Beginner educational guide for new Muslims. Last updated 14 September 2026. This is not a fatwa and not a full fiqh manual. Schools of law differ on details. Learn a consistent method from a living teacher. Sajada’s printed beginner materials follow Maliki teaching where a school must be named.
Start praying now. You do not make up the prayers from before you became Muslim. Recite Al-Fatihah in Arabic (you may learn it through Latin-letter phonetics first). Pray on time while you are still learning. A short flyer or a phonetic mat is enough to begin. A longer book can sit on your phone as a companion. It is not a paywall in front of salah.
What “revert” means here
Muslims often say revert for someone who accepts Islam later in life, from the idea that every child is born on fitrah. Convert is also understood. This guide is for the adult who said the shahada yesterday, or last month, and is staring at the clock for Dhuhr.
What you need before the first prayer
- Shahada. You have already entered Islam by testifying that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His Messenger. You do not wait for a perfect Arabic accent.
- Awrah covered. Men: from navel to knee as a minimum in prayer, with the shoulders covered in the well-known practice. Women: the body except face and hands, in a garment that is not see-through. Local teachers will show you what is customary in your mosque.
- Wudu (ablution). Wash for prayer. In the Maliki school the obligatory acts are seven: intention in the heart; washing the whole face; washing the arms to and including the elbows; wiping the whole head; washing the feet to and including the ankles; rubbing the washed limbs while they are wet; continuity, without a long gap. Rinsing the mouth and nose is sunnah in that school, not fard. Ears are sunnah with fresh water. The usual method is to wash each limb three times. Learn one method and stick to it while you are new.
- A clean place, facing qibla. A mat helps. A clean towel or a corner of a rug also works. Use a qibla app or a mosque wall until your sense of direction is steady.
- The time of that prayer. Pray it in its time even if the recitation is clumsy.
The five prayers, in units (rakahs)
| Prayer | Obligatory rakahs | When (plain language) |
|---|---|---|
| Fajr | 2 | From true dawn until sunrise |
| Dhuhr | 4 | After the sun passes its peak, until mid-afternoon |
| Asr | 4 | Mid-afternoon until sunset |
| Maghrib | 3 | Just after sunset |
| Isha | 4 | Night, after Maghrib’s time has ended |
Sunnah prayers around these exist. Do not pile them on until the five are a habit. Get the five in on time first.
One rakah, in order
A rakah is one unit: stand, recite, bow, stand, prostrate, sit, prostrate. Two, three, or four rakahs make one salah. Learn this skeleton before you worry about extra duas.
- Intention. In the heart. Example: “I am praying Dhuhr, four rakahs, for Allah.” You do not have to announce it out loud.
- Face qibla and stand if you can. If standing is genuinely beyond you, sit. Pray. Do not skip the prayer because standing is hard.
- Opening takbir. Raise the hands (in the well-known Maliki teaching, to the shoulders for this opening takbir) and say Allahu Akbar. That enters you into the prayer. From here, do not talk, eat, or scroll.
- Standing recitation. Recite Al-Fatihah in Arabic. This is required. Latin phonetics are a bridge so you can produce the Arabic sounds. They are not a permanent replacement. After Al-Fatihah, in the first two rakahs of an obligatory prayer, it is sunnah in Maliki teaching to add a short surah. You may skip the extra surah while you are still locking Al-Fatihah.
- Ruku (bowing). Say Allahu Akbar, bow with a straight back, and settle. A common dhikr is Subhana rabbiyal-adheem. There is no fixed tasbih count in the well-known Maliki position. Pause until you are still.
- Rise. Straighten up and pause. A common phrase on rising is Sami Allahu liman hamidah, then Rabbana wa lakal-hamd.
- First sujood. Say Allahu Akbar and go down. Forehead, nose, palms, knees, and toes on the ground. A common dhikr is Subhana rabbiyal-a’la. Pause still.
- Sit between the two sajdas. A short pause. A common phrase is Rabbighfir li.
- Second sujood, same as the first.
- Stand for the next rakah, or sit for tashahhud if this rakah ends a sitting.
Hands while standing: later Maliki manuals often teach sadl (arms at the sides). Clasping the right over the left, below the chest and above the navel, is also established in the school. Both are accepted. Do not treat one as the only valid prayer. Other schools clasp on the chest. Follow the mosque you actually pray in, then study with a teacher.
Al-Fatihah in Latin letters
Learn this by ear from a clean reciter as well as from print. The prayer needs the Arabic recitation. This is a pronunciation aid.
Bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim
Al-hamdu lillahi rabbil-alamin
Ar-rahmanir-rahim
Maliki yawmid-din
Iyyaka na’budu wa iyyaka nasta’in
Ihdinas-siratal-mustaqim
Siratal-ladhina an’amta alayhim ghayril-maghdubi alayhim wa lad-dallin
Meaning, in brief: In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful. All praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds. The Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful. Master of the Day of Judgement. You alone we worship and You alone we ask for help. Guide us on the straight path, the path of those You have blessed, not of those who earned anger, nor of those who went astray.
If you freeze mid-verse, finish what you know, then keep the prayer moving. Repair the line after salam. Do not abandon the prayer because a word slipped.
Tashahhud and ending
After two rakahs (and again at the end of a 3- or 4-rakah prayer) you sit and recite the tashahhud. Wording differs by school. The Maliki sitting testimony is the one associated with Umar, from al-Muwatta, and includes the line az-zakiyatu lillah. If you learned another authentic tashahhud at the mosque, keep it until a teacher sorts the difference. Then send salawat on the Prophet (peace be upon him).
End with salam. In the well-known Maliki practice that is one tasleem: As-salamu alaykum, facing forward and turning slightly right. Many mosques teach two tasleems, right then left. Follow the people in the row while you are new so you do not invent a third method in public. Learn the rule later.
In obligatory prayers, the well-known Maliki teaching does not add an opening dua after the first takbir, and does not add ta’awwudh or basmala before Al-Fatihah as part of that recitation. Other schools do. If your local imam recites them, do not argue in the prayer. Study the difference afterwards.
A first-week plan that actually works
- Day 1–2. Wudu until it is automatic. Pray the five on time, even if Al-Fatihah is incomplete. Stand, bow, two sajdas, sit, salam.
- Day 3–7. Lock Al-Fatihah by repeating it after every salah and once in the car. Add the short tashahhud you were taught.
- Week 2. Add a short surah in the first two rakahs (Al-Ikhlas is enough). Learn the names and rakah counts of the five prayers without looking.
- When you have a teacher. Correct pronunciation, wudu nullifiers, and what to do when you miss a prayer. Do not collect ten YouTube methods.
Women: salah is not required during menstruation. When it ends, you make ghusl, then resume. You do not make up the missed fard prayers from those days. Ask a woman teacher for the practical details.
Mistakes that freeze new Muslims
- Waiting until it is perfect. The prayer you pray weakly today is the prayer of this time. Tomorrow’s better Arabic does not replace it.
- Making up a lifetime of salah from before Islam. You start from the shahada forward.
- Treating English as the recitation. Understand in English. Recite Al-Fatihah in Arabic.
- Skipping salah because you are in an office or a park. A travel mat or even a clean jacket on the ground is enough to begin. Then find a better spot next time.
- Shame in the mosque. Stand at the back, copy the row, say salam to one person, leave. Belonging comes after repetition, not before the first Dhuhr.
Tools that help without becoming the religion
A phonetic prayer mat prints the sequence in Latin letters, with posture cues, on foam you can kneel on. Sajada’s adult Step-by-Step Phonetic Padded Prayer Mat and the kids edition use English phonetics. They do not print Arabic script. You can take that mat to a hotel room and still see the next line. It costs the same band as a standard padded mat at one unit ($64.95). It is a teaching surface, not a condition of valid salah.
After you give salam, the usual extra remembrance is Subhan Allah, Alhamdulillah, and Allahu Akbar, thirty-three each, as in Sahih Muslim 597a. A small tasbih helps you count. See how to use Islamic prayer beads.
If knees hurt on tile, a padded mat (about 1.5 cm foam) or an ergonomic mat with a 5 cm raised knee cushion can make the postures possible. Pain is not a reason to drop salah. See how to choose a prayer mat.
Shop the adult phonetic mat and the kids phonetic mat. Free beginner downloads on the site live at sajada.com/pages/downloads if you want paper next to the mat.
Frequently asked questions
Do new Muslims have to pray all five from day one?
Yes. Pray them in their times. Recitation can be incomplete while you learn. The obligation starts with Islam, not with fluency.
Do I make up prayers from before I became Muslim?
No. Start now. Go forward from the shahada.
Can I read Al-Fatihah from a phone in salah?
Ask your teacher. The goal is to put Al-Fatihah in your memory. A phonetic mat or a paper card in front of you is a common beginner aid. Do not build a habit of scrolling mid-prayer.
Which school should a revert follow?
Follow the mosque you can actually attend, then sit with one teacher. Sajada’s own beginner print follows Maliki rulings when a school must be named. Valid salah exists across the four schools. Do not hop methods every week.
What if I miss a prayer while learning?
Pray it when you remember. Keep the five as the spine of the day. Shame is not a plan. A reminder on your phone is.
You are allowed to be new. You are not allowed to wait. Pray this next one, then open Al-Fatihah again after salam.
