5/Five Pillars of Islam

The Five Pillars of Islam

1. To bear witness that there is none worthy of worship save Allah and that Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah.

2. To observe Prayer (Salat).

3. To Pay Zakat (Alms giving)

4. To perform the Pilgrimage to the House of Allah (Hajj).

5. To Observe fasting during Ramadhan." (Bukhari)

-----------------------------------
1- Shahadah (Declaration of Faith)
A Muslim expresses his/her faith (Iman) in the following words:

Ash-hadu anla ilaha illal-Lahu Wahdahu la Sharika Lahu wa-ash-hadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluhu

The English translation of the Shahadah is as follows:

" I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, the One, without any partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger."
--------------------------------------------
2- Five Daily Prayers

Salat, the obligatory Muslim prayer, is said at appointed time fixed in relation to the sun's position. The time of Fajr, the morning prayer begins at dawn and ends just before sunrise. The time of Zuhr, the midday prayer, begins after the sun has crossed the zenith point and has begun to decline. The Asr prayer is said when the sun has further advanced in decline, in the late afternoon. The time of the Maghrib prayer begins immediately after sunset. It lasts till dusk. The Isha prayer can be said after dusk has finally disappeared, giving way to darkness of the night.
--------------------------
3- Zakat (Alms giving)

Is a part of devotion enjoined upon Muslims by the Holy Quran. It is a means where the well-off pay a set amount of their wealth. 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 levied on one's property that is in personal use, 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.
----------------------------
4- Hajj / Pilgrimage

Muslims perform Hajj in order to visit for themselves the holy sites where their faith was revived. 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 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. That is the reason why, strictly speaking, Hajj is only obligatory to those who have fulfilled all their worldly needs and have no pressing commitments left and indeed can afford the passage to Mecca.
----------------------------
5- Fasting / Saum

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 is enjoined that during fasting one should pay attention to 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 alms giving.