Your first prayers
While you are still learning
The prayer is required from the day you become Muslim, but nobody expects you to know all of it on day one. Pray with what you know, and keep learning.
“Allah does not burden a soul beyond what it can bear.”
Quran 2:286
If you cannot recite Al-Fatiha yet
A man told the Prophet ﷺ he could not learn anything of the Quran, and asked for something to say in its place. He was taught these words. Say them while standing, where Al-Fatiha would go:
سُبْحَانَ ٱللَّهِ، وَٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ، وَلَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّهُ، وَٱللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ، وَلَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِٱللَّهِ
Subḥāna-llāh, wal-ḥamdu lillāh, wa lā ilāha illa-llāh, wa-llāhu akbar, wa lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh
Glory be to Allah, praise be to Allah, there is no god but Allah, Allah is the Greatest, and there is no power or strength except through Allah.
Tips
- Learn Al-Fatiha first. It is recited in every rak‘ah, and it is short: seven verses.
- Keep a card or your phone nearby with the words while you learn. Many scholars allow reading from it in voluntary prayers, and it is a good way to practise.
- Pray alongside others at a mosque. In congregation, the imam recites aloud and you follow his movements.
- Learn one new part a week: Al-Fatiha, then the bowing and prostration phrases, then the tashahhud.
Sources: Sunan Abi Dawud 832 · Sunan an-Nasa’i 924 · Quran 2:286, 64:16