Back to search

Why has the number of Rak'ahs for Fajr prayer decreased compared to other prayers?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Allah Almighty has ordained the five daily prayers with their known number of rak'ahs (units of prayer), and one must submit to this. Prayer was initially prescribed as two rak'ahs for both residents and travelers. Then, the prayer for travelers was kept at two rak'ahs, while the prayer for residents was increased by two rak'ahs, making it four rak'ahs for Dhuhr (noon), Asr (afternoon), and Isha (night) prayers. As for Fajr (dawn) prayer, it remained two rak'ahs due to the length of its recitation. Maghrib (sunset) prayer is three rak'ahs because it is the witr (odd number) of the day, and Jumu'ah (Friday) prayer is two rak'ahs because of the khutbah (sermon).

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy