The word Islam means "submission," which means reflecting the religion's central tenet of submitting to the will of God. The Islamic practices that are defined by the Five Pillars of Islam: Faith, Prayer, Fasting, Pilgrimage and Alms. The first of the Five Pillars of Islam is the Shahada. Shahada is the Muslim Page One profession of faith, expressing two of the simple, fundamental beliefs that make one a Muslim. Lailaha illa l-Lahu, Shahada, is the set statement generally recited in Arabic, professing monotheism and accepting Muhammad as God’s messenger.
Checkpoint: Five Pillars of Islam The central beliefs of Islam include an oneness of God and humanity, Prophethood, human relationship with the divine, the unseen life, and the last judgment. These beliefs are further extended and explained through the “Five Pillars”. The “Five Pillars” provide instructions for rituals and ways to live. These instructions enable the Muslim people to live their lives in a fashion that brings them closer to God (Fisher, 2005). The first pillar is believing and professing the unity of God and the messengership of Muhammad.
Muslims pray five times daily facing the east towards the holy city of Mecca. As in other religions, prayer is a way to connect to God, gather strength, and peace of mind. Formal prayers are performed at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and nightfall. Prayers contain verses of the Qur’an. The mosque is the Muslim place of worship.
There is no God, but God and Muhammad is the “Messenger of God”. Muslims are also required to tell others of Islam so they will have the information needed to make an intelligent choice, the use of coercion is ruled out ( Fisher, 2005). The second pillar is the performance of a continual round of prayers. Five times a day Muslims are expected to face Mecca and go through a ritual of prayer in words and action, which signifies their submission to Allah. Muslims are encouraged to be in constant prayer to see their lives more objectively.
The four other pillars include, fasting (Saum), prayer (Salat), and pilgrimage (Hajj), alms-giving or charity (Zakat), Shahada is a declaration that is made by followers of the Islamic faith, which says, “there is no true God except Allah,” and also says that, “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. Christianity and other religions whose bible teaches that God is part of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit); Islamic faith teaches that Allah is the one and only God. Muslims also firmly believe that Muhammad is Allah’s greatest prophet, and it is important that those who practice the Islamic acknowledge and recognize him as such. They also believe that Allah used Muhammad to convey the last and final revelation (Slick, 1995-2010). The second pillar, Salat (Prayer), is a prayer that consists of confessions of sins and concluding with purification of the soul.
God tells us how we should live our daily lives. Allah tells us who we should look up to as a role model. The Quran is the final revelation to humanity by Allah. The Quran continuously talks about avoiding violence to be just gentle in speech, forgiving and patient. For e.g in verse 49:10 it says the believers are but a single.
The Shahadah is the first of the Five Pillars and is practiced most. It is the Muslim declaration of faith by not only saying the words, but believing them in their hearts and putting them into action in their daily lives. A Muslim has to believe in the Oneness of Allah and in the Prophet Muhammad, a man, not a divine person, the final prophet. A Muslim repeats the words of the Shahadah many times each day by prayer ritual and they are announced five times a day from the minaret of a mosque during the Adhan (call to prayer). It is the first and most important of the Five Pillars
This Islamic creed is the profession of faith and trust, in which Muslims bear witness to the oneness of God and profess that Muhammad is the messenger of God. This statement of the proclamation of faith underlines the monotheistic nature of Islam. لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāh, muḥammadun rasūlu-llāh This is the basic statement through which Muslims proclaim that Allah is the only God and that Muhammad is his prophet. Through this proclamation of faith, adherents personally accept this to be true and will obey all the commandments of Islam throughout their lifetime. In order to become a Muslim, a person must recite this statement wholeheartedly.
Every religion has its own rituals to sanctify their daily lives. They all have a spiritual meaning and are very significant. Islam and Hinduism have many rituals but, the main ones this essay will focus on are the prayers form Islam and Puja (Pooja) from Hinduism. The prayer in Muslim is a binding promise of the faith, to be performed five times of the day by adult Muslim. In Hinduism Puja (Pooja) is performed as an offering to various deities, distinguished person, or special guests.
These are mandatory to every Muslim at all times, unless the individual is unable to perform them due to sickness or age. All in all, it is safe to say that commitment in no joke is Islam. The very first of the five pillars as Emerick states “helps Muslims to remind themselves about the reality of God in their lives” (Emerick 118). The Shahadah, the practice in which an individual declares his faith in God and confesses that Muhammad is the messenger of God. The statement “I declare there is no god except God, and I declare that Muhammad is the messenger of God"(Qu ‘ran 3:191) is to be said with pure sincerity and great commitment.