imam (prayer leader). Although all prayer times
are considered obligatory, attending the Friday
(jumaa) noon prayer time is considered especially
meritorious; men are particularly encouraged
to participate collectively in this prayer at the
mosque. Although the Prophet’s hadith encour-
ages Muslim women to pray in the home, women
are not forbidden from praying at the mosque.
When they join men in the mosque, prayer is
traditionally sexually segregated, women praying
behind the men, or to one side, in a balcony or
other separate space. The reason given is to pre-
vent inappropriate sexual distraction from prayer.
Some mosques in the West or in more liberal
Islamic communities no longer practice sexual
segregation in prayer.
The second form of prayer is personal prayer
(duaa), which is voluntary and additional to the
five times daily salat prayers. Personal prayer
allows believers to be creative and spontaneous in
their own native language instead of the Arabic of
formal prayer (only about 10 percent of Muslims
around the world are native Arabic speakers). The
believer can ask for specific needs or wants from
God on their own behalf or on behalf of family
and community. Believers have often used prayers
from collections authored by devout believers and
scholars and handed down from generation to
generation as prayer manuals. Although Islam has
no formal system of intercession—no priesthood
or formal hierarchy to mediate between believers
and God—it does have a strong popular tradition
of informal intercession (wasila, Q 5:34, 17:57)
via holy persons, places, and objects. There are
prayers for blessings on Muhammad and his
immediate family, the Sufi saints, and Shii Imams;
local pilgrimage (ziyara) and prayers offered at the
birth and death places and tombs of holy persons;
and objects that convey divine blessing (baraka)
such as quranic prayers written, embroidered, and
carved functioning as amUlets and talismans.
See also adhan; basmala; id al-adha; pbUh;
prayer beads.
Kathleen M. O’ConnorFurther reading: Seyyed Hossein Nasr, ed., Islamic
Spirituality: Foundations (New York: Crossroad, 1987);
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Hamid Dabashi, and Seyyed Vali
Reza Nasr, eds., Shiism: Doctrines, Thought, and Spiritual-
ity (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988);
Jacob Neusner, Tamara Sonn, and Jonathan E. Brockopp,
Judaism and Islam in Practice: A Sourcebook (London:
Routledge, 2000); Constance E. Padwick, Muslim Devo-
tions: A Study of Prayer-Manuals in Common Use (1961.
Reprint, Rockport, Mass.: Oneworld, 1996); Muhammad
A. Rauf, Islam: Creed and Worship (Washington, D.C.:
The Islamic Center, 1974); John Renard, Seven Doors
to Islam: Spirituality and the Religious Life of Muslims
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996).prayer beads
Muslims use prayer beads like a Catholic rosary
as a devotional aid to count recitations performed
during private worship. Known as the subha,
tasbih, or misbaha, prayer beads are widely used
by Muslims from all parts of the Islamic world.
Use of beads in prayer and devotional practices
began as early as the ninth century. The subha is
composed of either a short single string of beads
or a long strand divided into three groups sepa-
rated by larger marker beads with a short handle
at the end. The beads are most often arranged in
groups of 11, 33, or 99 but the number may vary
if the handle or marker beads are intended to be
included in counting. In practice 100 beads must
be counted in reciting the 99 names oF god, most
of which are mentioned in the qUran, and his
essential name allah. Prayer beads are also used
in other recitation practices such as repetitions of
the phrase la ilaha illa allah, (there is no god but
God). Sufis often employ prayer beads in their
recitation practices.
All Muslims are encouraged to constantly have
the name of God on their lips, and some choose
to always keep a set of beads in their hand for
this purpose. Some scholars historically discour-
aged the use of prayer beads based on reports in
the hadith. In these reports mUhammad (d. 632)K 558 prayer beads