For all the emphasis on prayer, the rules governing it are surprisingly flexible. Prayers can be offered anywhere, on a spot that is clean. That is why you see Muslims praying in offices, factories, schools, bus stations, airports, hospitals, farm fields or in the rest areas along the highway. Muslims pray when it is time to pray, regardless of where they are. All they need to do is to figure out the direction of the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, turn toward it and begin the worship. During the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, I repeatedly witnessed the Iranian artillery corps on hilltops taking turns for their salah, with half the unit praying while the other half was busy blasting long-range guns.

Travelers have the choice of a shortened prayer, usually half:

When you go forth in the land, it is no sin for you to shorten the salah (4:101).

When ill, Muslims may pray lying in bed. If they find themselves in a confined space, they are freed from the requirements of standing and prostrating, and they pray in a sitting position. The next time you are on a plane and see a passenger seemingly lost to the world and unresponsive to others while moving her hands and lips, she is probably praying.

If, during the prayer, the mind wanders off and the believer forgets the sequence of the ritual, he or she simply adds one more prostration as a corrective. A mental lapse neither nullifies the prayer nor makes it any less pure. Humans make mistakes. It is the intent that counts.

If Muslims miss a prayer at the prescribed hour, they may add it to the next one. If they miss that as well, they may aggregate all the postponed ones and offer them at the end of the day. Each believer keeps his or her own tally. Parents may encourage — sometimes pester — their children with reminders; family members may exhort each other; and some Islamic states may even have moral police herding people into the mosques at prayer time. But, ultimately, the adherence to the daily prayers is a covenant between an individual and God.

The Role of the Mosque

Mosques may vary in size and architectural design, even in the style of minarets, but they are remarkably similar inside. There is space at the entrance to remove and store shoes; a separate area for washing (usually a pool in an open courtyard in tropical countries), a large, high-ceilinged prayer hall with low-hanging chandeliers, no furniture but rich carpets, decorative Qur’anic calligraphy on the walls and columns, and a niche up front for the imam (prayer leader). The imam may be on the mosque staff but is more likely a member of the congregation, chosen on the spot because he is an elder and is respected for his knowledge, piety and accurate recitation of the Qur’an. The consensus usually forms within seconds, a routine display of democracy.