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Why do muslims pray 5 times?

In one sentence

Muslims pray five times a day because God fixed prayer at set hours, and regular prayer keeps a person mindful of God and washes away sin.

Muslims pray five times a day because God commanded it at fixed hours: before sunrise, at midday, in the afternoon, at sunset, and at night. This prayer is different from simply calling on God, which a Muslim can do anywhere and at any moment; it is a set of movements and words performed in a prescribed way. Muslims understand that they were created to worship God, so worship becomes a rhythm of daily life rather than a weekly event. Praying at set times pulls a person’s attention back to God several times a day and away from wrongdoing. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, compared the five prayers to bathing in a river at one’s door five times a day, after which no dirt remains. The article “Prayer in Islam” explains the practice and its purpose in more detail.

Evidence

Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times.

Quran 4:103
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And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.

Quran 51:56
Nowadays the media reports a lot on the religion of Islam and the Muslims; but the majority of this ‘primetime’ is used to mar the image of Islam. . Muslims are often depicted as being fanatical or extreme for simply following the basic tenants of Islam. The media goes a step further in marring the
From Prayer in Islam — IslamHouse.com. Reproduced with attribution.

Summarised from the cited source · · Scholarly review pending

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