أقام
Aqāma
To establish, hold or fulfil something; to make it present again.
What it means
Aqāma means to set something upright and make it stand, and so to establish, hold or carry out. Faruqi adds the sense of making present again, which suits an act that is renewed each time it is performed. It is the verb used with prayer in the Quran, where believers are told aqīmū al-ṣalāh, that is, to establish the prayer (2:43). The choice of this verb is deliberate. Establishing the salah means more than saying words: it means performing it fully and regularly and making it a living institution. The related noun iqāma names the second call, said just before the congregational prayer begins, which in this sense establishes the prayer.
Often misunderstood as
That “to pray” fully renders aqāma al-ṣalāh, when the verb adds the sense of setting the prayer up and keeping it in being.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 44, listed as AQĀMA. The definition is restated here.