Across Islam’s five daily prayers, Muslims perform 17 obligatory rakahs in total.
The total comes from two obligatory rakahs in Fajr, four in Dhuhr, four in Asr, three in Maghrib, and four in Isha. A rakah is a complete unit of prayer containing recitation and a sequence of standing, bowing, and prostration.
This number refers to the obligatory units only. Many Muslims also perform sunnah or other voluntary rakahs before or after some obligatory prayers, so a person’s full daily total may be higher.
The 17-rakah total is therefore different from the number of daily prayer sessions, which is five. It is also separate from the number of rakahs in special prayers such as Tarawih.