In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “night-time prayer recited by practising muslims”. Today it says “one of the mandatory five daily islamic prayers”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-02. In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “night-time prayer recited by practising muslims”. Today it says “one of the mandatory five daily islamic prayers”.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Isha prayer is the night-time prayer recited by practising Muslims .1It is the fifth of the five daily prayers ( salah ).2The five daily prayers collectively are one of the Five Pillars of Islam of Sunni Islam and one of the ten Furoo-ul-deen of Shia Islam.3It is a 4 rak'ah prayer and is prayed aloud. When travelling, according to some madhhabs , it may be reduced to two rak'ahs .4The prayer that precedes the Isha prayer is the Maghrib prayer (sunset prayer). There are a few optional prayers that can be recited after the Isha prayer, including the Shaf' , Witr , and Nafilat ul-Layl prayers (together termed tahajjud ), as well as tarawih in Ramadan .5
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16906613.
The opening as it stood in 2010 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The Isha ( ) prayer is the night-time daily prayer recited by practising Muslims .It is the fifth of the five daily prayers– ( salah ) [islamic evening begins at maghrib ].The five daily prayers collectively are one pillar of the Five Pillars of Islam , in Sunni Islam , and one of the ten Practices of the Religion ( Furū al-Dīn ) according to Shia Islam .It is a 4 rak'ah prayer and the first 2 rak'ah are prayed aloud. When travelling, according to some madhhabs , it may be reduced to two rak'ahs. In Islam, the Isha'a daily prayer has four required (Fard) rak'ah.However, in Sunni Islam, the two Sunnah rak'ah following the Isha'a are highly recommended and so is the 3 rakat Wajib Witr .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 370145936.
The opening as it stood in 2015
The Isha prayer ( ṣalāt al-ʿišāʾ , "night prayer") is the night-time daily prayer recited by practising Muslims .It is the fifth of the five daily prayers– ( salat ) [Islamic evening begins at maghrib ]. The five daily prayers collectively are one pillar of the Five Pillars of Islam , in Sunni Islam , and one of the ten Practices of the Religion ( Furū al-Dīn ) according to Shia Islam . It is a 4 rak'ah prayer and the first 2 rak'ah are prayed aloud. When travelling, according to some madhhabs , it may be reduced to two rak'ahs. In Islam, the Isha' daily prayer has four required (Fard) rak'ah. However, in Sunni Islam, the two Sunnah rak'ah following the Isha' are highly recommended and so is the 3 rakat Wajib Witr .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 667761326.
The opening as it stood in 2020 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The Isha prayer ( ṣalāt al-ʿišāʾ , "night prayer") is the night-time daily prayer performed by practicing Muslims .It is the second of the five daily prayers – ( salat ). The five daily prayers collectively are one pillar of the Five Pillars of Islam , in Sunni Islam , and one of the ten Practices of the Religion ( Furū al-Dīn ) according to Shia Islam . It is a four rak'ah prayer in Sunni Islam. The two Sunnah rak'ah following the Isha' are highly recommended and so is the three rakat Witr . There are a few optional prayers that can be recited after the Isha' prayer, including the Nafilat ul-Layl prayers (together termed tahajjud ), as well as the tarawih in Ramadan .Counted from sunset, the traditional begin of the Islamic day, it is the second prayer.Counted from midnight it is the fifth prayer.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 962056553.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 5 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Fifth prayer of the day in Islam The Isha prayer ( ṣalāt al-ʿišāʾ , "night prayer") is the last and fifth of the five mandatory salah (Islamic prayer). It is a four rak'ah prayer. The five daily prayers collectively are one pillar of the Five Pillars of Islam , in Sunni Islam , and one of the ten Practices of the Religion ( Furū al-Dīn ) according to Shia Islam . In Persian it is known as نماز عشاء ( Nemaze ʿišāʾ ).In Kashmiri , it is known as Khoftan Nemaz .Likewise in Punjabi , it is called Khuftaan di namaz ."زمان آغاز روز شرعی | سایت شخصی محمد صادق فاضل" (in Persian) .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1174271597.
The opening as it stood in 2025 7 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Fifth prayer of the day in Islam Isha ( Arabic : صلاة العشاء ), alternatively also transliterated as Isha'a , and also known as Khoftan or Khooftaan , is one of the mandatory five daily Islamic prayers , and contains four cycles .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1278485659. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “night-time prayer recited by practising muslims”. Today it says “one of the mandatory five daily islamic prayers”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2005 and 2025.
Then
night-time prayer recited by practising muslims
Now
one of the mandatory five daily islamic prayers
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
