The Maghrib prayer, prayed just after sunset, is the fourth of five formal daily prayers (salat) performed by practicing Muslims. The formal daily prayers of Islam comprise different numbers of units, called rak’at. The Maghrib prayer has three obligatory (fard) rak’at. The first two fard rak’at are prayed aloud, and the third is prayed silently. In Sunni Islam, two further sunnah rak’at following the fard rak’at are highly recommended. To be considered valid salat, the formal daily prayers must each be performed within their own prescribed time period. People with a legitimate reason have a longer period in which their prayers will be valid (known as the daroori period, here called “the Period of Necessity”). The period within which to offer valid Maghrib prayers is the shortest of the five periods of the day. The time period within which the Maghrib daily prayer must be recited is as follows: SUNNI SECT T... read more