The Five Pillars of Islam:
The most important Muslim practices are the Five Pillars of Islam.
The Five Pillars of Islam are the five obligations that every Muslim must satisfy in order to live a good and responsible life according to Islam.
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The Five Pillars consist of:
Salat: performing ritual prayers in the proper way five times each day.
Sawm: fasting during the month of Ramadan.
Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca.
Zakat: paying an alms (or charity) tax to benefit the poor and the needy.
Shahadah: sincerely reciting the Muslim profession of faith.
Why are they important?
Carrying out these obligations provides the framework of a Muslim's life, and weaves their everyday activities and their beliefs into a single cloth of religious devotion.
No matter how sincerely a person may believe, Islam regards it as pointless to live life without putting that faith into action and practice.
Carrying out the Five Pillars demonstrates that the Muslim is putting their faith first, and not just trying to fit it in around their secular lives.
The five pillars of Islam are discussed below:
Salat:
Salat is the obligatory Muslim prayers, performed five times each day by Muslims. It is the first Pillar of Islam.
God ordered Muslims to pray at five set times of day:
Salat al-fajr: dawn, before sunrise.
Salat al-zuhr: midday, after the sun passes its highest.
Salat al-'asr: the late part of the afternoon.
Salat al-maghrib: just after sunset.
Salat al-'isha: between sunset and midnight.
All Muslims try to do this. Muslim children as young as seven are encouraged to pray.
Prayer sets the rhythm of the day:
This prayer timetable gives Muslims the pattern of their day.
In Islamic countries, the public call to prayer from the mosques sets the rhythm of the day for the entire population, including non-Muslims.
A universal Muslim ritual:
The prayer ritual, which is over 1400 years old, is repeated five times a day by hundreds of millions of people all around the world.
Carrying it out is not only highly spiritual, but connects each Muslim to all others around the world, and to all those who have uttered the same words and made the same movements at different times in Islamic history.
Prayers of body, mind and soul:
The set prayers are not just phrases to be spoken.
Prayer for a Muslim involves uniting mind, soul, and body in worship; so a Muslim carrying out these prayers will perform a whole series of set movements that go with the words of the prayer.
Muslims make sure that they are in the right frame of mind before they pray; They put aside all everyday cares and thoughts so that they can concentrate exclusively on God.
If a Muslim prays without the right attitude of mind, it as if they hadn’t bothered to pray at all.
"Woe to those who pray, but are unmindful of their prayer, or who pray only to be seen by people"
Qur'an 107: 4-6
Muslims don't pray for God's benefit:
Muslims do not pray for the benefit of Allah.
Allah does not need human prayers because he has no needs at all.
Muslims pray because God has told them that they are to do this, and because they believe that they obtain great benefit in doing so.
Muslims pray direct to God:
A Muslim prays as if standing in the presence of Allah.
In the ritual prayers each individual Muslim is in direct contact with Allah. There is no need of a priest as an intermediary. (While there is a prayer leader in the mosque - the imam - they are not a priest, simply a person who knows a great deal about Islam.)
Praying in the mosque:
Muslims can pray anywhere, but it is especially good to pray with others in a mosque.
Praying together in a congregation helps Muslims to realize that all humanity is one, and all are equal in the sight of Allah.
Ritual washing:
Muslims must be clean before they pray. They make sure of this by performing ritual washing, called wudhu. Mosques have washing facilities.
Sawm:
Sawm is fasting. It's the second of the Five Pillars of Islam.
Muslims are required to fast during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar.
During the 29/30 days of Ramadan all adult Muslims must give up the following things during the hours of daylight:
Food or drink of any sort.
Smoking, including passive smoking.
Sexual activity.
Muslims who are physically or mentally unwell may be excused some of these, as may those who are under twelve years old, the very old, those who are pregnant, breast-feeding, menstruating, or traveling.
If an adult does not fast for the reasons above they should try to make up the fast at a later date, or make a donation to the poor instead.
Muslims do not only abstain from physical things during Ramadan. They are also expected to do their best to avoid evil thoughts and deeds as well.
There are many good reasons for this fast, including:
Obeying God.
Learning self-discipline.
Becoming spiritually stronger.
Appreciating God's gifts to us.
Sharing the sufferings of the poor and developing sympathy for them.
Realizing the value of charity and generosity.
Giving thanks for the Holy Qur'an, which was first revealed in the month of Ramadan.
Sharing fellowship with other Muslims.
Eating in Ramadan:
During Ramadan many Muslims will try to eat a large meal called suhur just before dawn.
When daylight is over, most Muslims will break or open the fast with dates or water, following the example of the Prophet Muhammad, before having a proper meal later.
The evening meals during Ramadan are occasions for family and community get-togethers.
Eid ul-Fitr:
The month of Ramadan ends with the festival of Eid ul-Fitr. This is marked by dressing up and visiting the mosque for prayer, and with visits to family and friends for celebratory meals.
Hajj:
Once a year, Muslims of every ethnic group, color, social status, and culture gather together in Mecca and stand before the Kaaba praising Allah together.
It is a ritual that is designed to promote the bonds of Islamic brotherhood and sisterhood by showing that everyone is equal in the eyes of Allah.
The Hajj makes Muslims feel real importance of life here on earth, and the afterlife, by stripping away all markers of social status, wealth, and pride. In the Hajj all are truly equal.
The Hajjis or pilgrims wear simple white clothes called Ihram. During the Hajj the Pilgrims perform acts of worship and they renew their sense of purpose in the world.
Mecca is a place that is holy to all Muslims. It is so holy that no non-Muslim is allowed to enter.
For Muslims, the Hajj is the third pillar of Islam. It occurs in the month of Dhul Hijjah which is the twelfth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. It is the journey that every sane adult Muslim must undertake at least once in their lives if they can afford it and are physically able.
Zakat:
Zakat is the compulsory giving of a set proportion of one's wealth to charity. It is regarded as a type of worship and of self-purification. Zakat is the fourth Pillar of Islam.
Zakat does not refer to charitable gifts given out of kindness or generosity, but to the systematic giving of 2.5% of one's wealth each year to benefit the poor.
The benefits of Zakat, apart from helping the poor, are as follows:
Obeying God.
Helping a person acknowledge that everything comes from God on loan and that we do not really own anything ourselves.
° And since we cannot take anything with us when we die we need not cling to it.
Acknowledging that whether we are rich or poor is God's choice.
° So we should help those he has chosen to make poor.
- Learning self-discipline.
- Freeing oneself from the love of possessions and greed.
- Freeing oneself from the love of money.
- Freeing oneself from love of oneself.
- Behaving honestly.
The 2.5% rate only applies to cash, gold and silver, and commercial items. There are other rates for farm and mining produce, and for animals.
Shahadah:
"There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger."
This is the basic statement of the Islamic faith: anyone who cannot recite this wholeheartedly is not a Muslim.
When a Muslim recites this they proclaim:
That Allah is the only God, and that Muhammad is his prophet.
That they personally accept this as true.
That they will obey all the commitments of Islam in their life.
The Shahadah is the fifth and final of the Five Pillars of Islam.
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