Fard (Obligatory)
The obligatory acts in Islam, including the five daily prayers.
Fard (Arabic: فرض) means "obligatory" or "commanded" and refers to actions in Islam that are strictly required of every adult Muslim. The five daily prayers are fard — neglecting them is a sin, and performing them brings great reward.
In the context of prayer, a distinction is made between two types of fard: fard 'ayn (individual obligation) and fard kifayah (collective obligation). The five daily prayers are fard 'ayn — each individual Muslim is personally obligated to pray them. The Jumu'ah prayer (Friday prayer) is fard 'ayn for men who are able to attend.
Within the prayer itself, certain actions are fard (obligatory for the prayer's validity): standing upright, reciting Surah Al-Fatiha, performing ruku and sujud, and sitting for the final tashahhud. If one omits a fard action, the prayer is invalid.
Related terms
Salat al-Mayyit (Funeral Prayer)
The prayer for the deceased, performed before the burial.
Ijtihad (Independent Legal Reasoning)
The independent interpretive effort to derive legal rules from the Islamic sources.
Adab al-Salah (Prayer Etiquette)
The recommended norms and inner attitudes that enrich the prayer.
Salat al-Tasbih (The Prayer of Glorification)
A special voluntary prayer with 300 tasbih recitations, recommended for forgiveness of sins.
Sujud al-Sahw (Prostration of Forgetfulness)
Two extra prostrations performed to compensate for errors in prayer.
Fajr (Dawn Prayer)
The first of the five daily prayers, performed at dawn.