How many rakahs is each prayer?
6 min read
Short answer
The obligatory rakahs are: Fajr 2, Dhuhr 4, Asr 4, Maghrib 3 and Isha 4. That is 17 rakahs of fard in a day and night.
Around them sit the sunnah rakahs, the most emphasised being the two before Fajr, those attached to Dhuhr, two after Maghrib and two after Isha, plus witr at the end of the night. While travelling, the four rakah prayers are shortened to two.
A rakah is one full unit of the prayer: standing and reciting, bowing, standing up again, then two prostrations. Every prayer is built from that same unit repeated. Once you know the unit, the only thing separating one prayer from another is how many times you repeat it, which is what this page sets out.
The obligatory rakahs
These are the fard, the ones that are required. This is the list to memorise first.
- Fajr: 2 rakahs, recited aloud
- Dhuhr: 4 rakahs, recited silently
- Asr: 4 rakahs, recited silently
- Maghrib: 3 rakahs, the first two aloud
- Isha: 4 rakahs, the first two aloud
That totals 17 obligatory rakahs across a day and night. On Friday, Jumuah takes the place of Dhuhr for anyone attending it, and is 2 rakahs in congregation following the khutbah.
In every prayer, Surah Al-Fatiha is recited in each rakah, with a further passage of the Qur'an added in the first two rakahs only. If you do not yet know Al-Fatiha by heart, that is the first thing to learn, and the text is set out in Surah Al-Fatiha with meaning. You sit for the Tashahhud after the second rakah and again at the end of the prayer.
The sunnah rakahs
Alongside the obligatory prayers sit the regular voluntary rakahs, often called the rawatib. They are not required, but they are strongly encouraged, and it was reported that whoever prays twelve voluntary rakahs in a day and night will have a house built for them in Paradise.
The set most commonly prayed is:
- Before Fajr: 2 rakahs, the most emphasised of all the voluntary prayers
- Before Dhuhr: 4 rakahs, or 2 depending on the school and the narration followed
- After Dhuhr: 2 rakahs
- Asr: no emphasised sunnah, though 4 rakahs before it are recommended in some schools as a non emphasised voluntary prayer
- After Maghrib: 2 rakahs
- After Isha: 2 rakahs
The schools count these slightly differently, mainly around Dhuhr, and each count rests on authentic narrations. None of it is a dispute worth losing sleep over. If you are building a routine, start with the two before Fajr and the two after Maghrib, which are the easiest to hold on to, and add the rest once those are habit.
Witr
Witr is the prayer that closes the night. Its name means odd, because it is always prayed in an odd number of rakahs, most commonly one or three. It is prayed any time after Isha, and is best left until the end of the night for anyone who is confident of waking, since the instruction was to make witr the last of what you pray at night.
Its status is where the schools genuinely part, and this is worth knowing because Hanafi readers are often told witr is optional and are surprised to hear otherwise in their own school.
What the four schools say
What is the status of witr, and how many rakahs is it?
Every school treats witr as something a Muslim should be praying nightly. They differ on how binding it is and on its form, not on whether it matters.
Shortening the prayer when travelling
On a journey the four rakah prayers are cut to two, which is called qasr. Fajr stays at two and Maghrib stays at three, so only Dhuhr, Asr and Isha change:
- Fajr: 2 rakahs, unchanged
- Dhuhr: 2 rakahs instead of 4
- Asr: 2 rakahs instead of 4
- Maghrib: 3 rakahs, unchanged
- Isha: 2 rakahs instead of 4
That is the whole of what travel does to the counts. The rest of it, what actually counts as a journey, how long the concession lasts once you arrive, whether you may also combine two prayers into one sitting, and what to do behind a resident imam, is a subject of its own with a real spread of positions across the schools. We have given it a full page: how to pray when travelling.
Putting it together
If you take nothing else from this page, take the fard counts: 2, 4, 4, 3, 4. Everything else is layered on top of them and none of it is owed until the five are secure. Once they are, add the two before Fajr, then witr, then the rest, in that order.
For what happens inside each rakah, from the opening takbir to the closing salam, see how to pray salah step by step. For the sitting that ends the second and final rakahs, see the Tashahhud and when to say it.
Common questions
›Do I have to pray the sunnah rakahs?
No. Only the fard rakahs are obligatory, and a prayer made only of those is complete and valid. The sunnah rakahs are voluntary, heavily encouraged, and the usual advice to someone starting out is to secure the five obligatory prayers first and add the sunnahs once those are steady.
›How many rakahs is Jumuah?
Two. On Friday the Jumuah prayer replaces Dhuhr for those who attend it, and consists of two rakahs prayed in congregation after the khutbah. Anyone who does not attend Jumuah prays Dhuhr as four rakahs as normal. Sunnah rakahs are commonly prayed after Jumuah as well.
›Do I still shorten the prayer if I am praying behind a local imam?
No. Someone travelling who joins a congregation led by a resident imam praying four rakahs completes four with them rather than stopping at two. The shortening applies when you are praying alone or in a congregation of travellers. Maghrib and Fajr are never shortened in any case.
›How many rakahs is Tarawih?
It is prayed in Ramadan after Isha in units of two, and both eight and twenty rakahs are long established practices with evidence behind them, followed by witr. Mosques differ, and praying whatever your local congregation prays is sound. Tarawih is voluntary throughout.
Sources referenced
- The hadith of Umm Habibah on twelve rakahs of voluntary prayer in a day and night and a house built in Paradise, reported in Sahih Muslim.
- The narration of Ibn Umar listing the rakahs he prayed with the Prophet alongside the obligatory prayers, reported in Sahih al-Bukhari.
- The hadith that the night prayer is two by two, and when dawn is feared one rakah is prayed to make it witr, reported in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.
- The hadith instructing that the last of the night prayer be witr, reported in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.
- Qur'an 4:101 on there being no blame in shortening the prayer while travelling.
- The narration of Ibn Abbas that the Prophet's prayer while travelling was two rakahs, reported in Sahih Muslim.
Where the schools of thought differ we have given each position rather than choosing one. For a ruling on your own situation, ask a qualified scholar in your community.
Put it into practice
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