Five, Or Six, Pillars Of Islam Essay ⋆ History Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

When the prophet Muhammad sensed that he was about to leave this earthly life, he summoned his followers to keep a code of five parts called the Five Pillars. Following are the pillars, given in their Arabic names, though each of the words has a long history in the Semitic world. Often another pillar is added as the sixth pillar.

First Pillar

The first pillar is the shahada or creed. The creed stands in contrast to those of conventional Christianity, for it is only one line and two parts: There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet. Thus, entrance to Islam is easy and direct and does not require mastery of a mass of information or details. However easy the words, the shahada must not be taken lightly, but with sincere heart. This line is something like the Jewish shema prayer (“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one”), with an affirmation of God’s unity and uniqueness. What is different from the Jewish profession is that there is a second plank— “Muhammad is his prophet”—and this second line separates Islam from all other religions. Muslims believe that the line about Muhammad does not nullify all the prophets who spoke before Muhammad. The angel Jibril (Gabriel) first spoke these lines to Muhammad in the cave of Hira. The shahada is repeated17 times in daily prayer, and ideally it is the first thing a newborn baby and the last thing a dying person hears.

Second Pillar

The second pillar is salat or prayer. Ideally this pillar involves group or societal prayer, for Muhammad was interested in bringing people together into community. In accordance with this goal, the call to prayer comes five times a day through the mouth of the muezzin on top of a minaret. Muhammad’s Abyssinian slave, Bilal, is known to have issued the first call to prayer in Medina, and then later it is known to have occurred during the first hajj in 632. The main times for such prayers are dawn, noon, midafternoon, sunset, and nightfall, and the main prayer day is Friday, so that the community’s rhythm is centered on prayer throughout the day and week. If, however, a Muslim finds that prayer at the mosque is not possible, then prayer can be anywhere and solitary. The rituals and schedule surrounding prayer are not unique to Islam but show customs and traditions inherited from other Middle Eastern religions: The body, especially the hands and feet, must be washed; shoes must be taken off; prostrations, that is, a full bow to the ground; kneeling; veils for women; worship must face a particular direction; regular days and times for prayer; unison of activities.

Third Pillar

The third pillar is zakat or purification. As time went on, the pillar came to be associated with tithing and almsgiving. The principle of charity is that all riches come from Allah, so that the tithe or alms is only a formal token that everything belongs to Allah, and again this is the same for Christians and Jews. The effect of this token offering is that the whole of the Muslim’s goods are purified, and hence the word zakat is appropriate. This concept of tithing is also found in rabbinic Judaism. The minimal amount required of Muslims is 2.5 percent of all resources annually, but Muhammad intended that generosity would mark all the Muslims’ dealings with their society. He once said, “Even meeting your brother with a cheerful face is charity.” Muhammad also envisioned zakat as a device to help the poor and disadvantaged in his community of Arabs. It would force the rich to take care of the poor, and it would equalize human dignity because both the rich and the poor had to pay the same amount and had equal standing before Allah. In certain Islamic nations the zakat payment is automatically levied on all Muslim citizens. Many centuries later such practices, whether compelled or voluntary, could not fail to impress a recent convert like the American civil rights leader Malcolm X.

Fourth Pillar

The fourth pillar is sawm or fasting, which occurs during the month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar. The Muslim fasts not only from food, but drink and sex, though the fast does not continue past sunset each day. For people unable to maintain the rigor of the fast (the sick, elderly, travelers, and the pregnant), the same obligations do not apply. The fasting is part of a bigger personal program to purify thoughts and behavior. Ramadan is a joyful month in spite of sawm. It ends with Eid al-Fitr, a family occasion involving special foods and gift giving. During the month families will often come together after sunset to break the fast with a celebrative meal and then visit the mosque for evening prayer. Often the entire Qur’an is recited over the course of the month. Muhammad’s view was again that fasting would bring the community together in discipline and solidarity. Ramadan is somewhat like Lent, the Christian season before Easter, though the Christian emphasis on remorse for sin and mystical participation in divine suffering and resurrection is not in Islam. Spiritual growth is a priority during fasting seasons for all three Abrahamic religions, as is concern for the poor and needy.

Fifth Pillar

The fifth pillar is hajj or pilgrimage. The duty of every Muslim is to visit Mecca and Medina if time, strength, and resources allow. Some 2,000,000 people or more gather annually in Saudi Arabia to renew their faith, visit the holy sites, and solidify international acquaintances. Although authorities have poured billions of dollars into accommodations, crowded conditions and tense rivalries often result in violence and loss of life during the month of hajj. Usually the rituals of hajj begin 60 days after Ramadan. Pilgrims wear special garments and spend their time in tent cities and in ceremonial walks and events. All of these features are calculated to equalize human distinctions among all the hajjis. They walk seven times around the Kaaba, a cube-shaped shrine set up for the Black Stone, an object considered sacred to Muslims.

Another pilgrimage involves walking seven times between two hills in Mecca, where supposedly Hagar, the Egyptian maid of the patriarch Abraham, searched desperately for water. Then the pilgrims stand together on the plain of Arafat, where Muhammad made his final speech, commanding the observance of these five pillars of Muslim faith. This event symbolizes the summoning of all people for the last judgment. The pilgrims spend the night nearby and gather stones. On the next day, they sacrifice a ram to remind them that a ram was substituted for Ishmael. A day later they use stones previously gathered and throw them at three upright rock slabs that symbolize Satan. The hajj ends with a final walk around the Ka’aba and the Black Stone.

The implication of hajj is that there is physical ground or space that is more sacred to Muslims than other places. The concept of pilgrimage is an ancient one, and Islam simply builds on the concept as it came from the Jewish and Christian faiths. Muhammad, or the angel Jibril, did not discover the sacredness of Mecca—it was already well known as a site of religious tourism with many statues and symbols already in place when Islam took control. The sacred Black Stone was an object of veneration that Muhammad, or Jibril, apparently did not see as idolatrous. What it is cannot be ascertained, but perhaps it is similar to the stones and natural objects such as meteorites or volcanic rock forms that other religions have long venerated.

Sixth Pillar

It is sometimes asserted that there is a sixth pillar: jihad or struggle. Muhammad did not teach this pillar as such, but somehow he inculcated his followers with a drive to spread their faith. Jihad was the byword for the campaign, but the sense of the word may not be military as much as spiritual. The “struggle” was not against other nations as much as against evil: evil in the soul, evil in the spiritual world, evil in society. Early Muslims in fact were remarkably tolerant of Christians and Jews, far more tolerant than medieval Christians were of non-Christians. Muslims found many ways to spread their faith without engaging in armed conflict, though their jihad applied pressures on the Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians to convert.

Bibliography :

Esposito, J. L., et al. Geography of Religion: Where God Lives, Where Pilgrims Walk. Hanover, PA: National Geographic, 2004;
Farah, Caesar E. Islam. 6th ed. Hauppauge, NY: Barron’s Educational Service, 2000.

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