Namaz and Salah: meaning, difference and pronunciation

What is the difference between namaz and Salah?

The difference is the language, not the prayer. Salah is the Arabic word. Namaz is an English word too: the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines it in the same words as salat and gives salat as its synonym (source 3). Neither word names a separate prayer.

That word origin is about the English word. It does not say which word any group of people prefers, and neither does Ilmwell.

What does the word Salah mean?

In al-Mufradat fi Gharib al-Quran, his dictionary of the Quran's vocabulary, al-Raghib al-Asfahani reports the view of many language scholars that al-ṣalāh is supplication (al-duʿā'), blessing and glorification (source 4). In the same entry of al-Mufradat he says that the prayer, as a specific act of worship, has supplication as its root and was named after it, as a thing is named after part of what it contains. Al-Raghib also records, in al-Mufradat, a second view, which he gives as that of some scholars, that the word comes from al-ṣalā, fire. So the prayer is related to supplication, but in his account supplication is a part of it, not the whole definition.

Al-Raghib adds in al-Mufradat that where the Quran praises the prayer or urges it, it uses the word iqāmah, establishing, and among his examples is aqīmū ṣ-ṣalāh in Al-Baqarah 2:43. The site's translation renders that phrase "Establish prayer". The verse sits in a passage that begins at 2:40 with the words "O Children of Israel!".

Here the prayer is named beside the poor-due. It does not describe the movements or give a timetable.

How do you pronounce namaz and Salah?

The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary gives an English pronunciation for both words, and in each the stress falls on the second syllable (source 3).

Those are English pronunciations, and spellings vary. English letters cannot show every Arabic sound, so learn the Arabic word by ear from a teacher or a reliable recitation if you can.

Which prayers does namaz mean?

The dictionary's definition ties both words to praying five times a day. Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, heard the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, ask: if there were a river at the door of one of you and he bathed in it five times every day, would that leave any of his dirt? They said it would leave none of his dirt. He said:

1AuthenticSahih al-Bukhari 528

Nothing in the report names a prayer, gives times or says which sins are meant. In Kitab al-Umm, al-Shafi'i gives the five and the rakats of each as the Muslim community handed them down: Subh (Fajr), Zuhr, Asr, Maghrib and Isha (source 5).

Each has its own lesson: Fajr, Dhuhr (also spelt Zuhr), Asr, Maghrib and Isha. The counts are set out in how many rakats in each prayer, and the five daily prayers have a guide of their own.

Where does a beginner start?

1. Learn wudu, the washing before prayer. Al-Ma'idah 5:6 opens: "O you who believe! When you rise up for prayer, wash your faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and lightly rub your heads and (wash) your feet up to the ankles." The steps are in how to perform wudu.
2. Learn the prayer step by step in how to pray Salah, with a teacher or at a local mosque where you can. Malik ibn al-Huwayrith, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that he and other young men stayed with the Prophet for twenty days. Sending them back to teach their families, the Prophet told them to pray as they had seen him praying (Sahih al-Bukhari 631, graded sahih). He said it to people who had watched him pray, and the report does not itself describe any act of the prayer.
3. Check how many rakats each prayer has in how many rakats in each prayer.

2AuthenticSahih al-Bukhari 631