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Tag Basics of Islam

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Preparing to Pray

In Islam it is impossible to pray correctly without the ritual cleansing by water, or in the absence of water with sand. Islamic instruction about prayer is filled with long passages on exactly how to accomplish the cleansing process. None of the steps can be sidestepped or done in an improper way, otherwise Islamic prayer looses its merit and validity. Here is a typical Muslim text about doing Wudu (the ritual cleansing):
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The Call of the Muezzin

Each day across the entire Islamic World men called the muezzin call the faithful to prayer five times per day: at dawn (fajr), noon (dhuhr), in the afternoon (asr), at sunset (maghrib) and nightfall (isha’a). On Fridays all male Muslims are supposed to attend the noon time prayers which are usually accompanied by a sermon. So today, Friday August 13, 2010 literally hundreds of thousands of muezzin are calling the faithful to prayer. Many millions of Muslim men will go to the mosque as their local muezzin pronounces the call to prayer. Below are the words which are repeated day after day (Shiite Muslims use slightly different phrases for some lines).
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