Maghrib

Maghrib is the sunset prayer. We pray it right after the sun goes down, when the sky is still glowing orange and pink. It is the fourth prayer of the day, coming after Asr and before Isha.

Maghrib has 3 rakat, which makes it special: it is the only obligatory daily prayer with an odd number of rakat. The other prayers are all 2 or 4 rakat. The first two rakat are recited aloud, and the third rakat is silent. This loud-then-quiet pattern matches Isha.

Maghrib has the shortest window of all five daily prayers. It only lasts about an hour or so, until the orange light at the edge of the sky has completely faded into night. Because the window is short, Maghrib is the prayer that teaches us most about not delaying. Many families pray Maghrib right when they hear the adhan, before sitting down to dinner.

Every rakat begins with Al-Fatiha (the opening of the Quran). In Maghrib, you only add a short surah after Al-Fatiha in the first two rakat. In rakat three, you say Al-Fatiha by itself. The first two rakat are said aloud; the third is said quietly to yourself.

You get to choose which surah comes after Al-Fatiha in the first two rakat. When you tap practice, you'll pick from the surahs you have learned. Here's what each rakat looks like:

Short surahs like Al-Ikhlas, An-Nas, and Al-Falaq are great choices, and it's nice to pick a different one for the second rakat.

After the second rakat, you sit for a short moment to say the tashahhud, then stand back up for the third rakat. The full sitting with tashahhud, durood, and salaam happens at the very end, after the third rakat.

If you don't know how to pray one rakat yet, that's okay! Start with the Start Here lesson first. Layth and Sofia will teach you each posture and recitation, one step at a time.

Once you've learned one rakat, you'll be ready to practice any of the five daily prayers.