why not 1 or 3 or 10..whats the significance of number 5?
Re: Why 5 salats…
its a gift from ALLAH SWT to Ummah of Prophet Muhammad PBUH on Miraj shreef.
go here for more details 
Re: Why 5 salats...
hey, why are you asking about 1, 3 or 10?
why not ask about 2, 4, 6, 8 or 20? :)
Re: Why 5 salats...
why not 1 or 3 or 10..whats the significance of number 5?
Peace JustARegularGuy
The number for sure has no significance that we know of and should not be a premise for argument as all numbers are equally as aribtary as any other number.
It is however, a useful way to break up the day i.e. into 4 portions.
1) Dawn - Noon
2) Noon - Afternoon
3) Afternoon - Sunset
4) Sunset - Night
When we get up we do so remembering God
When we stop for lunch we do so remembering God
When we stop for a break we do so remembering God
When we go home after work we do so remembering God
When we sleep we do so remembering God
Wisdom tells us that 5 prayers keeps us remembering God throughout the day. More than this I cannot say.
Re: Why 5 salats…
^ peace psyah
your reply highlight the logical aspect. why didnt you consider Wakia-e-Miraj? 
Re: Why 5 salats…
Peace zobia
I did consider the Mi’raaj. The question was ‘why’ not ‘how’ and sometimes we are answering questions that are not important such as ‘number of’ rather than the fact that prayer is important.
Re: Why 5 salats...
Peace JustARegularGuy
The number for sure has no significance that we know of and should not be a premise for argument as all numbers are equally as aribtary as any other number.
It is however, a useful way to break up the day i.e. into 4 portions.
1) Dawn - Noon 2) Noon - Afternoon 3) Afternoon - Sunset 4) Sunset - Night
When we get up we do so remembering God When we stop for lunch we do so remembering God When we stop for a break we do so remembering God When we go home after work we do so remembering God When we sleep we do so remembering God
Wisdom tells us that 5 prayers keeps us remembering God throughout the day. More than this I cannot say.
Mashallah thank you for your answer.
Re: Why 5 salats...
Peace JustARegularGuy
The number for sure has no significance that we know of and should not be a premise for argument as all numbers are equally as aribtary as any other number.
It is however, a useful way to break up the day i.e. into 4 portions.
1) Dawn - Noon 2) Noon - Afternoon 3) Afternoon - Sunset 4) Sunset - Night
When we get up we do so remembering God When we stop for lunch we do so remembering God When we stop for a break we do so remembering God When we go home after work we do so remembering God When we sleep we do so remembering God
Wisdom tells us that 5 prayers keeps us remembering God throughout the day. More than this I cannot say.
i guess what i dont understand is that why does god need us to remember him 5 times a day? What not just once a day? It's not like if we pray in fajar and then dont pray until the next morning, we are going to forget who god is.
Re: Why 5 salats...
i guess what i dont understand is that why does god need us to remember him 5 times a day? What not just once a day? It's not like if we pray in fajar and then dont pray until the next morning, we are going to forget who god is.
If you do good deeds because you know it is the right thing to do, then you are remembering God, as the Quran says "day and night" ... But I guess my take on this is different than Z's, or bro Psyah's.
Re: Why 5 salats…
exactly as I stated it sis… WS
Re: Why 5 salats...
post number 4 good answer..:)
Re: Why 5 salats...
i guess what i dont understand is that why does god need us to remember him 5 times a day? What not just once a day? It's not like if we pray in fajar and then dont pray until the next morning, we are going to forget who god is.
Peace again JustARegularGuy
If we say 'why does god need us to remember' we have created a fallacious argument that is nested within the question.
God does not need us. We need Him. We are told in the Qur'an that our purpose, in that the reason for why we have been created is none but to worship God. Now the angels said the same thing about us. That there are plenty of them to worship God all the time, why create 'man' who has a tendency to rebel and kill itself?
Of course the answer is that God Knows what they do not know. Perhaps to show that He does not need to create things that worship Him, but their purpose is still the same. If we then choose to worship Him we are conforming to our design.
A car is most happy when drinking the correct fuel type and cruising at the design speed. Well that is the same for the human, except that our design is for worship of God. We have other functions, which are essentially distractions from this main function. We can align all of our actions in our day to day lives to be in a state of worship other than prayer alone.
Salat is unique form of prayer which is a direct connection ... a hard wire .... to our Lord. It is like being called for an assembly before ones king, except it is more higher than the king and it is personal.
To confuse remembrance with memory is another thing also. We need to be reminded all of the time because we are distracted so much. Even though we know about God, it is not the same as being conscious of God and aware that He is Seeing all of our actions and Hearing all of our thoughts all the time. True remembrance will prevent us from going astray.
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Re: Why 5 salats...
Narrated Abu Dhar: Allah's Apostle said, "... Gabriel ascended with me to a place where I heard the creaking of the pens." Ibn Hazm and Anas bin Malik said: The Prophet said, "Then Allah enjoined fifty prayers on my followers when I returned with this order of Allah, I passed by Moses who asked me, 'What has Allah enjoined on your followers?' I replied, 'He has enjoined fifty prayers on them.' Moses said, 'Go back to your Lord (and appeal for reduction) for your followers will not be able to bear it.' (So I went back to Allah and requested for reduction) and He reduced it to half. When I passed by Moses again and informed him about it, he said, 'Go back to your Lord as your followers will not be able to bear it.' So I returned to Allah and requested for further reduction and half of it was reduced. I again passed by Moses and he said to me: 'Return to your Lord, for your followers will not be able to bear it. So I returned to Allah and He said, 'These are five prayers and they are all (equal to) fifty (in reward) for My Word does not change.' I returned to Moses and he told me to go back once again. I replied, 'Now I feel shy of asking my Lord again.' Then Gabriel took me till we '' reached Sidrat-il-Muntaha (Lote tree of; the utmost boundry) which was shrouded in colors, indescribable. Then I was admitted into Paradise where I found small (tents or) walls (made) of pearls and its earth was of musk."
Re: Why 5 salats...
psyah: Appreciate your response. I see your point in god doesnt need us rather we need him. But my question remains the same even then. Granted we need god, but why do we need to remember him FIVE times in a day? The argument that sole reason of our existence is to remember god doesnt work because then why am I not spending all of my day remembering god? why do i even go to work then? Taking that specific argument further, how would mankind itself make any advances (scientific or otherwise) when most of its time is spent kneeling infront of god. Consquently, im not sure if the SOLE reason of our existence is to worship God, the angels are enough for that purpose.
Re: Why 5 salats...
Some times I really ponder on the mystery and the story of
"Allah tells him to enjoin the Muslims to pray fifty times a day; however, Moses tells Muhammad that they would never do it, and urges Muhammad to go back several times and ask for a reduction, until finally it is reduced to five times a day.''
Because Prophet Mohammed Salae ALLAH wa Allae Wsalam peace be upon him knew his Umat and He was the LAST messenger of ALLAH, The prophet who was LOVED by ALLAH ..... why would he need advise from Prophet Moosa or anyone... He was capable of knowing every thing, why would he go back and forth before reaching the number 5 .....
Re: Why 5 salats...
i guess what i dont understand is that why does god need us to remember him 5 times a day? What not just once a day? It's not like if we pray in fajar and then dont pray until the next morning, we are going to forget who god is.
Its not that god needs us.....but we need him ...come on bro..ur older than that to understand that..look at all the evil temptations around you...you need these 5 prayers to protect you from all evil. You wouldn't really understand cuz u dont sound like a evil person..but once u do evil things and u focus back on religious guidings ull understand why we need to pray 5 times..it protects us really.
Re: Why 5 salats...
psyah: Appreciate your response. I see your point in god doesnt need us rather we need him. But my question remains the same even then. Granted we need god, but why do we need to remember him FIVE times in a day? The argument that sole reason of our existence is to remember god doesnt work because then why am I not spending all of my day remembering god? why do i even go to work then? Taking that specific argument further, how would mankind itself make any advances (scientific or otherwise) when most of its time is spent kneeling infront of god. Consquently, im not sure if the SOLE reason of our existence is to worship God, the angels are enough for that purpose.
Peace JustARegularGuy
Yes you are right there is another reason well there are many other reasons. The reason for our existence is to achieve the ultimate aim of worshipping God because in that state we are at ease. However, our Creation has done other things. It demonstrates that Allah (SWT) can create those people who have choice, it demonstrates that Allah (SWT) can forgive and be Merciful beyond what is observed with the Angels. It provides a basis for us to enter in Jannah (Paradise) or Jahannum (Hellfire) based on the actions we take. Jannah and Jahunnum are not an option for the Angels or animals.
By concentrating on the number 5 it is a method of distracting oneself to the core reasons of prayer. Salat has been obligatory 5 times a day other than this we are expected to remember God in every action. Even whilst undertaking scientific research we are expected to say Bismillah and we are expected to say Alhumdulillah when or if we make a discovery. Salat itself has many optional forms throughout the day the number of 5 prayers is observed as a practical limit below which would be injustice to ourselves not to perform. Consider 5 prayers a mercy from the original number 50.
Again these are just numbers. We should be concentrating on the actions rather than superfluous detail as this. If there was only one salat then people would be asking the question why only one salat. If there were four the same. What we need to be content with is the idea that Islam is practical and 5 is a practical number of times to remember Allah (SWT) in one day even in such a dynamic society as ours in this day and age.
Re: Why 5 salats...
interesting and informative thread
Re: Why 5 salats...
how would mankind itself make any advances (scientific or otherwise) when most of its time is spent kneeling infront of god.
The time spent on all *fard *(obligatory) salats of the day combined comes to around 30-45 minutes. Thats less than what the average 'advanced' human spends watching useless shows on tv.
Granted we need god, but why do we need to remember him FIVE times in a day? The argument that sole reason of our existence is to remember god doesnt work because then why am I not spending all of my day remembering god? why do i even go to work then?
Salat has a lot of other physical aspects attached to it, apart from just having to remember God. Consider this one aspect. Before one can perform salat one has to perform wudu (the washing of face, ears, nose, hands, arms, head, feet etc). The wudu however is rendered void if you eat, ejaculate, take a dump, fart, take a leak etc, even if you swear at someone. Someone who prays five times a day will eventually consider reducing the activities that break his/her wudu because its such a hassle to perform wudu again and again. In the longer run its helping you cut down on eating unnecessarily and other vices like swearing and fighting. But thats just some benefits one can derive out of regular salat if that person wishes to.
I do believe Islam encourages us to treat *deen *(religion) and *duniya *(worldly matters) equally and give them both equal importance. Rememberance of God is there to always remind us that God is watching whatever deeds we do. Nothing bad (and good) that we do is going unnoticed.
Consquently, im not sure if the SOLE reason of our existence is to worship God, the angels are enough for that purpose.
As for the purpose of our existance on earth, everyone is free to find their own reasons. I believe i have found my own (i also believe its the same purpose for all humanity) and i'll take a stab at explaining. We all know that our stay on this earth, this life, these worlds is all finite. Scientists also confirm that this earth (and the solar system and the universe) will not last forever. For someone who believes in Allah, and hence the Afterlife, knows that our stay on this earth is just a passing phase. This world/life is a testing ground where we are expected to behave in a certain manner. The best way to pass that test i believe is two-fold
- Worship God
- Service Humanity
While both are important, muslims today unfortunately have totally forgotten the second part. In Islam there is punishment for disobeying God. But there is a far bigger punishment for harming another human. So at the expense of being cheeky, no our reason of existance is not solely to worship God, but it is also to serve mankind.