Belief and Islam

ash-shahâda is the highest. About the sequence of the other four,
most Islamic scholars said the same as we have said above. The
Kalimat ash-shahâda was the first to become fard, in the beginning
of Islam. Namâz five times daily became fard on the Mi’râj Night
in the twelfth year of Bi’that, a year and some months before the
Hegira. Fasting during Ramadân became fard in the month of
Sha’bân, the second year of the Hegira. Paying zakât became fard
in the month of Ramadân, in the same year when fasting became
fard. And hajj became fard in the ninth year of the Hegira. [1]
If a person denies, disbelieves, refuses, makes fun of or flouts one
of these five essentials of Islam, he becomes an unbeliever, may
Allah protect us! Similarly, he who does not accept any of the things
which are unanimously and clearly declared to be halâl (permitted)
or harâm (forbidden), or who says halâl about harâm or harâm about
halâl, becomes an unbeliever. If a person denies or dislikes one of
the inevitably known Islamic teachings, i.e., teachings that are heard
and known even by the common people living in Muslim countries,
he becomes an unbeliever. [2] If an ordinary person does not know the
teachings that are not so commonly spread or indispensable for him
to know about them, he is not in denial (kufr); he is sinful (fisq).
[1] Detailed information about namâz, about fasting, about zakât, about
hajj, and about Mi’râj is available from the fourth fascicle of endless
Bliss, from the second and first, and seventh chapters of its fifth
fascicle, and from the sixtieth chapter of its third fascicle, respectively.
Bi’that means Allâhu ta’âlâ’s sending His blessed Archangel, Hadrat
Jebrâ’îl, to His beloved Prophet to tell him that he was the final
Prophet. Hegira (Hijrat) means Rasûlullah’s ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa
sallam’ migration from Mekka to Medina.
[2] For example, to eat pork, to have alcoholic drinks, to gamble; for a
woman or girl to show herself to others with nothing to cover her
head, hair, arms and legs and; for a man to show himself to others
without covering the part between the knees and the navel, are all
harâm. That is, Allâhu ta’âlâ has forbidden these acts. The four
Madhhabs, which explain the commands and prohibitions of Allâhu
ta’âlâ, have had different accounts concerning the boundary marking
the end of the awrat parts of a man’s body, i.e. parts of a man’s body
that are harâm (forbidden) for him to show others and for others to
look at. It is fard for every Muslim to cover those parts of the body as
described by the Madhhab he belongs to. Also, it is harâm for others
to look at those who have not covered these parts of their bodies. It
is written in Kimyâ-yi Saâdet that it is harâm for women and girls to
go out without covering their heads, hair, arms, legs, and it is also
harâm to go out with thin, ornamented, tight and perfume scented
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