A beginner’s real worry is rarely what the positions look like. It is whether the prayer counted. This guide from Quran Pak Teacher covers how to pray namaz from the opening takbir to the final salam, including the words you say at each position, what makes a prayer valid, and what to do when you lose count. The method follows the Hanafi school, which most families of Pakistani and Indian background follow. Where other schools differ, that is said plainly rather than skipped.
When each prayer becomes due
Fajr begins at true dawn and ends at sunrise. Zuhr begins once the sun has passed its highest point and ends when the Asr time starts. Asr runs until sunset. Maghrib begins at sunset and lasts until the red glow in the sky has gone. Isha begins after that and runs until true dawn.
Two practical points. Fajr and Maghrib have short windows, so those are the ones people miss. And the start of Asr is the reason two mosques in the same town can print different timetables. The Hanafi position places it when an object’s shadow reaches twice its own length, while the other three schools place it at one length. Both are established positions. Follow the timetable of the mosque you pray in rather than arguing about it.
The number of rakats in each namaz
Only the fard rakats are obligatory. There are seventeen across the day. Fajr has two, Zuhr four, Asr four, Maghrib three, and Isha four.
Around those sit the sunnah prayers. Darul Uloom Deoband gives the Hanafi order as two sunnah muakkadah then two fard at Fajr. At Zuhr, four sunnah muakkadah, four fard, two sunnah muakkadah and two nafl. At Asr, four sunnah ghayr muakkadah then four fard. At Maghrib, three fard then two sunnah muakkadah. At Isha, four sunnah ghayr muakkadah, four fard, two sunnah muakkadah, two nafl, three witr and two nafl.
Witr is wajib in the Hanafi school, meaning leaving it without excuse is blameworthy. The other three schools treat it as strongly recommended rather than obligatory.
Fajr and the first two rakats of Maghrib and Isha are recited aloud when leading others. Everything else is recited silently. Praying alone, you may recite the aloud prayers quietly if you prefer.
Five conditions before you begin
Your wudu must be valid. Your body, your clothes and the place you stand on must be free of impurity. Your satr must be covered, which for men is navel to knee and for women everything except the face, hands and feet. You must face the qiblah. The time for that particular prayer must have entered.
Intention is the sixth condition. It is a decision in your heart about which prayer you are about to perform. You do not have to say it aloud, and the long Arabic or Urdu formulas printed in some books are not required.
The two rakat prayer from start to finish
Stand facing the qiblah with your feet roughly four fingers apart. Raise your hands to your earlobes, say Allahu Akbar, and fold them. Hanafi men fold below the navel, right hand over left wrist. Women fold on the chest.
This opening takbir, called takbir tahrimah, is the moment the prayer begins. Say it loud enough that you can hear yourself.
Recite the opening supplication quietly: Subhanaka Allahumma wa bihamdika, wa tabarakasmuka, wa ta’ala jadduka, wa la ilaha ghayruk. Then A’udhu billahi minash shaytanir rajim and Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim.
Now recite Surah al-Fatiha:
Alhamdu 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.
In plain terms, it opens by praising Allah as Lord of all creation, the Most Merciful, Master of the Day of Judgement. It then states that Him alone we worship and from Him alone we seek help, and asks to be kept on the straight path, the path of those He has favoured, not of those who earned anger or went astray.
Say ameen quietly, then recite any other passage of the Quran you know. Three short verses, or one long one, is enough. Most beginners use a short surah from the end of the Mushaf.
Say Allahu Akbar and bow into ruku. Men keep the back level with the floor and grip the knees with fingers spread. Women bow less deeply, just far enough for the hands to reach the knees. Say Subhana Rabbiyal Azeem three times.
Rise saying Sami Allahu liman hamidah, and once standing upright say Rabbana lakal hamd.
Say Allahu Akbar and go down into sajdah. Seven parts touch the ground: the forehead, the nose, both palms, both knees, and the toes of both feet. Men keep the elbows off the floor and away from the body. Women keep the arms and body drawn in close. Say Subhana Rabbiyal A’la three times.
Sit up saying Allahu Akbar, pause briefly, then say Allahu Akbar and prostrate a second time in the same way. That completes one rakat.
Stand for the second rakat and repeat everything from Fatiha onwards. You do not repeat the opening supplication.
After the second sajdah of the second rakat, sit and recite the tashahhud:
At-tahiyyatu lillahi was salawatu wat tayyibat. As-salamu alayka ayyuhan nabiyyu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. As-salamu alayna wa ala ibadillahis salihin. Ashhadu an la ilaha illallah, wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluh.
At the words la ilaha, raise the right index finger, and lower it at illallah.
Then recite the durood, beginning Allahumma salli ala Muhammadin, followed by a short supplication. Turn your face to the right and say Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah, then to the left and say the same. The prayer is complete.
Three and four rakat prayers follow the same shape
After the second rakat you sit and recite the tashahhud only, without the durood, then stand again saying Allahu Akbar.
In the third and fourth rakats you recite Surah al-Fatiha alone and add no further passage. These rakats are recited silently even in the prayers that began aloud. The final sitting carries the full tashahhud, durood and supplication before the salam.
Maghrib works the same way with three rakats, sitting after the second and again after the third.
Twelve acts decide whether the prayer is valid
This is the part most guides leave out, and it answers the question beginners actually have.
Hanafi scholarship counts twelve obligatory acts. Six are the conditions described earlier, completed before you start. The other six happen inside the prayer: the opening takbir, standing, recitation, ruku, sujud, and sitting at the end long enough to complete the tashahhud.
Omit any one of these, on purpose or by mistake, and the prayer must be prayed again. Everything else, including the opening supplication, the exact number of tasbihs, and the recitation in the last two rakats, adds reward without deciding validity.
Knowing that line saves a great deal of unnecessary worry. A prayer prayed with imperfect concentration or a forgotten sunnah is still a valid prayer.
Differences you will notice between people praying
Stand in a mixed congregation and you will see people praying slightly differently. Nobody there is making a mistake.
Hanafi men fold their hands below the navel while Shafi’i men fold them on the chest. Hanafis raise the hands only at the opening takbir, while Shafi’is and Hanbalis also raise them before and after ruku. Hanafis say ameen silently after Fatiha, while Shafi’is say it aloud. Behind an imam, Hanafi practice is to listen rather than recite Fatiha yourself, while the Shafi’i position requires reciting it.
These positions come from careful work on the same body of reports, not from carelessness. Follow the school your family follows, and do not correct strangers in the row beside you.
How a woman’s namaz differs in the Hanafi school
The words, the rakats and the sequence are identical. The differences are in posture, and they follow the principle of drawing the body in rather than extending it.
A woman folds her hands on the chest rather than below the navel. In ruku she bows only far enough for her hands to reach her knees, keeping the fingers together and the legs straight rather than bent. In sajdah she keeps her arms against her sides, her stomach against her thighs, and her feet pointing out to the right rather than upright. She sits on her left hip with both feet to the right side.
Scholars outside the Hanafi school, and some within it, hold that a woman prays exactly as a man does. Both views are held by serious scholars, and a woman following her family’s practice is on solid ground either way.
Losing count does not mean starting again
If you forget whether you are in the second or third rakat, or you stand up without sitting for the first tashahhud, the repair is sajdah sahw rather than repeating the whole prayer.
In the Hanafi method you give the salam to the right side only, then perform two prostrations, then sit and recite the tashahhud, durood and supplication before giving both salams.
Note the limit carefully, because many sites get this wrong. Sajdah sahw repairs a missed wajib act. It does not repair the omission of one of the twelve obligatory acts, and that prayer is prayed again from the beginning. It is also required if you recite aloud where you should have been silent, or silent where you should have been aloud.
If you genuinely cannot decide how many rakats you have prayed and this is the first time it has happened, the Hanafi ruling is to start the prayer again.
Prayers you have missed still have to be prayed
A missed fard prayer does not disappear. It is made up as qada as soon as you are able, and in the Hanafi school the order matters, so a missed Zuhr is prayed before the Asr that follows it if you have fewer than six outstanding.
People returning to prayer after years away often feel paralysed by the arithmetic. The practical advice scholars give is to pray each current prayer on time and add one made-up prayer alongside it, steadily, rather than attempting to calculate a decade in one sitting. Ask a qualified person about your own case rather than relying on a number you found online.
Friday changes the middle prayer for men
On Fridays, Jumu’ah replaces Zuhr for men who are able to attend. It is two fard rakats prayed in congregation after the khutbah, with sunnah rakats before and after. Women may pray Jumu’ah if they attend, or pray Zuhr as normal.
Common mistakes worth avoiding
Rushing is the most frequent. Each position needs a moment of stillness, and a ruku that does not settle is not a ruku.
Lifting the forehead but not the nose in sajdah, or letting the toes leave the ground, both affect the prostration. Starting the prayer before the time has entered makes it invalid regardless of how well it was performed. And moving through positions before the imam does, rather than after him, is a habit worth breaking early.
Starting before you can recite Arabic
Many adults arrive at this page unable to read Arabic at all, and almost every guide quietly assumes otherwise.
Learning Surah al-Fatiha correctly is the first priority, because it is recited in every single rakat. Until you have it, scholars give provisions for the person who is genuinely still learning, and the ruling depends on your circumstances, so ask someone qualified rather than deciding for yourself. What you should not do is delay praying until your Arabic is perfect.
A transliteration will get you facing the right direction and moving in the right order, and that is worth something. But it will also teach you English sounds in place of Arabic letters that have no English equivalent, and those habits set hard and are difficult to undo years later. A teacher hears in the first minute that a letter is coming from the wrong part of the mouth and corrects it before it becomes permanent.
That is the honest limit of any written guide on how to pray namaz. Everything above will get you praying correctly in form. Getting the sounds right needs someone listening, and a free trial class costs nothing to find out.