Curriculum Resource: Islamic Prayer

While prayer is an important part of most religions, the rituals about prayer set forth in the Quran and other sacred writings of Islam must be followed exactly, or the person is not considered to be a Muslim.  The Muslims have required times for prayer five times a day.  The person praying must perform the required cleansing and take specific positions while he or she recites exact prayers, and must go through the entire specified routine before being able to add any personal prayers or concerns, etc.

Fortunately, there are some great YouTube videos demonstrating these rituals.  This is my favorite one explaining the procedures for the pre-prayer cleansing, known as wudu:





Then the following animation describes the process one must go through for the prayers themselves, which is called salah:




These two videos give a great explanation of the entire process of the Muslim prayer routine.  They can serve as a great class discussion starter about the value of such an elaborate process around prayer.