ISLAMIC CREED & RITUALS / return to main

RIGHT EFFORT: THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM

The Prophet taught these five pillars of Islam:

1. Declaring that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is His messenger.
This is called the shahadah, or testimony of faith, and it sounds like this in Arabic: ash-hadu al-la ilaha illallah, wa ash-hadu anna muhammadar rasul-ullah. Saying this admits a person into the Muslim faith and community and is equivalent to the Pledge of Allegiance that a new citizen makes to the United States. The Prophet emphatically stated that any human being who says this must have his or her life and property protected and may not be harmed by the Muslim community.

The story that fleshes out this teaching took place during a time of hostilities between the Prophet, then in Medina, and the people of Mecca, who had rejected him and tried to assassinate him. A group of Muslim scouts crossed paths with a group of Meccan scouts; fighting ensued, and the Muslims dominated. One of the last survivors of the Meccans got down to his knees and uttered aloud the shahadah, whereupon the Muslim killed him. When they returned and the Prophet heard this news, he called the fellow in and asked him why he had killed the Meccan, whereupon the man responded that the Meccan had said that only to spare his skin and not out of a genuine belief. The Prophet asked him, "Did you open up his heart to determine if he spoke truly?" and kept repeating that question firmly until the fellow was overcome with the deepest regret.

I always recommend to my non-Muslim students to learn this phrasing: la ilaha illallah, muhammad rasu-lullah; it comes in handy when visiting the Muslim world, especially Arabic-speaking Muslims. You can use la ilaha illallah to conclude a bargain in the souk or bazaar in your favor, to stop an argument and bring about calm, or to express your condolences, and you can even utter it in a sigh to declare your sense of despair.

In the shahadah Muslims not only admit the oneness of God but also implicitly recognize the series of messengers, such as Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, as well as the many more unnamed and unknown to us. In this we hear the human response to the divine announcement in the Hebrew Shema addressed to all humanity: God asking humanity to heed the truth that God is One, and we responding by saying, "There is no god but You."

Chanting la ilaha illallah as a mantra has positive effects, especially when done in a group. It can bring people to ecstasy, soothe and calm, energize, and enable some to make more translucent the veil between them and God. It is therefore the central practice or chant of Sufi orders (the mystics of Islam), who do this collectively on a weekly basis a hundred or more times and individually daily up to tens of thousands of times. The word ilah is cognate to the Hebrew el or eloh, meaning "god," and Allah is a contraction of al-ilah, "the God." Jesus's words from the cross, "Eloi, Eloi lema sabachtani?" (Mark 15:33, Matthew 27:46, meaning, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?") would be pronounced in Arabic "ilahi, ilahi lima sabaqtani?"

2. Adoring God in a sacramental ritual prayer five set times daily (salah), facing the Ka'bah in Mecca.
The five times of prayer are set to coincide with the cosmic clock: dawn, noon, midafternoon, sunset, and when the evening twilight has disappeared from the night sky. It consists of a choreographed set of movements: standing, bowing, returning to the standing position, and falling down on one's face in prostration, then sitting up, and prostrating again; this is one cycle of prayer (called rak'ah). After two cycles of prayer, there is a supplication done in the seated position. In the standing position, we initiate the prayer by saying, "God is Greatest" (allahu akbar) then recite the opening chapter of the Quran followed by a small chapter or any verse of the Quran.

The opening chapter translates as follows:

In the name of the Merciful, Compassionate God
Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds
The Merciful, the Compassionate
King of Judgment Day
You alone we worship, and You alone we seek help from
Guide us along the right path: the path of those You have blessed, not those upon whom is wrath, nor the lost.
Amen.

In the bowing position we say, "Glory be to God the Great," then rising up to the standing position we say, "God hears the one who praises Him," then we prostrate twice, in each saying, "Glory be to God the most exalted." A state of ritual purity is required, accomplished by an ablution (washing of face and of hands up to the elbows, wiping of hair and washing or wiping of the feet). When water is not available, we pat our hands on dry earth or sand and just wipe the face and the hands.

The prayer's choreography is based on the Prophet's night journey, when he was taken by the archangel Gabriel from Mecca to Jerusalem and from Jerusalem was raised to God's presence, where God "revealed to His servant that which He revealed" (Quran 53:10) and where the Prophet was shown "among the greatest signs of his Lord" (Quran 53:18). Along the way the Prophet witnessed countless angels in rows adoring God eternally in each of these positions. And because he found this sight so powerfully compelling (as it is even to non-Muslims when they witness the sight of thousands of Muslims moving in unison), the positions were combined and made into the choreography of prayer. The Prophet's ascension and the prayer given to him that night produced a popular saying in the Muslim world that the prayer is the ascension of the Muslim to his or her Lord (as-salatu mi'raj ul-mu'min). The supplication recited at the end in the seated position includes blessings called down upon Muhammad and his family and descendants (aali Muhammad, which according to one interpretation means all the followers of Muhammad's message), upon Abraham and his family and descendants (aali Ibrahim, thereby, according to one interpretation, including supplications for all Jews and Christians), and upon all the righteous of humanity (thus the righteous of all religions) and is ended by expressing the greeting of peace (as-salamu alaykum) to the recording angels Muslims believe are seated on their right and left shoulders. The movements reflect a universal body language of respect. In ancient societies, and until very recently in Japan, people would prostrate before their lords and masters, and even still in Japan people bow to each other as a sign of respect, with the person lower on the social ladder bowing more deeply toward the one higher. The words are such that any Jew or Christian, or anyone who believes in one God, can perform without violating his or her faith.

Wherever one goes in the Muslim world, from Indonesia to Senegal, a Muslim can enter a mosque, stand shoulder to shoulder with another Muslim, and perform the prayer in the same language with the same movements. The person praying adjacent to you may have a different opinion on what an Islamic state means, may belong to a different school of Islamic law, may think that the war in Iraq was good or bad, may be a Republican or Democrat, Sunni or Shiite, but Muslims pray as one body. Like Christians who believe they are united in a body of Christ, Muslims are united in a body of ritual practice, and the five-times-daily prayer is a potent bonding activity.

3. Paying the community treasury a minimum tax of 2.5 percent of one's wealth as a means of purifying that wealth and transmuting one's work into worship (zakat).
The tax varies depending on the type of work one earns a living from. Income from mining (such as oil or diamonds) is taxed at 20 percent. This is especially intended to help the poor, ensuring them a minimum standard of living, but it also may be used for other purposes benefiting the public welfare.

Islam makes this tax a religious duty, and to many this links Islam with governance (the state). Some scholars believe that the income and other taxes currently levied on Muslims satisfy the requirement of zakat. Not only are current taxes much higher than 2.5 percent, American Muslims pay well over 30 percent, so they say, "Give us a break." Other scholars say no and insist that the zakat be paid separately as a religious obligation, a position that is logical if one subscribes to the perception that the state is separate from religion.

4. Fasting (sawm) for a month once a year, defined as abstaining from eating, drinking, smoking, and sexual activity from dawn to sunset daily for the month of Ramadan (the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar).
As Catholic Christians fast for forty days of Lent, so Muslims fast during the month of Ramadan. Ramadan is an enclosure in time, as a mosque, church, or temple is an enclosure in space. The respect we accord a house of worship is to be granted to Ramadan. It is a time for reflection, for self-purification, for retreating from the bustle of worldly life into a time of deeper contemplation. We wouldn't enter a house of worship and engage in gossip, commit sinful acts, or even read People magazine, although I'm sure there are those who do. Fasting without abstaining from evil actions such as gossip and foul conversation is therefore not fruitful, for the Prophet taught that a person who fasts and does not guard the tongue or avoid evil actions has accomplished little except perhaps to become hungry and thirsty. The Prophet once said that the silence of a fasting person is glorification of God; even his or her sleep is counted as worship.

The real objective of the Ramadan fast is to raise one's God-consciousness (taqwa). It is meant not as punishment but as an exercise that accelerates one's spiritual progress. The exercise teaches you quickly that you have a soul. After a few days of fasting, your physical systems slow down, and your "I" separates from your body and emotions and floats over them. Hunger is felt not as "I am hungry" but as "My body is hungry," much as you would observe your pet dog being hungry or trying to get your attention at mealtime. If someone stimulates you to anger, you feel as if he has goaded your emotional being, and you recognize a distinct time lag between the stimulus and your reaction, during which time you think about your normal reflex reaction and whether you want to react at all.

Fasting therefore helps you recognize the different components of your being (body, emotional being, mind, and "I," the locus of the soul). By the end of the month your will has been strengthened; you feel that you are capable of far more than you thought, and you are less susceptible to the "I can't help myself" syndrome. Hopefully, you will be ready to progress even more upon your spiritual journey.

5. Performing pilgrimage (hajj) once in one's lifetime, contingent on one's ability to afford it financially and being in good enough physical health.
The hajj consists of a trip to Mecca sometime before the ninth of Dhul-Hijjah (the twelfth month of the Islamic calendar). This day is called the Standing at (the Plain of) Arafat, about a twenty-minute drive from Mecca when there's no traffic but a two-hour drive when two million pilgrims are jamming the roads to Arafat.

If you catch this day you've caught the hajj, and if you missed it, you've missed the hajj that year. Most pilgrims like to arrive in Mecca no later than the sixth of the month and spend at least three days in Mina, a suburb of Mecca, before going on to Arafat. All men wear only two pieces of unsewn white cotton cloth, one around the waist and the other around the shoulder, so as to emphasize the equality of humankind before God. Female pilgrims are fully dressed, leaving only their faces and hands exposed. Various rituals are performed during these days, the most dramatic of them being walking seven times around (tawaf) the cubical structure draped with a black cloth called the Ka'bah, originally built by Abraham and his son Ishmael.

This annual pilgrimage was begun by Abraham when he was commanded to build the Ka'bah, the first structure devoted to the worship of only one God (Quran 2:125-27, also 22:26-33). God commanded Abraham, "Proclaim among people the pilgrimage: they will respond, on foot, and on every means of transport, coming from every remote place" (Quran 22:26). This annual ritual of pilgrimage to Mecca today attracts over two million from all over the globe. The pilgrimage reenacts some of the rituals of Abraham. His willingness to sacrifice his son is remembered by performing a sacrifice, usually of a sheep. Hagar's running to and fro between the two hillocks known as Safa and Marwah, adjacent to the Ka'bah, is enacted by seven quick walks between the hillocks following the circling of the Ka'bah. To sit in front of the Ka'bah and just gaze at it is a serene experience.

The hajj is a visit to God's house, and the pilgrim returns transformed. Part of the reason is that the pilgrimage comes about through more than just an individual decision. More than any of the other four ritual acts of worship—with the possible exception of the shahadah—the experience of deciding to go on hajj makes the Muslim feel invited by God. No matter how recently before the hajj the decision was made, a vortex of activities carries the pilgrim on the journey to Mecca in time for the hajj. Financial impediments may be removed, familial or professional obligations covered, or visa restrictions lifted, so the pilgrim becomes the recipient of a string of small miracles that make the trip possible. The process seems strangely effortless. Yet once the pilgrim arrives, the stark geography of the desert landscape and the arduous nature of the journey ensure in the pilgrim's mind that this trip was not made for physical pleasure and comfort; this is no Club Med experience. If one imagines the power of divine revelation descending upon the Prophet in Mecca and Medina, as it did upon Moses in nearby Sinai, one intuitively feels that the land, not to mention the vegetation and animal life, could not withstand divine revelation's blinding power. One makes this trip purely for God's pleasure; there is no mistake about that. The pilgrim's mind is filled with such contemplations.

For centuries, the pilgrimage used to be the annual Islamic Convention before annual conventions became the norm. People from all over the world got to know each other, learned from each other, and exchanged ideas and products. Even till recently one would go on pilgrimage and perhaps acquire a fine Persian carpet from an Iranian pilgrim or frankincense from an Omani. Globalization has now changed us: almost all the prayer rugs, prayer beads, and clocks that call out the prayer times are made in China, even the "Persian" carpets.

In making the hajj, the pilgrims are drawing close to the Ka'bah, the place where Abraham initiated rites to the one God, and the place toward which five times each day they bow in prayer. In every prayer they recite the invocation (salat) upon the Prophet: "O God! Bestow your blessings upon Muhammad and the family [and descendants] of Muhammad as you have bestowed your blessings upon Abraham and the family [and descendants] of Abraham." A Muslim who prays only the five-time obligatory (fard) prayer mentions Abraham's name four times in each prayer, equaling twenty times every day. If we include the nonobligatory prayers, a Muslim invokes Abraham's name as many as fifty-two times a day. The ritual acts of prayer and the pilgrimage reveal Islam as an Abrahamic faith.

(excerpt from What's Right with Islam: A New Vision for Muslims and the West, by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf)

back to top | return to main