Namaz (Pers. نماز), or Salat (Arabic صلاة) - canonical prayer, one of the five pillars of Islam. The prayers of the first Muslims consisted in a joint loud pronouncement of the formulas of monotheism and the exaltation of Allah. The whole order of prayer was formed as an imitation of the prayer postures and movements of the Prophet Mohammed and fixed by the memory of the first Muslims. The uniformity of prayer was practiced for almost more than a century and a half and was recorded in writing by Hanafi jurist Muhammad al-Shaibani (died in 805).

The basis of prayer is rakat, which is a cycle of prayer postures and movements, accompanied by the uttering of prayer formulas. All postures, movements and prayer formulas follow each other in a strictly defined order, the violation of which is fraught with the invalidity of prayer. All prayer formulas and words should be pronounced in Arabic.

The daily prayer cycle consists of five obligatory prayers (fard):

morning dvuhrakaatnaya prayer (fajr);
the noon four-caka prayer (zuhr);
a late-night four-prayer prayer (asr);
evening trehkataatnaya prayer (Maghrib);
night chetyreokhakaatnaya prayer (isha).