Question

2.) Discuss and describe each of the Five Pillars of Islam. How do they relate to the private and public (or social) life of the individual?

Answer 1

What Are the Five Pillars of Islam?

The Five Pillars of Islam are the framework of the Muslim life. They are the testimony of faith, prayer, giving zakat (support of the needy), fasting during the month of Ramadan, and the pilgrimage to Makkah once in a lifetime for those who are able.

1) The Testimony of Faith:

The testimony of faith is saying with conviction, “La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammadur rasoolu Allah.” This saying means “There is no true god (deity) but God (Allah),1 and Muhammad is the Messenger (Prophet) of God.” The first part, “There is no true god but God,” means that none has the right to be worshipped but God alone, and that God has neither partner nor son. This testimony of faith is called the Shahada, a simple formula which should be said with conviction in order to convert to Islam (as explained previously on this page). The testimony of faith is the most important pillar of Islam.

2) Prayer:

Muslims perform five prayers a day. Each prayer does not take more than a few minutes to perform. Prayer in Islam is a direct link between the worshipper and God. There are no intermediaries between God and the worshipper.

In prayer, a person feels inner happiness, peace, and comfort, and that God is pleased with him or her. The Prophet Muhammad

said: {Bilal, call (the people) to prayer, let us be comforted by it.}2 Bilal was one of Muhammad’s

companions who was charged to call the people to prayers.

Prayers are performed at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night. A Muslim may pray almost anywhere, such as in fields, offices, factories, or universities.

(For detailed information on how to perform prayer, please refer to the links at How to Perform Prayer or refer to the book entitled A Guide to Salat (Prayer) by M. A. K. Saqib.3)

3) Giving Zakat (Support of the Needy):

All things belong to God, and wealth is therefore held by human beings in trust.

The original meaning of the word zakat is both ‘purification’ and ‘growth.’ Giving zakat means ‘giving a specified percentage on certain properties to certain classes of needy people.’ The percentage which is due on gold, silver, and cash funds that have reached the amount of about 85 grams of gold and held in possession for one lunar year is two and a half percent. Our possessions are purified by setting aside a small portion for those in need, and, like the pruning of plants, this cutting back balances and encourages new growth.

A person may also give as much as he or she pleases as voluntary alms or charity.

4) Fasting the Month of Ramadan:

Every year in the month of Ramadan,4 all Muslims fast from dawn until sundown, abstaining from food, drink, and sexual relations.

Although the fast is beneficial to health, it is regarded principally as a method of spiritual self-purification. By cutting oneself off from worldly comforts, even for a short time, a fasting person gains true sympathy with those who go hungry, as well as growth in his or her spiritual life.

5) The Pilgrimage to Makkah:

The annual pilgrimage (Hajj) to Makkah is an obligation once in a lifetime for those who are physically and financially able to perform it. About two million people go to Makkah each year from every corner of the globe. Although Makkah is always filled with visitors, the annual Hajj is performed in the twelfth month of the Islamic calendar. Male pilgrims wear special simple clothes which strip away distinctions of class and culture so that all stand equal before God.

Pilgrims praying at the Haram mosque in Makkah. In this mosque is the Kaaba (the black building in the picture) which Muslims turn toward when praying. The Kaaba is the place of worship which God commanded the Prophets Abraham and his son, Ishmael, to build.

The rites of the Hajj include circling the Kaaba seven times and going seven times between the hillocks of Safa and Marwa, as Hagar did during her search for water. Then the pilgrims stand together in Arafa5 and ask God for what they wish and for His forgiveness, in what is often thought of as a preview of the Day of Judgment.

The end of the Hajj is marked by a festival, Eid Al-Adha, which is celebrated with prayers. This, and Eid al-Fitr, a feast-day commemorating the end of Ramadan, are the two annual festivals of the Muslim calendar.

These relate to faith and to practice, but at a deeper level it might be said that there are two great pillars which support the whole edifice. These are Peace and Justice. They are clearly connected since there can be no enduring peace without justice. The very word Islam comes from the same verbal root as salam meaning "peace" and, since the religion is based upon total submission to the will of God, Muslims believe that real peace is out of reach unless it is based upon this submission within the universal order. They believe equally that there can be no real justice except as an aspect of submission to the source of all that is just and well ordered. Although God in Himself is beyond comprehension or analysis, the Qur'an gives us hints as to His true nature through what are sometimes called "the 99 names" and one of these is al-Adl, "the Just". Another of these names is al-Muqsio, "the Dispenser of Justice" or "He who gives to each thing its due".

The Quran praises those who always act "in the light of truth" and tells us: "Perfected are the words of your Lord in truth and justice". It tells us also: "Behold, God enjoins justice and good actions and generosity to our fellows...", and it commands us never to let hatred lead us into deviating from justice: "Be just! That is closest to God consciousness". This, of course, applies to all believers who must fear divine justice if subjective factors or personal emotions lead them to deviate from the path of justice which is also the path of Islam, but it weighs heavily upon those who are required to adjudicate in disputes or to give judgment in criminal cases. There were cases in the early history of the religion when men whom the Ruler intended to appoint as judges fled from Court rather than assume this terrifying responsibility and we read of one who did accept the burden that his whole body trembled when he was called upon to give judgment, believing that a single mistake might carry with it the threat of damnation. The divine Judge stands over the human judge, observing all that he does, and human justice, even at its best, can never be more than a poor imitation of divine Justice. The Prophet Muhammad himself when he was called upon to adjudicate in civil actions warned the litigants that one of them might be more eloquent in putting his case than the other and thereby achieve an unjust settlement. "In such a case," said Muhammad, "I will have given him a portion of hellfire". This is clearly a grave matter indicating that those who seek justice must themselves practice it without deviation even to their own hurt. Under all and any circumstances a victory which is contrary to justice is a poisoned chalice.

Of special significance too is the relationship between justice and wisdom in the Arabic language. The words Aukm, "judgment", and Aikmah, "wisdom" come from the same root, and al-Aakim (the "All-Wise" is another of the names of God in the Quran.

In the Christian tradition St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that, among all human pursuits, "the pursuit of wisdom is more perfect, more noble, more full of joy" than any other human enterprise. The Muslim might amend this slightly by emphasizing that one cannot "pursue" wisdom as one might a rare butterfly since it is a divine quality and out of reach of the human seeker as such. It is for us to lay ourselves open to this gracious gift by making ourselves fit and ready to receive it.

It is commonly said that Justice is or should be "blind", in other words rigidly objective, but a Judge is required to possess the quality of insight in the most profound sense and can deserve no higher praise than to be described as "wise", participating, as it were, in "the wisdom of Solomon". Wisdom is as much a quality of character as an attribute of the mind. It has nothing to do with erudition which, however extensive, is necessarily limited in scope. A learned man can still be a fool when he steps outside the area of his expertise. The wise man is protected by his insight from folly - although not always from minor errors in the worldly context - because he possesses an inner yardstick by which to assess the situations he encounters. For the Muslim this yardstick is the Quran together with the example of the Prophet and their reflection in the human heart. There is no higher aim for the Muslim than the cultivation of what is described as a "sound heart". From the sound heart comes sound judgment. The same is true of sound governance and, in Islam, this implies "ruling between" in accordance with wisdom rather than "ruling over".

The Quran always emphasizes that Muhammad, though endowed with the fullness of wisdom, was only "flesh and blood", capable like other men of error except when inspired from above, but it was his mission not only to convey with meticulous accuracy the revelation which descended upon him but also to offer the supreme example of what it meant to follow in his personal and his public life the full implications of the revelation no less meticulously. When he was dying and came for the last time to the mosque in Medina he said to the assembled people: "If there is anyone among you whom I have caused to be flogged unjustly, here is my back. Strike in your turn. If I have damaged the reputation of any among you, let him do the same to mine. To any I may have injured, here is my purse... It is better to blush in this world than in the hereafter". A man claimed a small debt and was promptly paid.