# Pillar 2: Where Can Muslims Pray? **Author:** Sh. Abdullah Oduro **Series:** 5 Pillars Made Plain **Published:** 2020-10-03 **YouTube:** https://youtu.be/ew_-7c1_LWw **URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-2-where-can-muslims-pray **Topics:** Acts of Worship, Sharia ## Description With our lives on the go, many people have the question: Where can a Muslim pray? Sh. Abdullah Oduro shares 3 benefits to praying in a mosque and the requirements for where else prayer can be performed. ## Transcript **[0:00]** As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you all. I'm Abdullah Oduro and welcome back. **[0:15]** Where can one offer the salah? Particularly, it's highly recommended to offer the salah in the masjid for that will serve many purposes and many benefits. From that is that you are praying in what is characterized and known in the Qur'an in numerous verses **[0:31]** as the house of Allah. And also the prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, encouraged Muslims to build mosques. Thirdly, it's important to know that when you go and pray at a mosque, if it's the prescribed prayers, the five daily prayers, you will be praying in congregation. **[0:46]** So that helps establish and strengthen the community. And from that establishment, it creates networking and strengthens the brother and sisterhood. But generally, one can pray anywhere as long as it is in a pure place, which is characterized by the absence **[1:02]** of any large amounts of blood or that which comes from it being pus, et cetera, urine, or feces. If it is not in that area, then that place is okay to pray. So if you're playing basketball or playing a sport, you can pray outside in the grass, you can pray on the sand, **[1:19]** you can pray in a parking lot. Just make sure that when you do that, the immediate place of where you prostrate primarily, there is no urine, there are no feces, and there is no blood that has not been washed off. And from the wisdom of Allah, as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, even said, **[1:36]** he said, the earth was made as a mosque for him, as a masjid. So you can pray anywhere. And that's from the wisdom of Allah and his mercy upon us. So even if you're in a place that is not befitting, try to find a place where it's serene and quiet and doesn't have any of those impurities **[1:52]** that we talked about and pray. Also, it's important to remember that the place that we direct our prayers is towards the Kaaba. Depending where you are in the world, it will be a certain direction that you have to pray. So we in America, in the West, we face the Northeast, **[2:08]** and that is the direction of the Kaaba. Mind you, when you go into a mosque, you will see sometimes an indentation in a portion of the wall. That is where the imam stands to lead the prayer, which is an indication of the direction of the Kaaba. **[2:24]** And this is what is called biqibla. This means the direction of the Kaaba. That is generally where the Muslim should pray, in that direction. So if you're at home, it's advisable for you to get an app, to use the app and look Northeast, **[2:40]** and primarily it will show you where the qibla is. If you do not know, you are at work, and you do not know where to pray, if you can find someone to ask you, find someone to ask to give you the directions of where Northeast is located, looking on a compass, **[2:55]** depending on the time of the prayer, you can possibly tell by the sun, but other than that, it's advisable to use an app and to let that app guide you, inshallah ta'ala. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless you all in finding the proper places to pray, **[3:11]** and allowing those places to serve and help and assist you in your undivided attention towards Him. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Thank you. ## Other Episodes in "5 Pillars Made Plain" - [Pillar 5: Who Can Perform Hajj (Pilgrimage)?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-5-who-can-perform-hajj-pilgrimage.md) - [Pillar 5: Where do Muslims Perform Hajj (Pilgrimage)?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-5-where-do-muslims-perform-hajj-pilgrimage.md) - [Pillar 5: When do Muslims Go On Hajj (Pilgrimage)?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-5-when-do-muslims-go-hajj-pilgrimage.md) - [Pillar 5: Why do Muslims Perform Hajj (Pilgrimage)?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-5-why-do-muslims-perform-hajj-pilgrimage.md) - [Pillar 5: What is Hajj (Pilgrimage)?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-5-what-is-hajj-pilgrimage.md) - [Pillar 5: Introduction to Hajj (Pilgrimage)](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-5-introduction-to-hajj-pilgrimage.md) - [Pillar 4: Where Do Muslims Fast? | Convert Resources](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-4-where-do-muslims-fast.md) - [Pillar 4: Why Do Muslims Fast? | Convert Resources](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-4-why-do-muslims-fast.md) - [Pillar 4: When Do Muslims Fast? | Convert Resources](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-4-when-do-muslims-fast.md) - [Pillar 4: What is the Purpose of Fasting? | Convert Resources](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-4-what-is-the-purpose-of-fasting.md) - [Pillar 4: Who Should Fast? | Convert Resources](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-4-who-should-fast.md) - [Pillar 4: Intro to Fasting | Convert Resources](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-4-intro-to-fasting.md) - [Pillar 3: Zakat Al-Fitr](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-3-zakat-al-fitr.md) - [Pillar 3: Where Should We Give Zakat (Almsgiving)?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-3-where-should-we-give-zakat-almsgiving.md) - [Pillar 3: Who receives Zakat (Almsgiving)?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-3-who-receives-zakat-almsgiving.md) - [Pillar 3: When do we give Zakat (Almsgiving)?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-3-when-do-we-give-zakat-almsgiving.md) - [Pillar 3: Why do we give Zakat (Almsgiving)?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-3-why-do-we-give-zakat-almsgiving.md) - [Pillar 3: What is Zakat (Almsgiving)?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-3-what-is-zakat-almsgiving.md) - [Pillar 3: Intro to Zakat (Almsgiving)](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-3-intro-to-zakat-almsgiving.md) - [Pillar 2: When Do We Pray?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-2-when-do-we-pray.md) - [Pillar 2: Who Should Pray?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-2-who-should-pray.md) - [Pillar 2: Why do we pray?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-2-why-do-we-pray.md) - [Pillar 2: What is Prayer?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-2-what-is-prayer.md) - [Intro to Pillar 2: Prayer](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/intro-to-pillar-2-prayer.md) - [Pillar 1: Why Do We Make the Shahada (Testimony of Faith)?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-1-why-do-we-make-the-shahada-testimony-of-faith.md) - [Pillar 1: Where Should We Make the Shahada (Testimony of Faith)?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-1-where-should-we-make-the-shahada-testimony-of-faith.md) - [Pillar 1: When Should We Make the Shahada (Testimony of Faith)?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/when-should-we-make-the-shahada-testimony-of-faith.md) - [Pillar 1: Who is the Shahada (Testimony of Faith) For?](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/pillar-1-who-is-the-shahada-the-testimony-of-faith-for.md) - [Intro to Pillar 1: Shahada (Testimony of Faith)](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/five-pillars-of-islam/intro-to-pillar-1-shahada-testimony-of-faith.md)