In every religion there are certain core points that everyone knows, such as the Wievl of Dharma in Buddhism and the Ten Commandments in Judaism and Christianity. Islam also has a similar list of key points: the Five Pillars of Islam, sometimes also called the Five Pillars of Worship (arkan al-‘ibada). These ‘pillars’ provide a foundation and structural support for the Muslim faith: they specify the five most important ways to worship God.
The First Pillar: Shahada (Profession of Faith)
In many religions, the essence of the faith is summarized in a short, seemingly simple statement, which, however, contains a wealth of deeper meanings. In Islam this is the profession of faith or shahada. This statement (I testify that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is the messages of Allah) summarizes what it means to be a Muslim. Unlike many other religions, Jews and Christians agree on the statement There is no God but God. Similar to the Shahada, the doctrine of the three baskets is a basic principle in Buddhism.
Anyone who makes the statement with the intention of becoming a Muslim , indeed becomes a Muslim. Muslims describe this as a return to Islam, because they believe that all humans were originally Muslims who submitted to God at the time of Adam’s creation.
The shahada is pronounced on many occasions in different variations. For example, the father whispered the shahada in the ear of his newborn child. Ideally, the shahada is the last word a dying Muslim hears. The shahada is often recited by those carrying the coffin during a funeral. The shahada is the basis of the call to prayer and is said at the end of each of the five daily prayers.
The shahada indicates that Islam is not a private matter between the believer and God. A Muslim is obliged to testify to his submission to God: in other words, to do what Christians describe as evangelism. Besides pronouncing the shahada, there are also other ways to testify to your faith. A Muslim can sacrifice his life and die as a martyr for Islam. Such a martyr is called a shahid (witness). This word comes from the same Arabic word as shahada.
Pronunciation of the shahada in Arabic
When the Archangel Gabriel called on Muhammad to become a prophet and at the same time revealed the first part of the Quran to him, he instructed Muhammad to recite (= recite) and not just say something. The word of the Quran spoken in prayers evokes emotions and resonates with the soul of the Muslim.
To get an idea of the importance placed on the spoken word in Islam, try memorizing and reciting the shahada in Arabic:
Ashadu al-la ilaha illa-Llah, wa ashha- du anna Muhammadar-rasul Allah
Don’t worry: you won’t immediately become a Muslim if you recite the shahada in Arabic a few times, unless that is explicitly the intention. All ritual acts in Islam are only valid when the believer first consciously expresses his or her intention (niyya) to perform the act in question.
The second pillar: Salat (prayer)
The Islamic ritual prayer, which consists of a prescribed series of words and associated body postures, is the most important way to worship God in Islam. Daily prayer plays such an important role in Islam that in some languages people do not ask whether someone is religious or believes in God, but whether someone performs the salat. As the Muslim pauses from all activities five times a day to pray, he or she is constantly reminded that God comes before all other concerns. The salat is a prescribed prayer, unlike the dua: a voluntary prayer, in which the believer can pray as he or she wishes. Salat is more than just an expression of faith. It is also a way to shape and deepen faith, a function that prayer fulfills in most religions.
Time to pray
How does a Muslim know when it is time for the five daily prayers? The exact time depends on geographic location and time of year. In Islamic countries, the correct time is indicated by the call to prayer, which blares from the minarets of the mosque over the roofs of the houses. It is a very characteristic sound, which will remain with most non-Muslim tourists in Muslim countries for a long time. In non-Muslim countries, printed prayer schedules, computer programs and Muslim websites are good sources of information about correct prayer times. The five prayer times are as follows:
- Shortly before our emergence (two prayer cycles)
- Around noon (four prayer cycles)
- At Middan (four prayer cycles)
- At sunset (three prayer cycles)
- Between one hour after sunset and midnight (four prayer cycles)
Under certain circumstances, two salats can be combined. A skipped salat can be made up later. Adjustments are acceptable in certain situations, such as illness or traveling by public transport. Menstruating women do not perform salat because the menstrual blood makes the woman impure, just as the man is impure after ejaculation.
In addition to the prescribed five salats per day, a Muslim can voluntarily perform additional salats, as well as special salats during the second major holidays (at the end of the month of Ramadan and during Haij), at funerals and on other special occasions.
Do all Muslims pray five times a day? Certainly not, any more than all Christians go to church every Sunday. Moreover, there are major differences on this point between the various Islamic countries, between regions within a country and between the big city and the countryside. For example, in Turkey’s major cities, only a small proportion of people actually pray five times a day. However, the increase in religiosity within the Islamic world over the past 25 years has meant that there are now more Muslims who strictly perform salat than before.
The traditional biography of Muhammad explains why Muslims must pray five times a day. During Muhammad’s night journey to Jerusalem and his ascension to the throne of God, God told Muhammad that Muslims should pray fifty times a day. On his way down, Muhammad met Moses, who asked him how many daily prayers God had prescribed. Moses said that the people would never be able to pray fifty times a day and instructed Muhammad to go back and ask God to order a lower number. This scene was repeated several times, until the number of prayers was reduced to 5 and Muhammad did not dare to go back again to ask for a further reduction. God told Muhammad that a Muslim who prays five times a day will be rewarded as if he had prayed fifty times.
The place to pray
Muslims can perform salat almost anywhere. At the right time, people stop what they are doing and turn towards Mecca (in Saudi Arabia) to pray. The direction towards Mecca is called qibla. In some hotel rooms you will find stickers on the windowsill indicating qibla.
Mosques are built in such a way that there is always a wall facing Mecca (the qibla wall). In the qibla wall there is a semi-circular prayer niche, which indicates the exact direction to Mecca and therefore also the direction for prayer.
Before the salat, the faithful take off their shoes. If the prayer does not take place in a mosque, the Muslim rolls out a prayer mat. This mat usually contains an image of the Great Mosque in Mecca, the holiest mosque in Islam. If a prayer mat is not available, a newspaper can also serve you well.
It is possible to pray individually, but many Muslims prefer to pray in the presence of other Muslims. People line up in neat rows and there is someone who stands at the front and fulfills the function of prayer leader (imam). A woman can act as an imam for other women, but not for other men.
Call to prayer (adhan)
Each time for prayer is announced with the prayer call. Anyone who has ever been to an Islamic institution or seen a documentary about Islam on television has undoubtedly heard the adhan. In the past, the muezzin (the one who makes the call to prayer) would climb a miranet, a high tower near the mosque, about 15 minutes before the start of the actual prayer, to make the call from there.
Muezzins still exist, but today the call usually comes from a cassette tape or CD from loudspeakers mounted on a miranet or on the roof of a tall building. Within the mosque, the prayer call is repeated in a modified form (iqama), which ends with the words the prayer has begun to indicate the actual beginning of the salat ritual.
The first Rak’a
Depending on the time of prayer, the prayer ritual consists of two, three or four prayer cycles (raka). Each cycle consists of a number of prescribed movements with associated words. Over the course of the day, the believer performs a total of at least 17 rakas during the five obligatory prayers. When the salat is led by an imam, most of the texts are spoken silently or in a whisper by the faithful. After each believer has explicitly stated his intention to pray, each raka broadly consists of the following steps:
- Standing with feet slightly apart, the Muslim raises his hands to his head and with the palms facing outward and forward he or she recites the takbir (,God is great,). Then the hands are moved downwards and the first surah (the fatiha) is said, followed by another passage from the Quran.
- Bending forward and with his hands on his knees, the believer says ‘Glory to God the Almighty’ three times.
- Having stood up, the believer then says: ‘God hears those who praise Him. O our God, praise be to You’, followed by a takbir.
- The believer now kneels down and touches the ground with the forehead and both flat palms. Now follows three times ‘My Lord be praised. The Most High; be praised’ and another takbir.
- The worshiper now sits up with the left leg folded under him and the right leg extended straight back from the knee to the foot, with the toes touching the floor and the heel standing upright. Some now ask for forgiveness of sins, and everyone still says a takbir.
- To conclude the rak’a, the worshiper kneels again with the forehead and palms flat on the ground, after which he or she returns to a sitting position.
The third pillar: Zakat (religious tax)
In every religion, believers are encouraged to engage in charity to support religious and social services and education. In Islam, this charity is institutionalized in the form of zakat, a mandatory tax that every Muslim must pay every year. The details are quite complicated, but the basic tax is 2.5 percent of all liquid assets and income-generating assets. There are special levies on livestock and agricultural products. No zakat is levied on homes and simple, necessary personal belongings. If someone’s zakatable income is below the specified limit (the nisab), that person does not have to pay zakat. According to a certain definition of the nisab, it is equal to the value of three ounces of gold, nowadays almost a thousand euros. On Islamic websites and in special publications, the believer can find information to calculate his personal zakat obligations. The local mosque and other Islamic organizations can assist in collecting and distributing the zakat funds. Zakat is traditionally used to support the poor and sick, spread the Islamic faith, ransom prisoners and Muslim slaves, help travelers, assist debtors and defend Islam.
O you who believe, give away of the good things that you have earned and of what. We bring forth for you from the earth, and do not seek evil things to give away from it.
Additional voluntary donations or alms (saqada) are recommended as signs of charity and piety. These donations are completely separate from the zakat obligations. Affluent Muslims often establish charitable organizations, during life or by will. These organizations usually focus on specific goals, such as helping the poor or supporting mosques, hospitals, madrasas (Islamic schools) or guest houses for travelers.
The Fourth Pillar: Saum (Reflection of Lent)
Islam does not normally emphasize excessive asceticism or self-abstinence. God created the physical world and the human body for us to enjoy. Salvation is not achieved through denial of one’s own physical needs, such as good food or sex. However, enjoying the physical world must be done in moderation.
Fasting (saum) originally took place on the tenth of the month of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. This day is still considered a day on which many Muslims voluntarily fast. After the establishment of the Islamic community in Medina, the month of Ramadan (the ninth month) was revealed to be the month of fasting. Like all other months, Ramadan begins at sunrise after the first sighting of the new moon (hilaf) at the end of the previous month, shaban.
The exact calculation of the beginning of the new month is especially important for Ramadan and the following month (shawwal), because fasting simply begins on the first day of Ramadan and ends on the last day of Ramadan. Muslims, who were already much more advanced than Europe in the field of astronomy and mathematics in the Middle Ages, have long known that the date of the new moon can be determined through astronomical calculations. Yet a physical sighting by a reliable witness is still used as a starting point for the start of a new month. In several Western countries there is a committee with representatives from various Islamic organizations, which reports and then announces the start and end of Ramadan.
From sunrise to sunset
During Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise (the time when the morning light is first strong enough to distinguish a white thread from a black one) until sunset.
Fasting means:
- Don’t eat anything
- Don’t drink anything
- No sexual intercourse
- Do not smoke
Islamic legal scholars have laid down in detail what does and does not constitute a violation of fasting. For example, you should not take medication during the day, but you may receive an injection . Pregnant or breastfeeding women, the chronically ill or the mentally challenged are not expected to fast. Sometimes a person is forced to stop fasting before Ramadan is over, but then the missing days must be made up the following year. Menstruating women, the sick and travelers on a long journey can or should postpone Lent, but they will make up for the missed days later. Children begin fasting gradually. At first they only fast for a few days, after which the period is slowly extended until they fast for the entire month of Ramadan.
Not everyone adheres to the regulations. In some Islamic countries, the state or a voluntary organization tries to encourage everyone to fast at least in public (this does not apply to non-Muslim tourists). At home, not everyone strictly adheres to the fasting rules. In other Islamic countries, such as Turkey, those who fast are in the minority in the big cities. Most restaurants are open as usual during Ramadan.
A day in Ramadan
The way the fasting month is observed varies slightly from country to country, but the following descriptions give a good general impression. Muslims end the fast as soon as possible after sunset, for example by eating a date. The main meal follows later in the evening, and sometimes a light meal in the late night or early morning, before the next day of fasting begins. It is not the intention to eat excessively in the evening to make up for missed meals during the day.
The Lenten meal is not just about abstaining from food, drink and sex. The evening is a time of relaxation, mutual visits, prayer and Quran recitation . In printed Quran, the text is often divided into thirty parts, so that someone can read a part each day of Ramadan. In the evening air, the sound of Koran recitations is dominant. Devout Muslims sometimes perform an additional salat consisting of twenty rakas after the fifth prescribed prayer. Some go to the mosque in the evening, especially during the last ten days of the month. On an odd day of the last ten days, the Lailat al-Qadr (night of power) took place, during which Muhammad received the first revelation. Reciting from the Quran during Ramadan commemorates the fact that the Quran was given as a gift to Muslims.
O ye believers! Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become righteous and master yourselves. You will fast for a certain number of days. The month of Ramadan is that in which the Qur’an was sent down as a guideline for the people.
The believer begins the day by declaring the intention to fast. During the day, normal daily obligations continue as usual; Lent is not a holiday or a religious retreat. But the pace of everyday life is somewhat slower during Ramadan. Because the Islamic calendar is a monthly calendar, an Islamic year is slightly shorter than a year according to the Western solar calendar. As a result, the month of Ramadan falls a little earlier in the season each year, so that the fasting period continues through all seasons over time. In winter the days are shorter and the fasting is less severe, but in the heat of summer the day can sometimes last more than 18 hours, during which the believer is not expected to drink even a drop of water.
The meaning of fasting
Westerners sometimes only see the practical implementation of Islamic religious rituals and do not realize that this is only a starting point. The meaning of Saum and the month of Ramadan can be viewed on three levels:
- Practical level: do not eat, drink, smoke or have sex.
- Moral level: During fasting, the believer also tries to avoid sins such as lying, slander and anger. Fasting also makes Muslims more aware of the hardships that the poor have to endure throughout the year, so that they can better empathize with their situation and be more inclined to share their prosperity with others.
- Spiritual level: by not being distracted by all kinds of side issues during Ramadan, Muslims are better aware of God as the ultimate reality. Molsims experience a closeness to God during Ramadan that is more intense than during the rest of the year.
Observing Ramadan is a blessing, not a test. According to tradition, during Ramadan the gates of heaven are opened and those of hell are closed, while Satan is chained. Fasting during Ramadan is thirty times more valuable than fasting at other times. The great Islamic theologian al-Ghazali stated that fasting during Ramadan constitutes a quarter of the faith.
The end of Ramadan
As the evening of the 29th day of Ramadan approaches, Muslims eagerly await the sighting of the new moon, signaling the end of Ramadan and the beginning of one of the two major festivals of the Islamic calendar: Id al-Fitr. This festival, the breaking of the fast, is also called Eid-al-Fitr and lasts three days. On the first day there is a special salat with sermon in the mosque. Molsims donate an additional zakat (zakat al-fitr) directly to the poor. In some countries, wealthy individuals or organizations set up large tents where the poor from the neighborhood can come and eat for free. People visit friends and family or the graves of the deceased, exchange small gifts and prepare special meals, which are eaten together.
The fifth pillar: Haij (Pilgrimage to Mecca)
Even people who have never heard of Islam use the word Mecca as a synonym for the supreme goal, for example: Wimbeldon is the Mecca of tennis. The pilgrimage to Mecca (haij) lasts from the 8th to the 12th of the last month (Dhul-hijja) of the Islamic year. Some pilgrims leave several months in advance so that they can stay longer in the holy cities. Today, more than two million people make this pilgrimage every year. Caring for all these pilgrims (food, shelter, transportation and sanitation) poses a significant logistical challenge for the Saudi government.
The precept is that every Muslim makes haij once in his or her life, but only if he or she is able to do so. A Muslim is not supposed to go into debt or jeopardize the material well-being of his family in order to complete Haij. Completing haij gives someone a high prestige within the Islamic community. A man who has completed the haij is given the honorary title hajji, while a woman may call herself hajja.
The pilgrimage to Mecca has been an important undertaking from the very beginning of Islam, as shown in Sura 22:27-29:
And proclaim the pilgrimage to the people. They will come to you on foot, or on camels emaciated by the long journey along mountain paths and deep ravines, (…) Then let them perform the prescribed rituals, fulfill their vows and visit the Ancient House (the Ka’ ba).
The center of the world
Why are Mecca and the Haij so important in Islam? Mecca was an important shrine for the Arabs even before the arrival of Islam, and certain important parts of the Haij ritual predate Muhammad. Due to the war between the young Muslim community in Medina and the city of Mecca, the Muslims were initially unable to complete the Haij. After the Islamic conquest of Mecca in 630, the first act of the Muslims was to cleanse the Kaba (the ancient shrine in Mecca) of its many idols. Shortly before his death in 632, Muhammad made his farewell pilgrimage to Mecca. This pilgrimage has since become an example that later pilgrims have tried to imitate.
The Kaba (literally: Cube) is a simple cube of stone and marble with a base of 10 by 13 meters and a height of 16 meters. The Kaba is covered with a black cloth, on which a strip of verses from the Koran is embroidered in gold. This cloth is replaced every year. On the southeast corner of the Kaba, at a height of about one and a half meters above the ground, is a sacred Black Stone (about 27 by 37 cm) in a silver frame. To the left of the Black Stone, in the center of the eastern wall, is a door that provides access to the empty space within the Kaba. The center of the Kaba is the point towards which Muslims face during their prayers. Within the Kaba one may pray in any direction. The Kaba stands in the large, open courtyard of the Grand Mosque (al-Masjid al-Haram).
According to the Quran, the first Kaba was built by Adam. Later the Kabah was rebuilt by Abraham and his son Ismail. By performing the haij, Muslims not only repeat Muhammad’s last pilgrimage, but also commemorate certain events from the life of Abraham. According to a hadith, the Black Stone fell from heaven, whereupon Adam placed it in the first Kaba. Later, the Archangel Gabriel would bring the stone out of the place where it was hidden and then hand it over to Abraham so that he could place the Black Stone in the now rebuilt Kaba. According to another hadith, the stone was originally white, but turned black because of humanity’s sins. The Kaba is also called the House of God and Muslims believe that the Kaba is a replica of the house of God in heaven. When the faithful make circling movements around the Kaba, they imitate the movements of the angels who continually circle around the throne of God.
The course of the Haij
Muslims who want to complete Haij travel in groups with an Islamic travel organization from their own country. After arriving in Saudi Arabia, each group is assigned a guide, who helps the Muslims perform the various activities of the Haij.
Self-initiation: ihram
The haij begins when the pilgrim abandons his or her normal way of life and puts himself or herself into a consecrated state (ihram). Most pilgrims arrive at Jeddah airport and enter ihram there, if they have not already done so on the plane or at the airport of departure. To this end, they first perform a ritual washing (ghusl) to make themselves clean. The entire body is washed. The pilgrim then expresses the intention to complete the haij. Men wear simple white, unstitched clothes. No special clothing is prescribed for women, but in practice they cover their hair and do not wear a veil, jewelry or perfume. Since stitched textiles and, according to Shiites, leather items are not allowed, some pilgrims wear plastic sandals and a plastic belt for storing money and travel documents. It is no longer possible to read someone’s financial situation from their appearance: all stand as equals before God. While in ihram, Muslims are not allowed to cut their hair or nails or have sexual intercourse. Now the pilgrims say the tabiya, a prayer they will repeat often in the coming week: labbayk allahumma labbayk. (Here I am, my God, here I am)
Circling the Ka’ba: tawaf
After self-purification and entering Mecca, the pilgrims circle counter-clockwise around the Kaba seven times. This circling (tawaf) expresses the oneness of God (tawhid). Everyone tries to touch the Black Stone, but for most there is no more than a gesture in the direction of the stone. Lest one might think that Muslims are worshiping a piece of stone, one of the hadiths reports that the Caliph Umar said the following: I know that you are only a stone, which has no power to do good or bad to do. If I hadn’t seen the prophet kiss you, I wouldn’t want to kiss you. After the tawaf, the pilgrim says a personal prayer at a place between the Black Stone and the entrance to the Kaba.
A few steps to the northeast, the pilgrims perform a salat consisting of two rakas. This is where Abraham stood when the Kabah was built. Then the pilgrims drink from the Zamzam Spring. While Hagar, Abraham’s wife and Ismail’s mother, ran back and forth desperately to find water lest they die of thirst, little Ismail stamped his foot on the ground. Fresh drinking water bubbled up at the spot, making a gurgling sound: zam zam zam. Pilgrims take bottles of Zamzam water home, where it is shared with family and friends. Today, pilgrims descend a staircase to a basement room, where filtered Zamzam water flows from a number of taps. Finally, the pilgrims walk and run back and forth between the hills of Safa and Marwa seven times, in commemoration of Hagar’s search for water. This ritual is called the say. Since the reconstruction of the Grand Mosque in the 1970s, this approximately 300-meter trail has been located within the walls of the mosque.
Standing on the plain Arafat: wuquf
Before night falls, the pilgrims leave for the village of Mina, about eight kilometers from Mecca, where they spend the night. Some spend the night on the plain of Arafat, about twenty kilometers southwest of Mecca. The next day, on the 9th of the month, they stay from noon until sunset on the plain of Arafat or on the low Mount of Mercy, from where Muhammad preached during his farewell pilgrimage. Nowadays, on hot days, the temperature on the plain is kept within limits by a fine mist of water produced by sprinklers mounted on high poles. Standing on the plain of Arafat (wuquf) offers a foretaste of the Day of Judgment, when Muslims who have completed the Haij according to certain traditions will appear in their Haij attire. This day is the highlight of the pilgrimage.
End of the pilgrimage
The last three days of haij, the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth of the month of dhul-hijja, are called the Days of Drying Flesh. On each of these days, the remaining pilgrims throw seven pebbles to each of the three pillars in Mina. A modern two-storey structure provides space for the large numbers of pilgrims who participate in this ritual.
The pilgrims can finish the pilgrimage on the twelfth day. During this period, a new cloth is placed over the Kaba. Before leaving Mecca, most pilgrims make a farewell lap around the Kaba (tawaf al-wada), during which they say a farewell prayer: O Lord, let not this be my last visit to Your House, and grant me the opportunity here again and again to return again.’