The best known hadith about the five daily prayers, each in Arabic with a plain English rendering, the narrator, the collection and number, and the grading. Below them are the popular sayings about prayer that are not authentic.
بُنِيَ الإِسْلاَمُ عَلَى خَمْسٍ شَهَادَةِ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ، وَإِقَامِ الصَّلاَةِ، وَإِيتَاءِ الزَّكَاةِ، وَالْحَجِّ، وَصَوْمِ رَمَضَانَ
Islam is built on five: bearing witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, establishing the prayer, giving zakat, Hajj, and fasting in Ramadan.
Narrated by Abdullah ibn Umar · Sahih al-Bukhari 8; Sahih Muslim 16 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
إِنَّ بَيْنَ الرَّجُلِ وَبَيْنَ الشِّرْكِ وَالْكُفْرِ تَرْكَ الصَّلاَةِ
Between a man and shirk and disbelief stands the abandoning of the prayer.
Narrated by Jabir ibn Abdullah · Sahih Muslim 82 · Sahih
الْعَهْدُ الَّذِي بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَهُمُ الصَّلاَةُ فَمَنْ تَرَكَهَا فَقَدْ كَفَرَ
The covenant between us and them is the prayer, so whoever abandons it has disbelieved.
What this means for someone who misses prayers out of laziness is explained in the guide below, school by school.
Narrated by Buraydah · Jami' at-Tirmidhi 2621; Sunan an-Nasa'i 463; Sunan Ibn Majah 1079 · Graded sahih by al-Albani
إِنَّ أَوَّلَ مَا يُحَاسَبُ بِهِ الْعَبْدُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ مِنْ عَمَلِهِ صَلاَتُهُ فَإِنْ صَلُحَتْ فَقَدْ أَفْلَحَ وَأَنْجَحَ وَإِنْ فَسَدَتْ فَقَدْ خَابَ وَخَسِرَ فَإِنِ انْتَقَصَ مِنْ فَرِيضَتِهِ شَيْءٌ قَالَ الرَّبُّ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ انْظُرُوا هَلْ لِعَبْدِي مِنْ تَطَوُّعٍ فَيُكَمَّلَ بِهَا مَا انْتَقَصَ مِنَ الْفَرِيضَةِ ثُمَّ يَكُونُ سَائِرُ عَمَلِهِ عَلَى ذَلِكَ
The first of a servant's deeds he will be called to account for on the Day of Resurrection is his prayer. If it is sound, he has succeeded and prospered. If it is spoiled, he has failed and lost. If anything is lacking from his obligatory prayers, the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, will say: Look and see whether My servant has any voluntary prayer, so that what is lacking from the obligatory may be made up with it. Then the rest of his deeds will be treated in the same way.
Narrated by Abu Hurayrah · Jami' at-Tirmidhi 413; Sunan an-Nasa'i 465 · Graded sahih by al-Albani
أَرَأَيْتُمْ لَوْ أَنَّ نَهَرًا بِبَابِ أَحَدِكُمْ، يَغْتَسِلُ فِيهِ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ خَمْسًا، مَا تَقُولُ ذَلِكَ يُبْقِي مِنْ دَرَنِهِ ... فَذَلِكَ مِثْلُ الصَّلَوَاتِ الْخَمْسِ، يَمْحُو اللَّهُ بِهَا الْخَطَايَا
Tell me, if there were a river at the door of one of you and he bathed in it five times every day, would any of his dirt remain? (They said: none of his dirt would remain.) That is the likeness of the five prayers: through them Allah wipes away sins.
Narrated by Abu Hurayrah · Sahih al-Bukhari 528; Sahih Muslim 667 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
الصَّلاَةُ الْخَمْسُ وَالْجُمُعَةُ إِلَى الْجُمُعَةِ كَفَّارَةٌ لِمَا بَيْنَهُنَّ مَا لَمْ تُغْشَ الْكَبَائِرُ
The five prayers, and from one Jumu'ah to the next, are an expiation for what comes between them, as long as major sins are not committed.
Narrated by Abu Hurayrah · Sahih Muslim 233 · Sahih
الصَّلاَةُ عَلَى وَقْتِهَا ... ثُمَّ بِرُّ الْوَالِدَيْنِ ... الْجِهَادُ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ
I asked the Prophet ﷺ which deed is most beloved to Allah. He said: The prayer at its proper time. I asked: Then what? He said: Then being good to parents. I asked: Then what? He said: Striving in the path of Allah.
Narrated by Abdullah ibn Mas'ud · Sahih al-Bukhari 527; Sahih Muslim 85 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
صَلاَةُ الْجَمَاعَةِ تَفْضُلُ صَلاَةَ الْفَذِّ بِسَبْعٍ وَعِشْرِينَ دَرَجَةً
Prayer in congregation is better than prayer alone by twenty-seven degrees.
Narrated by Abdullah ibn Umar · Sahih al-Bukhari 645; Sahih Muslim 650 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
أَقْرَبُ مَا يَكُونُ الْعَبْدُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ وَهُوَ سَاجِدٌ فَأَكْثِرُوا الدُّعَاءَ
The closest a servant comes to his Lord is when he is in prostration, so make plenty of dua then.
Narrated by Abu Hurayrah · Sahih Muslim 482 · Sahih
مَنْ صَلَّى الصُّبْحَ فَهُوَ فِي ذِمَّةِ اللَّهِ فَلاَ يَطْلُبَنَّكُمُ اللَّهُ مِنْ ذِمَّتِهِ بِشَىْءٍ فَيُدْرِكَهُ فَيَكُبَّهُ فِي نَارِ جَهَنَّمَ
Whoever prays the morning prayer is under the protection of Allah. So let Allah not call you to account for anything against His protection, for whoever He calls to account for that, He will seize and throw into the Fire of Hell.
The scholars explain it two ways, and both are meant: do not harm a person who is under Allah's protection, and do not let yourself miss Fajr and lose that protection.
Narrated by Jundub ibn Abdullah · Sahih Muslim 657 · Sahih
مَنْ صَلَّى الْبَرْدَيْنِ دَخَلَ الْجَنَّةَ
Whoever prays the two cool prayers will enter Paradise.
The two cool prayers are Fajr and Asr, prayed in the cool of the early morning and the late afternoon.
Narrated by Abu Musa al-Ash'ari · Sahih al-Bukhari 574; Sahih Muslim 635 · Sahih (agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
يَا بِلاَلُ أَقِمِ الصَّلاَةَ أَرِحْنَا بِهَا
O Bilal, call the iqamah for the prayer: give us rest through it.
Narrated by a man of the Companions, through Salim ibn Abi al-Ja'd · Sunan Abi Dawud 4985 · Graded sahih by al-Albani
صَلُّوا كَمَا رَأَيْتُمُونِي أُصَلِّي
Pray as you have seen me praying.
Narrated by Malik ibn al-Huwayrith · Sahih al-Bukhari 631 · Sahih
These are often posted as hadith, but the hadith critics did not accept them as the Prophet's ﷺ words, or they are not found in the hadith books at all. Do not pass them on as hadith.
"Prayer is the pillar of the religion. Whoever establishes it has established the religion, and whoever abandons it has destroyed the religion."
Where: Al-Bayhaqi, Shu'ab al-Iman, and others. Grade: weak in this wording. A sound hadith says something close: "the pillar of the matter is the prayer" (Jami' at-Tirmidhi 2616, graded sahih by al-Albani).
"Whoever neglects the prayer, Allah will punish him with fifteen punishments: six in this life, three at death, three in the grave and three on the Day of Resurrection."
Where: Passed around in sermons and on social media, with no chain. Grade: fabricated, as Ibn Hajar and other critics said.
"Prayer is the mi'raj (ascension) of the believer."
Where: Quoted in books of spirituality without a chain. Grade: not found as a hadith in the hadith collections. Its meaning, that prayer is a meeting with Allah, is supported by sound hadith such as "the closest a servant comes to his Lord is in prostration".
Arabic: the standard wording from the fawazahmed0 hadith-api dataset of the six books and the Muwatta, cut to the Prophet's ﷺ words. English: our own plain rendering. Words in brackets are the setting, not the hadith. Muslim numbers follow Abd al-Baqi, as on sunnah.com. Pending review by the scholars on our team.
Guide
Short answer: the best known hadith about salah is "Islam is built on five", which names establishing the prayer straight after the shahadah (Sahih al-Bukhari 8, Sahih Muslim 16). Others teach that prayer is the first deed to be judged on the Day of Resurrection (Jami' at-Tirmidhi 413), that the five prayers wash away sins like bathing five times a day in a river (Sahih al-Bukhari 528), and that prayer at its proper time is the deed Allah loves most (Sahih al-Bukhari 527). All 13 hadith above are sahih or hasan.
All the schools agree that a person who denies that the five prayers are obligatory has left Islam. They differ over a Muslim who believes in the prayer but leaves it out of laziness, which is how they read the hadith of Jabir and Buraydah above.
A Muslim who leaves the prayer out of laziness, while believing it is obligatory, is a grave sinner (fasiq) but is still a Muslim. The hadith that call it disbelief are read as a severe warning, or as describing someone who denies the duty. The Hanafi books say he is to be made to pray, and the missed prayers remain a debt he must make up.
Whatever the school, the way back is the same: start praying today and make up what you missed. The qada calculator works out how many prayers you owe.
The rulings on this page are pending review by the scholars on our team.
For short quotes to share, see Islamic quotes about prayer. To learn the prayer step by step, see how to pray, and for the night prayer, the hadith about tahajjud.
charity (sadaqah), seeking knowledge, lying and truthfulness, tahajjud (the night prayer), kindness and mercy, patience (sabr), cleanliness and purity, intention (niyyah), marriage (nikah), parents and mothers, neighbours. Or see all hadith topics.
Questions
"Islam is built on five", which lists the prayer right after the shahadah (Sahih al-Bukhari 8, Sahih Muslim 16). The hadith that prayer is the first deed judged on the Day of Resurrection (Jami' at-Tirmidhi 413) is also very well known.
Jami' at-Tirmidhi 413 and Sunan an-Nasa'i 465, from Abu Hurayrah: the first deed a servant is called to account for is his prayer. Al-Albani graded it sahih.
Not in that full wording, which is weak. But Jami' at-Tirmidhi 2616 has "the pillar of the matter is the prayer", graded sahih by al-Albani.
The Prophet ﷺ compared the five daily prayers to bathing in a river five times a day: just as no dirt would remain, the prayers wipe away minor sins (Sahih al-Bukhari 528, Sahih Muslim 667).
Yes. "Prayer in congregation is better than prayer alone by twenty-seven degrees" is in Sahih al-Bukhari 645 and Sahih Muslim 650. Another version says twenty-five.