The Five Pillars of Islam

1040 Words5 Pages
The Five Pillars of Islam The Five Pillars of Islam form the moral framework for the Muslim life. They are the testimony of faith, prayer, fasting during the month of Ramadan, giving to the needy, and the pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime. These acts are considered pillars because they are the very foundation to which Islam is built upon. The first pillar, Shahada, is the confession that Allah is the one and only true God and that there is no other god before Allah. The Shahada also states that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah and is recognized as the true and greatest prophet of Allah; it was through Muhammad that Allah conveyed the last and final revelation (Slick, 2010). Christianity has a similar testimony of faith. In the book of John chapter 17 verse 3 of the Bible it says: “"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. ("The five pillars," 2008)" This is the Christian version of Shahada, stating that there is only one true God and to know God is to know Jesus Christ, whom God sent to Earth, as his word to mankind, through which he revealed himself and offered mankind eternal life ("The five pillars," 2008). The second pillar, Salat, is a series of prayers involving confessions of sins that begin with the purification of the body and ending with the purification of the soul. Prayers are performed five times a day, with the first being at dawn and the last after sunset. The names of the prayers are: Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha (Slick, 2010). Prayer in Islam is a direct link between man and God, there are no intermediaries. A Muslim may pray anywhere, and must always face towards Mecca (Abu-Harb, 2002). In Christianity prayer is equally sacred; however there are no set prayers that must be recited in Christian scriptures. Christians believe

More about The Five Pillars of Islam

Open Document