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Q10

Why five daily prayers, and why do I feel nothing?

The question, at its strongest

"Five times a day, in a language I barely understand, with fixed words and movements. I do it, and I feel nothing. If prayer is supposed to be a conversation with God and my heart isn't in it, isn't it hollow — even hypocrisy? And why five? The Quran never says 'five'. Some people say the Quran mentions only three prayer times."

Why people ask it

Because almost everyone who prays regularly has dry periods. And because the number five is taught early, while the Quran's verses on prayer times are not, so a reader who opens the Quran looking for "five" is surprised.

Short answer

Feeling nothing in prayer is common, has been discussed for a thousand years, and does not make the prayer worthless. The Quran's first purpose for prayer is remembrance: "establish prayer for My remembrance" (20:14). Ibn al-Qayyim described five grades of people in prayer, from the careless to those whose heart is fully before God; the one who keeps praying while struggling with distraction is not the lowest but in the middle, and the one who resists distraction is "redeemed". The Prophet (pbuh) said that the one who recites the Quran with difficulty gets a double reward (Bukhārī 4937 Ṣaḥīḥ (sound)). Presence of heart (khushūʿ) grows with understanding the words, slowing down and preparation. The number five comes from the report of the Miʿrāj in Bukhari and Muslim and from unbroken practice; the Quran names prayer times without counting them.

The full answer

7min read

For the heart and mind

You are not a hypocrite for praying when you feel dry. A hypocrite pretends to believe what he does not. You believe, and you pray even though it is hard. That is faithfulness, not pretence. Rabbani puts it plainly: "worship carried out without sweetness is frequently weightier than worship carried by feeling."

A sign of hope in the hadith. The Prophet (pbuh) said that the one who recites the Quran with difficulty, struggling with it, "will have a double reward" (Bukhārī 4937 Ṣaḥīḥ (sound), narrated by ʿAʾisha (ra); paraphrased except for the quoted words) — reward for the struggle itself.

Do not chase the feeling. Rabbani advises not to chase it — "Chasing it is how people end up performing a state rather than living one" — to keep practice steady and small, and to pray, in his wording, "O Turner of hearts, make my heart firm upon Your religion" (the hadith is Tirmidhi 3522, narrated by Umm Salama (ra); al-Tirmidhi: ḥasan; al-Albani: ṣaḥīḥ, per hadithunlocked).

When to get help. If "feeling nothing" covers your whole life — food, friends, work — that may be depression, not a spiritual problem, and a doctor can help. If you repeat your ablution or prayer again and again from fear that it is invalid, that may be religious OCD (scrupulosity); the International OCD Foundation (iocdf.org) describes it and its treatment.

What the Quran says

Prayer as remembrance (20:14). "Indeed, I am Allah. There is no deity except Me, so worship Me and establish prayer for My remembrance" (20:14), Meccan — God's words to Moses (pbuh) at the fire in the valley of Ṭuwā (20:10–12). The first purpose named is dhikr, remembrance: turning the mind back to God, whether or not one feels moved.

Humility (23:1–2). "Certainly will the believers have succeeded: They who are during their prayer humbly submissive" (23:1–2), Meccan. Khāshiʿūn, "humbly submissive", is the root of khushūʿ. It is listed first among the believers' qualities: a goal to grow towards.

What prayer does (29:45). "Recite, [O Muhammad], what has been revealed to you of the Book and establish prayer. Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing, and the remembrance of Allah is greater" (29:45), Meccan. Prayer's effect is described in behaviour — it holds a person back from wrong — not in feelings.

Prayer times. The Quran names times of prayer in several verses (e.g. 11:114; 17:78; 30:17–18, none quoted from verified data here) but does not state the number five.

What the Prophet (pbuh) taught

The Miʿrāj. The Miʿrāj is the Prophet's (pbuh) ascension through the heavens, during the Night Journey. In the report of Anas ibn Malik from Abu Dharr (ra), God first enjoined fifty prayers; Moses (pbuh) told the Prophet (pbuh), "Go back to your Lord (and appeal for reduction) for your followers will not be able to bear it"; after several returns the number was reduced, and God said: "These are five prayers and they are all (equal to) fifty (in reward) for My Word does not change" (Bukhārī 349 Ṣaḥīḥ (sound); graded "Agreed Upon" — in both Bukhari and Muslim — by ʿAbd al-Baqi). The man from Najd was likewise told: "You have to offer prayers perfectly five times in a day and night" (Bukhārī 46 Ṣaḥīḥ (sound)).

How scholars have understood it

Ibn al-Qayyim (a 14th-century Damascene scholar), in al-Wābil al-Ṣayyib, describes five kinds of people in prayer (as presented by Sedick):

  1. One who "wrongs his soul" (Sedick, citing 35:32): careless about ablution, times and essential pillars — "punished".
  2. One who keeps the times, limits, outward pillars and ablution, but is carried away by whisperings he does not resist — "admonished".
  3. One who keeps the limits and pillars and struggles against the whisperings — "redeemed".
  4. One who perfects the prayer's rights, limits and pillars, with his heart absorbed in doing so — "rewarded".
  5. One who prays like the fourth, but whose heart is before his Lord, who "beholds his Lord" — "drawn close to his Lord".

The person who feels dry but keeps praying, and keeps pulling the mind back, is in the third grade: "redeemed".

Al-Qushayri on dry phases. Rabbani reports al-Qushayri's account of qabḍ (contraction) and basṭ (expansion) as states of the present moment, which are "neither achievements nor failures. They are visitations, and they alternate."

The reasoning

The argument. Some Quran-centred Muslims argue that the Quran mentions only three prayer times (no named holder or work was read), so three prayers are enough; five, on this view, rests on hadith they do not accept.

The reply.

  1. The five prayers are in the Miʿrāj report, which is in both Bukhari and Muslim (Bukhārī 349 Ṣaḥīḥ (sound)), and in other reports such as Bukhari 46.
  2. More importantly, the five daily prayers have been practised by the whole Muslim community, in every region, from the earliest records — a practice passed on by millions, not by one chain of narrators.
  3. The Quran's verses name times without claiming to list all of them.

Limit: for someone who rejects hadith altogether, the first point carries no weight, and the second becomes a question of whether community practice can be trusted (see "Are hadith reliable?").

For the heart and mind

(These are common teaching points; only the first two are drawn from sources read.)

  1. Keep the rhythm, even dry. Steady, small practice (Rabbani).
  2. Don't chase feelings; pray for a firm heart (Rabbani).
  3. Learn the meaning of what you say. Start with al-Fātiḥa, then the phrases of bowing and prostration. A prayer in a language you do not understand becomes different once each phrase has a meaning.
  4. Slow down. Pause in each position long enough to say its words calmly.
  5. Prepare. Make ablution without hurry; pause for a moment before starting; put the phone away.
  6. Pick one point of focus each prayer — one verse, one phrase — rather than trying to feel everything.

The law: what the four schools hold

The five prayers are at dawn (fajr), just after midday (ẓuhr), the afternoon (ʿaṣr), just after sunset (maghrib) and night (ʿishāʾ). Each prayer is made of units (rakʿa): standing and reciting al-Fātiḥa and other verses, bowing, standing again, two prostrations, and sitting. It is said in Arabic, which keeps the same words across the whole world. (This description is general; no source describing prayer step by step was read.)

The Arabic-language concern. The fixed Arabic of the prayer is part of what makes it shared; personal prayer (duʿāʾ) can be in any language, at any time — "I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me" (2:186).

The strongest objection, and the reply

"Prayer without feeling is hypocrisy." Reply: hypocrisy is pretending to believe; praying while dry is keeping faith without reward of feeling. Ibn al-Qayyim's third grade ("redeemed") and Bukhari 4937 ("a double reward" for the one who struggles to recite) treat the struggle itself as rewarded, and better than giving in to distraction. They do not rank it highest: in Ibn al-Qayyim the present heart (grades 4–5) is above it, and the commentators on Bukhari 4937, as quoted by hadeethenc.com ("the Qadi", i.e. Qadi ʿIyad), say the skilled reciter is still better and has the greater reward. Limit: prayer that is only habit, with no attempt at presence, is Ibn al-Qayyim's second grade — "admonished" — so the reply is not an excuse for carelessness.

"Five times is too much." Reply: each prayer takes minutes; spread through the day, they are short returns to God. Limit: for a new Muslim or someone returning, five can feel heavy; many teachers advise building up gradually (no named source read).

What science says

No study was read, so no claim about prayer's measurable effects is made here.

The range of views

  • Sunni and Shiʿi Muslims — five daily prayers, as practised from the beginning (the Shiʿi practice of combining them into three time-slots is a timing difference, not a reduction; no source read).
  • Some Quran-centred Muslims — three prayers, from the Quran's named times.
  • Sufi tradition (al-Qushayri) — dry and full states alternate; steady practice through both.

Questions readers ask next

If prayer without feeling is acceptable, what does it actually do for me right now?

It keeps you returning to God several times a day (20:14), it holds you back from wrong (29:45), and the struggle is itself rewarded (Bukhari 4937; Ibn al-Qayyim's third grade).

Why five and not three? How strong is the Miʿrāj evidence?

The Miʿrāj report is in both Bukhari and Muslim ("Agreed Upon"), and five prayers have been the practice of the whole community from the earliest times.

What concrete steps build khushūʿ?

Keep the rhythm; learn the meaning of al-Fātiḥa and the main phrases; slow down; prepare; focus on one phrase at a time; pray for a firm heart.

What does a Muslim do and say in the five prayers, and when?

See "What a Muslim does in the five prayers".

What is the Miʿrāj?

The Prophet's (pbuh) ascension through the heavens, in which the five daily prayers were given (Bukhari 349).

What are qabḍ and basṭ, and who was al-Qushayrī?

Contraction and expansion of the heart, states that come and go; al-Qushayri, author of the Sufi manual al-Risāla, described them (as reported by Rabbani).

Key verses

إِنَّنِىٓ أَنَا ٱللَّهُ لَآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّآ أَنَا۠ فَٱعْبُدْنِى وَأَقِمِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ لِذِكْرِىٓ۝١٤

innanī anā l-lahu lā ilāha illā anā fa-uʿ'bud'nī wa-aqimi l-ṣalata lidhik'rī

Indeed, I am Allah. There is no deity except Me, so worship Me and establish prayer for My remembrance.

20:14

Translation: Saheeh International

  • Certainly will the believers have succeeded: They who are during their prayer humbly submissive 23:1–2

    Arabic text and transliteration

    بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ قَدْ أَفْلَحَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ ۝ ٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ فِى صَلَاتِهِمْ خَٰشِعُونَ

    qad aflaḥa l-mu'minūna · alladhīna hum fī ṣalātihim khāshiʿūna

Sources

  1. Saheeh International — 20:14, 23:1–2, 2:186; via legacy.quran.com — 29:45.
  2. Sahih al-Bukhari 349 (hadithunlocked.com, with ʿAbd al-Baqi's "Agreed Upon"), https://hadithunlocked.com/bukhari:349 — the Miʿrāj.
  3. Sahih al-Bukhari 4937 (sunnah.com), https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4937 — the reciter who struggles.
  4. Irshaad Sedick, "The Five Levels of Prayer", SeekersGuidance (1 September 2022), https://seekersguidance.org/articles/the-five-levels-of-prayer/ — Ibn al-Qayyim's five grades from al-Wābil al-Ṣayyib, in translation.
  5. Faraz Rabbani, "How Do I Revive a Heart That Feels Spiritually Numb?", SeekersGuidance (3 August 2026), https://seekersguidance.org/answers/general-counsel/how-do-i-revive-a-heart-that-feels-spiritually-numb/.
  6. Quran 20:14, 23:1–2
  7. Bukhārī 349
  8. Muslim 162
  9. al-Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ
  10. Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Wābil al-Ṣayyib
  11. al-Qushayrī, al-Risāla
  12. TİDA (2023)
  13. Diyanet İlmihal