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 Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997.
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Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997.
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Click here and add this page to your favorites!
General Information
During the ten years between his arrival in Medina and his death in AD 632, Muhammad laid the foundation for the ideal Islamic state. A core of committed Muslims was established, and a community life was ordered according to the requirements of the new religion. In addition to general moral injunctions, the requirements of the religion came to include a number of institutions that continue to characterize Islamic religious practice today. Foremost among these were the five pillars of Islam, the essential religious duties required of every adult Muslim who is mentally able. The five pillars are each described in some part of the Qur'an and were already practiced during Muhammad's lifetime. They are the profession of faith (shahada), prayer (salat), almsgiving (zakat), fasting (sawm), and pilgrimage (hajj). Although some of these practices had precedents in Jewish, Christian, and other Middle Eastern religious traditions, taken together they distinguish Islamic religious practices from those of other religions. The five pillars are thus the most central rituals of Islam and constitute the core practices of the Islamic faith.
The profession of faith, or witness to faith (shahada), is therefore the prerequisite for membership in the Muslim community. On several occasions during a typical day, and in the saying of daily prayers, a Muslim repeats the profession, "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is his prophet." There are no formal restrictions on the times and places these words can be repeated. To become a member of the Muslim community, a person has to profess and act upon this belief in the oneness of God and the prophethood of Muhammad. To be a true profession of faith that represents a relationship between the speaker and God, the verbal utterance must express genuine knowledge of its meaning as well as sincere belief. A person's deeds can be subjected to scrutiny by other Muslims, but a person's utterance of the profession of faith is sufficient evidence of membership in the Muslim community and cannot be challenged by other members of this community.
The most detailed descriptions of the rituals for prayer derive from the example set by the prophet Muhammad and are preserved in later Islamic traditions. Some details of these rituals vary, however all Muslims agree that there are five required daily prayers to be performed at certain times of day: dawn (fajr or subh), noon (zuhr), midafternoon (asr), sunset (maghrib), and evening (isha). The dawn, noon, and sunset prayers do not start exactly at dawn, noon, and sunset; instead, they begin just after, to distinguish the Islamic ritual from earlier pagan practices of worshiping the sun when it rises or sets.
A prayer is made up of a sequence of units called bowings (rak'as).
During each of these units, the worshiper stands, bows, kneels,
and prostrates while reciting verses from the Qur'an as well as other
prayer formulas. With some variations among different Muslim sects,
at noon, afternoon, and evening prayers, these units are repeated
four times, while during the sunset prayer they are repeated three
times, and at dawn only twice. The opening chapter of the
Qur'an,
is repeated in each unit in a prayer
sequence. Each prayer concludes with the recitation of the profession
of faith followed by the greeting "may the peace, mercy, and
blessings of God be upon you."
Wherever Muslims live in substantial numbers throughout the world,
the call to prayer, or adhan, is repeated five times a day
by a muezzin (crier) from a mosque, the Muslim place of
worship. Muslims are encouraged to pray together in mosques,
but group prayer is only a religious obligation for the noon
prayer on Friday. Women, travelers, sick Muslims, and those attending
to the sick are granted license not to attend the Friday
congregational prayer, although they may attend if they wish.
The Friday noon prayer is led by an imam, who is simply a prayer
leader; this prayer differs from the usual noon prayers of the other
days of the week. As a required part of the ritual at this
congregational meeting, two sermons precede the prayer. On other
days, Muslims can pray anywhere they wish, either individually
or in groups. They must observe the rituals of praying at certain
times of day, facing in the direction of Mecca, observing the
proper order of prayers, and preparing through symbolic purification.
Depending on the situation, this last ritual of ablution requires
either total washing of the body or a less elaborate ritual washing
of the hands, mouth, face, and feet.
In addition to the five required daily prayers, Muslims can perform
non-obligatory prayers, some of which have fixed ritual formats
and are performed before or after each of the five daily prayers.
Others are performed at night, either individually or with other
Muslims. These additional formal and informal prayers give expression
to the primary function of prayer in Islam, which is personal
communication with God for the purpose of maintaining the abiding
presence of the divine in the personal lives of Muslims. The more
formal aspects of prayer also serve to provide a disciplined rhythm
that structures the day and fosters a sense of community and
shared identity among Muslims.
The Qur'an provides less-detailed information about the kinds of
things that are subject to the zakat tax or the precise share of
income or property that should be paid as zakat. These determinations
are provided in the traditions of the prophet Muhammad and have been
the subject of elaborate discussions among Muslim legal experts,
or jurists. For example, one-fortieth (2.5 percent) of the assets
accumulated during the year (including gold, silver, and money)
is payable at the end of the year, while one-tenth of the harvest
of the land or date trees is payable at harvest time. Cattle,
camels, and other domestic animals are subject to a more complex
taxation system that depends on the animals in question, their age,
the numbers involved, and whether they are freely grazing.
Traditional zakat laws do not cover trade, but commercial taxes
have been imposed by various Muslim governments throughout history.
According to various traditional interpretations, the fast introduces
physical and spiritual discipline, serves to remind the rich of the
misfortunes of the poor, and fosters, through this rigorous act of
worship, a sense of solidarity and mutual care among Muslims of all
social backgrounds. Thus Muslims usually engage in further acts of
worship beyond the ordinary during Ramadan, such as voluntary night
prayer, reading sections from the Qur'an, and paying voluntary
charity to the poor. Muslims may even choose to wake before daybreak
to eat a meal that will sustain them until sunset. After the fasting
ends, the holiday of breaking the fast, 'id al-fitr, begins, lasting
for three days. At any time of year fasting is also required as a
compensation for various offenses and violations of the law. Many
Muslims also perform voluntary fasts at various times of the year as
acts of devotion and spiritual discipline. However, such additional
fasting is not required by Islamic law.
According to Islamic tradition, the Kaaba, also referred to as the
House of God, was built at God's command by the prophet Ibrahim
(Abraham of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles) and his son Ismail
(Ishmael).
The Qur'an provides detailed descriptions of various parts of the
ritual, and it portrays many of these rituals as reenactments of
the activities undertaken by Ibrahim and Ismail in the course of
building the Kaaba. Set into one corner of the Kaaba is the sacred
Black Stone, which according to one Islamic tradition was given to
Ibrahim by the angel Gabriel. According to another Islamic tradition
this stone was first set in place by Adam.
Once pilgrims arrive in Mecca, ritual purification is performed. Many
men shave their heads, and most men and women put on seamless white
sheets. This simple and common dress symbolizes the equality of all
Muslims before God, a status further reinforced by the prohibition
of jewelry, perfumes, sexual intercourse, and hunting. After this
ritual purification, Muslims circle the Kaaba seven times, run between
al-Safa and al-Marwa, two hills overlooking the Kaaba, seven
times, and perform several prayers and invocations. This ritual
is a reenactment of the search by Hagar for water to give her
son Ismail.
After these opening rituals, the hajj proper commences on the
seventh day and continues for the next three days. Again, it starts
with the performance of ritual purification followed by a prayer
at the Kaaba mosque. The pilgrims then assemble at Mina, a hill
outside Mecca, where they spend the night. The next morning they
go to the nearby plain of Arafat, where they stand from noon to
sunset and perform a series of prayers and rituals. The pilgrims
then head to Muzdalifa, a location halfway between Arafat and Mina,
to spend the night. The next morning, the pilgrims head back to
Mina, on the way stopping at stone pillars symbolizing Satan, at
which they throw seven pebbles.
The final ritual is the slaughter of an animal (sheep, goat, cow,
or camel). This is a symbolic reenactment of God's command to Ibrahim
to sacrifice his son Ismail, which Ibrahim and Ismail duly accepted
and were about to execute when God allowed Ibrahim to slaughter
a ram in place of his son. (In the Hebrew and Christian Bibles,
Abraham is called to sacrifice his son Isaac rather than Ishmael.)
Most of the meat of the slaughtered animals is to be distributed to
poor Muslims. The ritual sacrifice ends the hajj and starts the
festival of the sacrifice, 'id al-adha. The festivals of breaking
fast ('id al-fitr) at the end of Ramadan and 'id al-adha are
the two major Islamic festivals celebrated by Muslims all over the world.
During the pilgrimage most Muslims visit Medina, where the tomb of
the Prophet is located, before returning to their homes. If the
pilgrimage rituals are performed at any time of the year other
than the designated time for hajj, the ritual is called umra.
Although umra is considered a virtuous act, it does not absolve
the person from the obligation of hajj. Most pilgrims perform one
or more umras before or after the hajj proper.
Many Muslims pilgrims also travel to Jerusalem, which is the third
sacred city for Islam. Muslims believe Muhammad was carried to
Jerusalem in a vision. The Dome of the Rock houses the stone from
which Muhammad is believed to have ascended to heaven and Allah in
a night journey. Some Muslims perform pilgrimages to the Dome of
the Rock and to other shrines where revered religious figures are
buried. Some of these shrines are important primarily to the local
populations, whereas others draw Muslims from distant regions.
There are no standard prescribed rituals for these pilgrimages nor
are they treated as obligatory acts of worship.
Almsgiving
The third pillar of Islam is zakat, or almsgiving. A religious
obligation, zakat is considered an expression of devotion to God.
It represents the attempt to provide for the poorer sectors of society,
and it offers a means for a Muslim to purify his or her wealth and
attain salvation. The Qur'an, together with other Islamic traditions,
strongly encourages charity and constantly reminds Muslims of their
moral obligation to the poor, orphans, and widows; however, it
distinguishes between general, voluntary charity (sadaqa) and zakat,
the latter being an obligatory charge on the money or produce of
Muslims. While the meaning of terms has been open to different
interpretations, the Qur'an regularly refers to zakat, identifying
specific ways in which this tax can be spent. These specific uses
include spending zakat on the poor and the needy, on those who
collect and distribute zakat, on those whom Muslims hope to win
over and convert to Islam, on travelers, on the ransom of captives,
to relieve those who are burdened with debts, and on the cause of God.Fasting
The fourth pillar of Islam is sawm, or fasting. Clear
Qur'anic references to fasting account for the early introduction
of this ritual practice. The Qur'an prescribes fasting during the
month of Ramadan, the 9th month of the 12-month Islamic lunar year.
The month of Ramadan is sacred because the first revelation of the
Qur'an is said to have occurred during this month. By tradition the
month starts with the sighting of the new moon by at least two Muslims.
For the entire month, Muslims must fast from daybreak to sunset by
refraining from eating, drinking, and sexual intercourse. Menstruating
women, travelers, and sick people are exempted from fasting but have
to make up the days they miss at a later date.Pilgrimage to Mecca
The fifth pillar requires that Muslims who have the physical and
financial ability should perform the pilgrimage, or hajj, to Mecca
at least once in a lifetime. The ritual of pilgrimage was practiced
by Arabs before the rise of Islam and continues from the early days
of Islam. The hajj is distinct from other pilgrimages. It must take
place during the 12th lunar month of the year, known as Dhu
al-Hijja, and it involves a set and detailed sequence of rituals
that are practiced over the span of several days. All of the
pilgrimage rituals take place in the city of Mecca and its
surroundings, and the primary focus of these rituals is a cubical
structure called the Kaaba.
Also, see:
Islam, Muhammad
Koran, Qur'an
Abraham
Allah
Ishmael, Ismail
Early Islamic History Outline
Hegira
Kaaba, Black Stone
Ramadan
Sunnites, Sunni
Shiites, Shia
Mecca
Medina
Hadith
Sahih, al-Bukhari
Sufism
Wahhabism
Abu Bakr
Abbasids
Ayyubids
Umayyads
Fatima
Fatimids
Ismailis
Mamelukes
Saladin
Seljuks
Aisha
Ali
Lilith
Islamic Calendar
pillars
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