rakah

Rakah, or rak’ah, is a unit of ritual prayer (salah) in Islam. A Muslim prayer consists of one or more rak'ahs. Each rak'ah begins with the intention to pray and the opening declaration, the takbir, saying “Allahu Akbar.” In the standing position (qiyam) the worshipper recites verses from the Qur’an, typically Surah al-Fatiha followed by another portion. After the recitation, the worshipper performs bowing (ruku’), glorifying God. The practitioner then rises to the upright position and performs two prostrations (sujood) separated by a seated pause (jalsa), during which additional supplications may be recited. The final sitting in the later rak'ahs includes the tashahhud and, in many cases, salutations upon the Prophet, followed by a concluding dua.

The number of rak'ahs varies by prayer: Fajr has two; Dhuhr, Asr, and Isha have four; Maghrib has three. Optional prayers and sunnah prayers add more rak'ahs. The Witr prayer, performed after Isha in many traditions, consists of an odd number of rak'ahs, commonly one or three. Different Islamic legal schools (madhahib) differ in minor details of the sequence and recitation, but the concept of a rak’ah as a single cycle of standing, bowing, prostrating, and sitting is common to Islamic practice.