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صَلاة

prayer (the Islamic ritual prayer) /sˤɑˈlaːh/

nounB1#2899 most common

Also: worship, act of prayer, blessing (in the plural, upon the Prophet)

Example sentences

الصَّلاةُ مُهِمَّةٌ لِلمُسْلِمِينَ.
Prayer is important for Muslims.
حَانَ وَقْتُ الصَّلاةِ.
The time for prayer has come.
أُصَلِّي الصَّلاةَ فِي المَسْجِدِ.
I perform the prayer in the mosque.
تُؤَدَّى الصَّلاةُ خَمْسَ مَرَّاتٍ فِي اليَوْمِ.
The prayer is performed five times a day.
ذَهَبَ إِلَى المَسْجِدِ لِأَداءِ صَلاةِ الجُمُعَةِ.
He went to the mosque to perform the Friday prayer.
تُعَدُّ الصَّلاةُ الرُّكْنَ الثَّانِيَ مِنْ أَرْكانِ الإِسْلامِ، وَهِيَ عَمُودُ الدِّينِ فِي التَّصَوُّرِ الإِسْلامِيِّ.
Prayer is counted as the second pillar of Islam, and it is the pillar of religion in Islamic thought.

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nominativeصَلاةٌصَلَوَاتٌ
Genitiveصَلاةٍصَلَوَاتٍ
Accusativeصَلاةًصَلَوَاتٍ
Vocativeيَا صَلاةُيَا صَلَوَاتُ

Word family

صَلَّىto pray
مُصَلٍّworshipper, one who prays
مُصَلَّىprayer room or open prayer ground
صَلَوَاتprayers, or blessings (upon the Prophet)

Etymology

The word comes from the Semitic root ṣ-l-w, tied to the idea of bowing or turning toward something, here toward God in worship. The root is old and shared across Semitic languages well before Islam, where it already carried the sense of ritual prayer. Arabic simply narrowed and formalized this into the name for the five daily prayers.

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