ISLAM IS… ISBN 0-9719158-0-6 Copyright ... - Islam Tomorrow

The Five Pillars of IslamThere are five obligatory acts of worship that every Muslim mustdutifully carry out. Failure to do so is a grave sin. The edifice ofIslam rests upon these five pillars. One cannot be considered aMuslim if he or she denies that any one of these acts is obligatory.The five obligations of Muslims are as follows:a. The declaration of faith, to ‘Testify that there is no truedeity except God, and that Muhammad is His Messenger’(Shahadah)b. To pray five times a day (Salah)c. To pay the yearly alms (Zakah)d. To fast during the month of Ramadan (Sawm)e. To make the pilgrimage to Makkah (Hajj)The Declaration of Faith (Shahadah)It is obligatory for every person intending to enter Islam to believeand to say, ‘I testify that there is no true deity except God,and that Muhammad is His Messenger.’ With this simple, important,and powerful declaration, a person is considered a Muslim.There is no initiation into the fold of Islam.The concepts within the testimony of faith can be explained byanalyzing each of three parts within the testimony. The first part‘No true deity…’ is a negation of polytheism. 9 It is a negation ofthe existence of any true deity other than God, or any entity that9 This negation means that nothing is to be worshipped except God, nothinghas divinity except God, none share the attributes of God, and none can bethe creator or sustainer of creation except God, who is without equal or partner.23