Arabic vocabulary
How to say “to pray” in Arabic, with pronunciation and real example sentences from OpenArabic texts.
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه و سلم
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
صَلَّى — peace. The past verb opening the honorific, 'sent blessing', its subject 'God' to follow. Part of the fixed 'God bless him and grant him peace'.
From: Brotherhood in Islam →فقراء المهاجرين أتوا رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فقالوا ذهب أهل الدثور بالدرجات العلى، والنعيم المقيم
The poor among the emigrants came to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, and said: 'The wealthy have taken the highest ranks and everlasting blessings.'
صَلَّى — prayers be upon. The blessing-formula — a past verb voicing a prayer ('may [God] bless'). Its subject, God, comes next.
From: Praises That Elevate the Poor →يصلون كما نصلي، ويصومون كما نصوم، ولهم فضل من أموال يحجون، ويعتمرون، ويجاهدون، ويتصدقون
They pray as we pray, and fast as we fast, but they have extra wealth to perform Hajj, Umrah, strive in the way of Allah, and give charity.
يُصَلُّونَ — they pray. A Form II verb 'pray', sound masculine plural ('-una' = 'they'). The doubled middle marks the dedicated 'perform the ritual prayer' verb. It opens the poor men's point: they worship just as the rich do.
From: Praises That Elevate the Poor →يصلون كما نصلي، ويصومون كما نصوم، ولهم فضل من أموال يحجون، ويعتمرون، ويجاهدون، ويتصدقون
They pray as we pray, and fast as we fast, but they have extra wealth to perform Hajj, Umrah, strive in the way of Allah, and give charity.
نُصَلِّي — we pray. A Form II verb 'pray', first person plural — 'we pray'. The subject 'we' is in the verb's shape. It completes 'as we pray', the standard of comparison.
From: Praises That Elevate the Poor →انطلق رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم وأصحابه حتى سبقوا المشركين إلى بدر وجاء المشركون،
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and his companions set out until they reached Badr before the polytheists, and the polytheists came.
صلى — peace. This opens the fixed blessing after the Prophet's name, a set devotional formula asking God's blessing upon him; read the whole phrase as one frozen unit.
From: A Handful of Dates and Paradise →وَعَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللهُ تَعَالَى عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ
Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
صَلَّى — peace. Part of the fixed blessing on the Prophet, a past-tense verb that opens the set formula 'may God send blessings upon him'. It works as a frozen devotional phrase rather than an ordinary verb in the sentence's flow.
From: Empty Fasting, Empty Prayer →OpenArabic teaches words like صلى through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
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