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Islam Beliefs and Teachings
The Five Pillars of Islam
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These are the most important Muslim practices, they are five obligations that every Muslim must satisfy in order to live a good and responsible life according to Islam.
The Five Pillars consist of:
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Hajj
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IHRAM
To carry out the pilgrimage rituals you need to be in a state of Ihram, which is a special state of ritual purity. You do this by making a statement of intention, wearing special white clothes (which are also called ihram) and obeying the regulations below. The person on the Hajj may not:
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Places visited on Hajj and the rituals performed
TAWAF
The Kabbah is an ancient stone building set in the centre of the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Muslims will perform the ‘Tawaf’ which means walking around the Ka’ba 7 times in an anti-clockwise direction. Preferably running the first three and walking the last four. The circling symbolises unity- worshipping One God together at that moment.They start their circuit at the corner where the black stone is. If possible they should try to kiss or touch this stone, like Muhammad did.
MOUNT SAFA AND MARWA
Hagar and her son Ishmael were left in the desert by her husband Ibrahim at God’s command. Hagar went in search of water, frantically running in between the Mountains 7 times. When she returned Ismael had kicked his heels into the sand and a spring had appeared. This is known as the Zam Zam Well. Pilgrims can still visit this spring, at the Zamzam well. There are steps leading down to it, in a chamber under the courtyard of the Sacred Mosque. Many pilgrims drink it, wash with it, and take some of the water home with them.
ARAFAT - The Mount of Mercy
Pilgrims travel here and stay from noon to dusk. •Muslims pray for others when they are at Arafat because they believe that their prayers are more effective there - they are submitting to Allah and are especially close to him. The beg Allah for forgiveness of their sins. According to Islamic tradition, the hill is the place where the Islamic prophet Muhammad stood and delivered the Farewell Sermon to the Muslims who had accompanied him for the Hajj towards the end of his life.
STONING AT MINA
The Jamarat are three stone pillars which are pelted as a compulsory ritual of Hajj in emulation of the Prophet Ebrahim . They represent the three locations where Ebrahim pelted Satan with stones when he tried to dissuade him from sacrificing his son Ismail.
TAWAF
The Kabbah is an ancient stone building set in the centre of the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Muslims will perform the ‘Tawaf’ which means walking around the Ka’ba 7 times in an anti-clockwise direction. Preferably running the first three and walking the last four. The circling symbolises unity- worshipping One God together at that moment.They start their circuit at the corner where the black stone is. If possible they should try to kiss or touch this stone, like Muhammad did.
MOUNT SAFA AND MARWA
Hagar and her son Ishmael were left in the desert by her husband Ibrahim at God’s command. Hagar went in search of water, frantically running in between the Mountains 7 times. When she returned Ismael had kicked his heels into the sand and a spring had appeared. This is known as the Zam Zam Well. Pilgrims can still visit this spring, at the Zamzam well. There are steps leading down to it, in a chamber under the courtyard of the Sacred Mosque. Many pilgrims drink it, wash with it, and take some of the water home with them.
ARAFAT - The Mount of Mercy
Pilgrims travel here and stay from noon to dusk. •Muslims pray for others when they are at Arafat because they believe that their prayers are more effective there - they are submitting to Allah and are especially close to him. The beg Allah for forgiveness of their sins. According to Islamic tradition, the hill is the place where the Islamic prophet Muhammad stood and delivered the Farewell Sermon to the Muslims who had accompanied him for the Hajj towards the end of his life.
STONING AT MINA
The Jamarat are three stone pillars which are pelted as a compulsory ritual of Hajj in emulation of the Prophet Ebrahim . They represent the three locations where Ebrahim pelted Satan with stones when he tried to dissuade him from sacrificing his son Ismail.
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Sawm |
Salat/Salah |
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Sawm is fasting. It's the fourth 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:
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:
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Salat is the obligatory Muslim prayers, performed five times each day by Muslims. It is the second Pillar of Islam. God ordered Muslims to pray at five set times of day:
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. The prayer ritual, which is over 1400 years old, is repeated five times a day by hundreds of millions of people all round 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. 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 |
Zakat/Zakah and Khums
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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 third 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
“Charities shall go to the poor, the needy, the workers who collect them, the new converts, to free the slaves, to those burdened by sudden expenses, in the cause of God”
Khums refer to the obligations of any Muslims army to pay one-fifth of the spoils of war. The Qur’an says “Know that whatever of a thing you acquire, a fifth of it is for Allah, for the Messenger, for the near relative, and the orphans and the needy and they way farer” Shia Muslims say the way Zakat is calculated is outdated and Muslims should pay 20% of their surplus income to religious leaders who spend it on behalf of God. It will be given to the poor but also used in the running of Shia Islam.