1st Pillar – Shahadah
“There is none worthy of worship except God and Muhammad is the messenger of God.”
This declaration of faith is called the Shahadah, a simple formula that all the faithful pronounce. The significance of this declaration is the belief that the only purpose of life is to serve and obey God, and this is achieved through the teachings and practices of the Last Prophet, Muhammad (SAW).
Honest recitation of the shahadah once, in Arabic, in front of two Muslim witnesses, is all that is required for a person to become a Muslim.
2nd Pillar – Salat
5 prayers a day, Morning, Miday, afternoon, sunset, night prayer
3rd Pillar – ZAKAT
Zakat (Almsgiving) is a part of devotion commanded by Allah. It is a means where the well-off pay a set amount of their wealth (2.5%). Zakat means to purify oneself. It is obligatory on Muslims to pay a little percentage of their accumulated wealth towards Zakat, which is used for the benefit of the needy and the poor. Zakat is not on one’s property that is in personal use but rather on the assets which have a means of increasing and which are surplus to one’s needs. It is a means of social justice and order. It teaches sympathy of the highest order. A form of Charity and a form of wealth tax
4th Pillar – FASTING
Saum (Fasting)
Along with salat, another important form of worship is fasting. It is obligatory for each Muslim, apart from some exemptions, to fast in the month of Ramadhan. During the hours of fasting, food and drink and conjugal relations between husband and wife are forbidden. It has been commanded that during fasting one should pay attention to the remembrance of God and study the Holy Quran in abundance. One should try to curtail one’s worldly pastimes as much as possible during Ramadhan, and to be particularly inclined towards charity and almsgiving.
Human life is dependent on food and drink and the continuation of the human race depends on the marital relationship. Whilst fasting, one refrains from them both, as if bearing witness to God that for His pleasure man gives up the factors (temporarily) upon which his very existence depends. The various other benefits of fasting are that man gets to exercise sacrificing physical comfort and to endure hunger and thirst. Fasting creates a sense of equality between the rich and the poor. By developing an appreciation of hunger and thirst, it makes the well-off think of the needs of the poor and impresses a feeling of compassion in their hearts. It makes them appreciate, through the practicality of it, the state a human being endures when hungry and thirsty. Ramadhan is a most effective and excellent means of spiritual development for mankind.
5th Pillar – HAJJ
pilgrimage to the holy sites in Mecca.
Hajj is the fifth Pillar of Islam and another form of worship. It is an annual pilgrimage to the holy sites in Mecca which each adult Muslim, who can afford it, has to perform once in a lifetime. Apart from the financial aspect, the ability to afford the pilgrimage also means that one is able to travel and perform the Hajj in peace. During Hajj, the person who intends to perform it is required to travel to Mecca during the prescribed days and observe all the rites and ceremonies.
During Hajj, Muslims from all corners of the world gather in Mecca and perform the rites of Hajj and thus strengthen the bond of Muslim unity. Muslims perform Hajj in order to visit the holy sites where their faith started. More importantly it is a pilgrimage to the Ka’aba, which we believe is the first place of worship ever built on this earth, Muslims thus refer to it as House of God.
The ceremony of Hajj is also symbolic of the Unity of God; all Muslims gather from the four corners of the earth in one spot at an appointed time and worship God. There are no difficulties to perform Hajj apart from the obvious financial commitment in order to travel to Mecca.