the same way as the second rikaat of four rikaat farz of Isha prayer is offered.
• After second rikaat, we stand up again for third rikaat and recite Surah e Fatiha and say “Allahu Akbar” after it by raising hands as we do after neeyat. Then we again fold hands on chest and recite Dua-e-Qanoot and say “Allahu Akbar” after it in same position of hands folded on chest. Then same steps of going in ruku, standing back then going again in sajdas as we did in the last rikaat are performed. After second sajdah, we again sit, recite Allahu Akbar then At-tahiyyat then tashahhud with first finger of right hand raised. We then lower down the finger after reciting tashahhud till “muhammadan” and continue the recitation of the remaining part of tashahhud. Then we recite darood shareef and Rabbana or Rabb-e-ja’alni.
• After reciting Rabbana or Rabb-e-ja’alni we perform salam and three rikaat vitter of Isha namaz is finished here. And simultaneously, Isha namaz is finished here too.

Note that neeyat changes in all three steps. There is neeyat for every step and for every step you have to take the neeyat from first step and replace “four rikaat farz” with for example two rikaat sunnat if you’re offering two rikaat sunnat and with three rikaat vitter if you are performing three rikaat vitter.

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