How Many Rakats in Each Prayer? Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha

How many rakats in each prayer: the full table

Here is the whole day in one place. "Fard" is obligatory. "Sunnah mu'akkadah" is the emphasised sunnah that the Prophet (peace be upon him) prayed consistently. "Sunnah ghayr mu'akkadah" is the non-emphasised sunnah he prayed sometimes. "Nafl" is extra voluntary prayer.

Totals

• Fard rakats in a day: 2 + 4 + 4 + 3 + 4 = 17
• Emphasised sunnah rakats in a day: 2 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 12 (the "twelve rakats" of the famous hadith)
• Witr: 3 in the Hanafi school (wajib), or an odd number of your choice in the other schools
• A common full daily count, including nafl, in the Hanafi tradition: 48 rakats. The minimum that fulfils your obligation: 17.

The twelve sunnah rakats and why they matter

Umm Habibah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Whoever prays twelve rakats in a day and night, a house will be built for him in Paradise: four before Dhuhr and two after it, two after Maghrib, two after Isha, and two before Fajr." (Muslim, Tirmidhi)

That is the source of the emphasised sunnah counts in the table. They are not obligatory, but the Prophet almost never left them, and the reward attached to them is a house in Jannah. If you only add one thing to your fard prayers, add these twelve.

Fajr: 2 sunnah + 2 fard

Fajr is the shortest prayer and the one with the most emphatic sunnah. The two rakats before Fajr are the sunnah the Prophet (peace be upon him) guarded most strictly. Aisha said he was never more regular in any voluntary prayer than the two rakats before Fajr (Bukhari and Muslim), and he said, "The two rakats of Fajr are better than the world and all it contains." (Muslim)

Order: two sunnah, then two fard.

Details worth knowing

• The Prophet kept the sunnah of Fajr short, often reciting al-Kafirun in the first rakat and al-Ikhlas in the second (Muslim).
• If you arrive and the iqamah has already been called, pray the fard with the congregation and pray the sunnah after sunrise; you do not start a voluntary prayer once the fard has begun (Muslim).
• There is no sunnah or nafl after Fajr until the sun has risen.

Dhuhr: 4 sunnah + 4 fard + 2 sunnah

Dhuhr carries the most rakats of the day.

Order: four sunnah before, four fard, two sunnah after, and in the Hanafi school two further nafl after that.

The four before

The hadith of the twelve rakats specifies four before Dhuhr. Aisha said the Prophet (peace be upon him) would not leave four rakats before Dhuhr (Bukhari). In the Hanafi school these four are prayed as one set with one salam. In the Shafi'i and Hanbali schools they may be prayed as two sets of two, and some narrations mention only two before Dhuhr, which is why you will see both practices in the masjid.

The two after

Two rakats after Dhuhr, with one salam. Some narrations mention four after Dhuhr, and the Prophet said, "Whoever keeps to four rakats before Dhuhr and four after it, Allah will forbid him to the Fire." (Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi; graded hasan). So praying four after is a virtue, though the emphasised sunnah is two.

Asr: 4 fard, with 4 optional before

Asr has no emphasised sunnah. The four fard are the whole obligation.

The four before Asr are non-emphasised: the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "May Allah have mercy on a person who prays four rakats before Asr." (Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi; graded hasan). Pray them as two sets of two in the Shafi'i and Hanbali view, or four with one salam in the Hanafi view.

No voluntary prayer after Asr until Maghrib, based on the Prophet's prohibition of praying after Asr until the sun sets (Bukhari and Muslim). Making up a missed prayer at that time is permitted.

Asr is also the "middle prayer" that Allah singles out in Quran 2:238 according to the majority of scholars, and the Prophet said that whoever misses Asr, it is as if he lost his family and wealth (Bukhari and Muslim). Four rakats, on time, every day.

Maghrib: 3 fard + 2 sunnah

Maghrib is the only prayer with three rakats. It comes right after sunset and has a short window, so the practice is to pray the fard first and the sunnah after.

Order: three fard, then two sunnah (emphasised), then two nafl if you wish.

Two light rakats before Maghrib? The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Pray before Maghrib," three times, and on the third time added, "for whoever wishes," so that people would not take it as a fixed sunnah (Bukhari). The Companions used to pray two quick rakats between the adhan and the iqamah of Maghrib. It is permitted and good, not emphasised.

The two after Maghrib are among the twelve. The Prophet used to recite al-Kafirun and al-Ikhlas in them (Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah). Many scholars recommend praying them at home, because the Prophet said the best prayer, apart from the obligatory one, is the prayer in one's home (Bukhari and Muslim).

Isha: 4 fard + 2 sunnah + Witr

Order: four non-emphasised sunnah before (optional), four fard, two emphasised sunnah after, two nafl (Hanafi), then Witr.

The two after Isha complete the twelve emphasised rakats. Witr comes after everything else, and it is the last prayer of the night unless you pray Tahajjud, in which case Witr goes after Tahajjud.

Witr: how many rakats?

Witr means "odd". The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Allah is Witr and loves Witr," and, "Make your last prayer at night Witr." (Bukhari and Muslim)

Hanafi school: Witr is wajib (a level just below fard) and is exactly three rakats prayed like Maghrib but with one difference: you do not sit for a final tashahhud after the second rakat in a way that ends the prayer; you stand for the third, recite, and before ruku you raise your hands, say Allahu Akbar, and recite Dua al-Qunut.

Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali schools: Witr is a strongly emphasised sunnah. The minimum is one rakat, and it can be three, five, seven, nine or eleven, most commonly three (two rakats with salam, then one rakat) or three with a single salam, and Dua al-Qunut is read after ruku in the last rakat, especially in the second half of Ramadan.

Aisha reported that the Prophet's night prayer, including Witr, never exceeded eleven rakats (Bukhari and Muslim), which gives the upper limit most people follow.

Jummah: 2 fard in place of Dhuhr

On Friday, the four fard of Dhuhr are replaced by the two rakats of the Jummah prayer, prayed in congregation after the khutbah. The khutbah is considered to stand in for the two missing rakats.

Before Jummah: the Hanafi school prays four sunnah before the khutbah. Other schools recommend praying whatever voluntary rakats you can between arriving and the imam's ascent of the minbar, based on the Prophet's words that whoever does wudu, comes to Jummah, prays what is decreed for him and then listens quietly, is forgiven between that Friday and the next (Muslim).

After Jummah: the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "When one of you has prayed Jummah, let him pray four after it." (Muslim). Ibn Umar reported that the Prophet prayed two rakats after Jummah in his house (Bukhari and Muslim). Scholars reconcile these as four in the masjid or two at home. The Hanafi school prays four then two, for six in total.

If you miss Jummah, you pray Dhuhr as normal: four rakats.

Taraweeh: 8 or 20 rakats

Taraweeh is the night prayer of Ramadan, prayed after Isha and before Witr. Aisha reported that the Prophet's night prayer, in Ramadan and outside it, never exceeded eleven rakats, which many take as eight rakats of Taraweeh plus three of Witr (Bukhari and Muslim). Under Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), the people of Madinah prayed twenty rakats in congregation, and this became the practice of the two Holy Mosques and the majority of masjids.

Both are valid. Twenty follows the practice of the Companions; eight follows the Prophet's own most usual count. Pray whichever your masjid prays, and if you pray at home, pray what you can with attention rather than racing through a number. Taraweeh is prayed in sets of two rakats.

Tahajjud: 2 to 8 rakats, in twos

Tahajjud is the voluntary night prayer after sleeping, and it is the most virtuous voluntary prayer: "The best prayer after the obligatory prayers is the night prayer." (Muslim)

There is no fixed number. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "The night prayer is two by two," (Bukhari and Muslim), meaning you pray sets of two rakats and stop when you wish. His own practice, as Aisha described it, was eleven rakats including Witr, often in sets of two followed by one Witr, and sometimes four, then four, then three. If you prayed Witr after Isha and then wake for Tahajjud, pray Tahajjud without repeating Witr, since "there are no two Witrs in one night" (Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi).

A realistic starting point: two rakats. Anyone can do two.

Eid prayers: 2 rakats with extra takbirs

Both Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha are two rakats prayed in congregation after sunrise, with no adhan or iqamah, followed by a khutbah. The difference from a normal prayer is the extra takbirs: in the Hanafi practice three extra takbirs after the opening takbir in the first rakat and three before ruku in the second; in the Shafi'i and Hanbali practice seven extra in the first rakat and five in the second. Both are based on reports from the Companions.

Other prayers and their rakats

Rakats when travelling: qasr

When you travel a distance that qualifies as a journey (the common benchmark is about 80 km or 48 miles, though the schools differ), the four-rakat prayers are shortened:

Allah says, "When you travel through the land, there is no blame upon you for shortening the prayer" (Quran 4:101), and the Prophet (peace be upon him) shortened his prayers on every journey. Umar reported that the traveller's prayer is two rakats, complete and not deficient, as taught by the Prophet (Muslim). The Hanafi school considers qasr obligatory for the traveller; the others consider it a strongly recommended concession.

The regular sunnah prayers are generally dropped on a journey, except the two before Fajr and Witr, which the Prophet kept even while travelling (Bukhari and Muslim). Travellers may also combine Dhuhr with Asr and Maghrib with Isha.

Making up missed prayers: the same rakats

A missed prayer (qada) is prayed with the same number of fard rakats as the original: a missed Dhuhr is four rakats, a missed Maghrib is three. If you missed it while travelling and pray it at home, or the reverse, the schools differ on whether you shorten; the safest common practice is to pray it as it was owed at the time it was missed in the Hanafi view, and as four in the Shafi'i view.

The sunnah prayers are not made up after their time, with the exception of the sunnah of Fajr, which the Prophet made up after sunrise when he overslept on a journey (Muslim), and which many scholars allow to be prayed after the fard if you missed it before.

A simple way to remember the rakats

If you are new to salah, do not try to memorise the whole table on day one. Learn the fard only, in this order: 2, 4, 4, 3, 4. Say it as a rhythm until it sticks. Once the fard is a habit, add the two before Fajr (the most emphasised sunnah of all), then the two after Maghrib and the two after Isha, then the four before and two after Dhuhr. At that point you are praying the full twelve rakats of the hadith and have a house being built for you in Paradise. Witr comes last, and it is the one the Prophet said never to leave.