What Are the Fard Parts of Prayer?
What are the fard parts "before the salah" and "during the salah"?
There are 14 fard parts for the salah to be valid and these fourteen fard parts of salahs differ into two groups as "before the salah (prerequisites)" and "during the salah". The first seven of these are prerequisites which must be fulfilled before the commencement of the Prayer.
Fard Parts before the Salah: (Prerequisites)
1. Cleanliness of Body
The body has to be cleaned of all sorts of impurities, whether these are impurities in effect or impurities in fact, and one must have obtained purity either through Wudu or, if need be, through Ghusl.
2. Cleanliness of Garments
All the garments including even the cap, socks, gloves, etc., that one is wearing or having on one's body must be clean and pure beyond any shadow of a doubt.
3. Cleanliness of Place
The minimum requirement is that the place where one intends to stand and where one's knees, hands and forehead would rest in Sajdah, must be clean, whether it is a piece of plain ground or floor, or a mat, etc., bat one should also avoid standing for the Prayer at a place which is stinking with filth and dirt around it.
4. Covering of Satr
For males it is the part of the body between the navel and the knee, and for females it is the whole body excluding the face, hands and feet. Women should see that the ankles do not remain uncovered.
5. Ascertaining the right time for a Prayer
Each Prayer has to be performed within the time limit prescribed for it. If a Prayer is performed before its time, it will be no Prayer at all, and if it is offered after the time for it has elapsed, it will have to be offered as a missed (Qada) Prayer.
6. Facing the Qibla
If a person performs his Prayer with his face turned towards a direction other than that of the Qibla, unless there is a genuine reason for that, his Prayer will not be deemed to have been performed.
7. Intention
Having the intention to offer the salah in the mind, which may also be expressed with the tongue, to offer a particular Fard Prayer at a prescribed time, or a particular missed Prayer afterwards. For the Sunnah or Nafl Prayers, however, the mention of the time is not necessary. If one is going to offer a Prayer under the leadership of an Imam, one has to express intention to that effect, too.
Fard Parts During the Salah:
These are the pillars or principles which have to observed during the Prayer :
1. Takbir Tahrimah
To begin the Prayer with (Allahu Akbar), (Allahu A'zam) or (Allahu A'la) etc., expressing the greatness and glory of Allah. This is called Takbir Tahrimah because after one has pronounced it, one is forbidden to move about, talk or drink, etc.
2. Qiyam
To stand upright in a Fard or Wajib Prayer at least for so long that one may complete recitation of that much [of a] portion of the Qur'an, which one has to recite as an imperative duty. In the Nafl Prayer, however, Qiyam is not necessary.
3. Qira'at
To recite by heart one verse of the Qur'an, consisting of at least two words, like (Allah-us-Samad). According to Imam Muhammad and Abu Yusuf, one should make it a habit to recite more of the Qur'an, for instance, three short verses or one long verse, though according to Imam Abu Hanifah, one short verse containing at least two words will suffice for the purpose.
Qira'at is obligatory in any two of the rak'ahs of the Fard Prayer, e.g., in the first and second, second and third, third and fourth, or the first and last, but in the Wajib Sunnat, or Nafl Prayer, Qira'at has to be done in all the rak'ahs.
4. Ruku
To bend down to the extent that the hands reach the knees is obligatory once in each rak'ah.
5 Sajdah
To prostrate oneself twice in every rak'ah.
6. Qa'dah Akhirah
To sit in the prescribed way at the end of the last rak'ah of the Prayer for so long that one may complete recitation of Tashahhud.
7. Salam.
To end the prayer with a voluntary action or words not included in the Prayer after one has performed the full Prayer and brought it to completion. (Everyday Fiqh (Vol. 1) by Abdul Aziz Kamal)