Prayers in Addition to the Five Contact Prayers

Article courtesy of www.masjidtucson.org

Question: Can we perform the Contact Prayers more than five times a day?

God encourages us to remember and glorify Him frequently during the day. However, the Contact Prayers (Salat) are decreed (by God) for us specifically (4:103) five times a day. 4:103 also makes a clear distinction between the Contact Prayers and other forms of remembering God.

[4:103] Once you complete your Contact Prayer (Salat), you shall remember GOD while standing, sitting, or lying down.* Once the war is over, you shall observe the Contact Prayers (Salat); the Contact Prayers (Salat) are decreed for the believers at specific times.

*4:103 Your god is whoever or whatever occupies your mind most of the day. In order to belong in God's kingdom, and enjoy His grace and protection, the Quran exhorts us to remember God ``always'' (2:152 & 200, 3:191, 33:41-42). This profound fact explains the numerous verses asserting that ``most'' of those who believe in God are going to Hell (12:106, 23:84-89, 29:61-63, 31:25, 39:38, 43:87). See Footnote 3:191 and Appendix 27.

Hence we learn that God has decreed the Contact Prayers for us at specific times. God also gave us other commands on how to remember and worship Him. As submitters, we fully accept and observe God's commands and do our best to remember God, during the contact prayers (29:45) and outside them (33:41-42).