The Five Pillars

Shahada

The first and greatest teaching of Isiam is proclaimed by the Shahada: "La llaha illa-I-lah, Muhammadun rasulu-l-lah." ("There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the apostle of Allah." Or "I testify that there is no god worthy o f worship but God (Allah), and I testify that Muhammad is the messenger of God.") It is this very confession, which, once uttered sincerely, makes one a Muslim. This is the phrase all new converts are asked to say upon conversion. For those who take the pilgrimage, or the Hajj, it is required that they repeat this phrase with belief before they enter into the holy city of Mecca, (although technically the Shi'a do not consider the shahadah to be a separate pillar, just a belief).

Zakat

Zakat is the compulsory giving of alms, which is often a contribution based on a certain percentage o f a person's wealth. The Qur'an specifies that 2.5 per cent of surplus money, capital and goods after looking after themselves and their family. This religious tax is not considered charity but a regular, sacrificial giving which is part of the duty of a Muslim. As everything is considered to belong to God, the giver is simply distributing the wealth more evenly. Rich people are only so because of the grace of God. It is not collected like a state tax and it is anonymous.

Sawm

Sawm involves fasting from dawn t o dusk during the month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the year. Muslims keep a lunar calendar s o that Ramadan come 11 or 1 0 days later each year in the secular calendar. It honors the time when God revealed the word t o Muhammad in 614 CE. All people over 14 are required to take no food, drink, nor engage in sexual intercourse during the daylight of the period of denial. Young children, sick, the elderly, expectant and nursing mothers, soldiers in battle, menstruating women, those on long journeys and the mentally ill are exempt from fasting. The end of Ramadan is celebrated with a two or three day festival. Although fasting is beneficial to health, it is mainly a method of self-purification and self-restraint. By cutting oneself from worldly comforts, even for a short time, a fasting person focuses on his or her purpose in life by constantly being aware of the presence of God. God states in the Qur'an: "O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed to those before you that you may learn self-restraint." (Qur'an 2:183).

Hajj

Each Muslim makes the pilgrimage to Mecca if they can afford it, once in their lifetime. Over two million people go t  Mecca each year from every corner of the globe providing a unique opportunity for those of different nations to meet one another. The annual hajj begins in the tweifth month of the Islamic year (which is lunar, not solar, so that hajj and Ramadan fall sometimes in summer, sometimes in winter). Pilgrims wear special clothes: simple garments that strip away distinctions of class and culture, so that all stand equal before God.

The rites of the haji, which are purportedly of Abrahamic origin, include going around the Ka'bah seven times, and going seven times between the hills of Sata and Marwa as did Hagar (Hajir, Abraham's wife) during her search for water. The pilgrims later stand together o n the wide plains of Arafat (a large expanse of desert outside Makkah) and join in prayer for God's forgiveness, in what is often thought a s a preview of the Day of Judgment. The close of the hajj is marked by a festival, the 'Id al Adha, which is celebrated with prayers and the exchange of gifts in Muslim communities everywhere. This and the 'Id al Fitr, a festive day celebrating the end of Ramadan, are the two holidays o f the Islamic calendar.

The hajj celebrates three events in Muslim history: the forgiveness and reunion of Adam and Eve; the Prophet Abraham's prevented sacrifice of his son Ishmael; and the life of obedience of the Prophet Muhammad.

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