Pillars of Islam

Previously we saw that the Articles of Faith are related to the beliefs. They define what a
Muslim must believe in internally. On the other hand, the Pillars of Islam are mostly the
actions and the practices that a Muslim must adopt. They define how a Muslim practices his
faith. They are mostly acts of worship that a Muslim must perform. So if a human is seen
performing these acts, he will be called a Muslim.

In Islam faith/belief without action and practice is a dead end. When faith is not acted upon
it becomes weak and as a result it might even change and when it changes the religion goes
out. The only way to enliven Faith and make it serve its purpose is practice.

The five pillars of Islam:

The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w) said: “Islam is built on five [pillars]: the testimony that there
is no one worthy of worship but Allah and that Muhammad (s.a.w) is the Messenger of
Allah, establishing salah (prayer), paying zakah, performing Hajj (pilgrimage) to the
House, and fasting Ramadan”.

The First pillar:

The testimony that there is no one worthy of worship but Allah and that Muhammad (s.a.w)
is the Messenger of Allah.
This pillar is divided into two parts:
The testimony of la ilaha illa-llah, which means that a human being accepts in his heart,
admits and informs/declares with his tongue that nobody deserves to be worshipped except
Allah. All that people worship besides Allah, whether it be idols, the dead humans, trees,
stones, angels, or others, are false.

Some of the conditions of La ilaha illa-Allah which a Muslim must fulfill:

1. The first condition is that a Muslim must have complete knowledge of the meaning of la
ilaha illa-llah.
2. The second condition is that a Muslim must believe in la ilaha illa-llah with certainty in his
heart and have no doubt about it.
3. A Muslim must love la ilaha illa-llah and feel love for the people who act upon it and hate
whoever or whatever goes against it.

The second part of the testimony of faith, “Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah”, has
many conditions which have to be fulfilled in order for it to benefit the one who says it.
Some of these conditions are:

1. To Believe and to declare with the tongue that the Prophet (s.a.w) was sent as a
Messenger with the message of Allah to both humans and jinn, and not just to his own
people specifically.
2. To believe that the Prophet (s.a.w) is the final prophet, and there is no prophet after him.
3. To Love him (s.a.w) more than oneself, one’s wealth, parents, children and all people.
4. The obligation to obey him (s.a.w) in whatever he commanded, and to stop from
whatever he forbade and warned against.
5. The obligation to worship Allah only according to what the Prophet (s.a.w) prescribed for
us, to worship Allah like the way he (s.a.w) worshipped Him.

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6. The obligation to honor him more than anybody else, and to hold him (peace be upon
him) in high esteem.

Second Pillar: Establishing Salah (prayer):

Meaning of Salah :
The Arabic word Salah literally means ‘to Pray’ (speaking to Allah in a respectful and humble
way). So, literally it has the meaning of dua.
Islamically or in Islamic terminology, it means "to worship Allah through certain known and
prescribed sayings and actions, starting with Takbeer i.e., saying ‘Allahu Akbar’ (Allah is the
greatest) and ending with Tasleem i.e., saying ‘As-Salaamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah’ (May
Allah’s peace and Mercy be upon you)."

Importance of Salah:
In Islam, Salah is given the importance that is not given to any other act of worship.
- It is a visible proof/evidence of the beliefs that are in the heart.
- It is through Salah that a Muslim reviews his faith every few hours.
- Salah is the first duty about which a person will be questioned on the Day of Judgement.
- Salah was made obligatory on the night of the Mi’raaj [Prophet’s (s.a.w) going up to the
heavens/skies], therefore it occupies a special position among other acts of worship
because of the way in which it was made compulsory. It was not brought down to earth by
an angel, rather Allah wanted to bless His Messenger Muhammad (s.a.w) by taking him up
to heaven and addressing him directly concerning the obligation of prayer.
- It is such an important pillar, that Muslims are called upon to perform this act of worship in
all circumstances without failing. No matter in what condition a Muslim is, he must perform
Salah. The obligation of this worship can never be lifted.
- Abandoning Salah completely is disbelief. If any Muslim leaves this worship completely, he
goes out of the fold of Islam. The companions of the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w) did not
consider leaving anything to be disbelief except for Salah.

Third Pillar: Paying Zakah:

Meaning of Zakah:
The word zakah in Arabic means purification, growth, increase.
In Islamic terminology, the word zakah means "worshipping Allah by taking out a
determined share of wealth/assets prescribed by Allah from specified wealth/assets at a
specified time to be distributed among specified deserving categories".

Importance of Zakah:
- Zakat is a divine prescription that cleanses the human heart of all manner of greed and
excessive material desire because love of worldly things is a kind of disease and human
beings constantly want more and more benefits from the world. So by forcing one to spend
money on things that bring to him directly no purely worldly benefit he is curing himself of
the disease of worldly desires.
- Zakah is an economic system aimed at fighting poverty. It is a right to the poor in the
wealth of the rich, a right decided by the true Owner of wealth, Allah and imposed on those
who have been given control of that wealth by Him.
- Strong warning against rejection of payment of zakah: In Islam there is very strong
punishment prescribed for those who do not pay zakah. Allah says (translation): "Those who

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treasure gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah, give them tidings of a painful
punishment. The Day (will surely come) when their treasure will be heated up in the fire of
hell, and their foreheads, sides and backs branded with it. They will be told: 'This is the
treasure which you hoarded for yourself. Now taste what you were hoarding!'" (At-Tawbah:
34-35)

Forth Pillar: Fasting Ramadan:

Meaning of fasting:
The Arabic word ‘sawm’ is used for fasting. It literally means ‘to refrain’ i.e. absolute
abstention (not doing something).
In Islamic terminology, sawm/fasting means "worshipping Allah by abstaining from drinking,
eating and sexual intercourse and the like, during the day while having made niyyah of
saum. The fasting day starts with Al-Fajr As-Sadiq (al-Fajr al-thaani) and ends at sunset."
Fasting must be done during the day, not at night. Fasting at night is not valid.

Importance of fasting:
- Fasting is the way to develop taqwa: Taqwa is a state where a person exerts constant
conscious efforts to safeguard himself from hell. It is the state in which a Muslim is all the
time aware of this fact that he has to save himself from Hell and therefore avoid any form of
disobedience of Allah. Fasting is a journey from "I want" to "Allah wants", where a person
leaves something halal and permissible and which he wants in order to do that which Allah
wants. It is a complete one month training program where a Muslim is training himself to
control his desires and to save himself from hell. Then once Ramadan is over this conscious
state of mind and heart is supposed to remain with the individual for the rest of the year.
- Great reward for those who fast: The Prophet (s.a.w) says: “Allah said: ‘Every deed of the
son of Adam is for him except fasting; it is for Me and I shall reward for it.’” Allah connected
fasting to himself because there is no showing off in fasting as may happen in other acts of
worship. Showing off may enter into all good deeds, but no one can see when a person is
fasting except Allah. The words of Allah, “and I shall reward for it” mean that Allah may
reward a fasting person as much as He wants. The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w) said: “Every
deed of the son of Adam will be rewarded between ten and seven hundred fold. Allah said:
‘Except fasting, for it is for Me and I shall reward for it’” – i.e., I shall reward it greatly,
without specifying how much.
Similarly, we have been informed that there is a special distinction for those who observe
fasting. In paradise there is a gate, which is called Ar-Rayyaan through which only those who
observe fasting for the sake of Allah will enter on the Day of Judgement.

Fifth Pillar: Performing Hajj (pilgrimage):

Meaning of Hajj:
The word Hajj, literally, means "to set out towards a definite objective" or "heading to a
place for the sake of visiting".
In Islamic terminology, it means worshipping Allah by travelling to Makkah at a specific time,
to perform specific rites (manaasik), i.e., the actions and words reported in accounts of the
Prophet’s (s.a.w) Hajj, such as Tawaaf (walking around the Ka’bah seven times), Sa’ee
(running/walking between the hills of Safa and Marwa seven times) etc.

Importance of Hajj:

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- There is great reward for the one who performs hajj in the prescribed manner. The
Prophet (s.a.w) said: "Whoever does Hajj for the sake of Allah and does not have sexual
relations (with his wife), nor commits sin, will come back like the day his mother gave birth
to him."
- Hajj is a great symbol of unity: During Hajj, Muslims from all parts of the world come
together, form the biggest gathering of humanity on earth and show unity in time, place,
actions, words, feelings, purpose and appearance, what unity can be greater than this? All
of them stand on the locations of Hajj at the same time, doing the same actions, wearing
the same clothes, with humbleness before Allah. No one is better than anyone else, king or
slave, rich or poor, are all the same.
- Hajj is a training and learning session: Hajj teaches Muslims organization, because during
Hajj the acts of worship are organized, with every action done in the place and at the time
defined for it. A Muslim moves from one sacred place to the next, from one action to
another. This is a kind of intensive training in worship and remembrance of Allah. Then
there is training oneself to become patient and being kind to people – so a Muslim tolerates
the difficulties such as heat, long distances, going back and forth between the holy sites and
crowded conditions therein.

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