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(1)
Profession of Faith, or shahada in
Arabic, requires the believer to profess the
unity ofGodand the mission of Muhammad, this
involves the repetition of the formula:
"There is no God but Allah and
Muhammad is the messenger of Allah."
This assertion forms part of every prayer
and in a critical situation, one may
repeat the first part in order to
establish one's identity as a Muslim.
(2) Prayer, sala, is required five
times a day: at dawn, noon, midafternoon,
sunset and dusk. It must be performed in
a state of ritual purity and every word
must be in Arabic. The worshipper has the
choice of pray: ng privately, in the open
air or in a house; or with a group,
outdoors, or in a mosque. Islam opposes
the practice of withdrawing into ascetic
life. For this reason, there is no
priesthood, as is known in the West, only
'ulema, learned men, who are
well-versed in Islamic law and tradition.
Throughout the Muslim world, services are
held at noon on Fridays in mosques.
Muhammad did not explicitly designate
Friday as a day of rest, only a part of
which is devoted to a special religious
service. Merchants are free to open their
shops before and after the service.
(3) The third Pillar of Islam,
Almsgiving, zaka or zakat, embodies
the principle of social responsibility.
This precept teaches that what belongs to
the believer also belongs to the
community in the ultimate sense, and that
only by donating a pro-portion of his
wealth for public use does a person
legitimize what he or she retains. The zaka,
in addition to the other tenets of
islam, is a religious obligation and
believers are expected to treat it
seriously.
(4) The ancient Semitic institution of
Fasting is the fourth Pillar of Islam,
known as saum. To a Muslim, it
means observing Ramadan, the month during
which, it is written, God sent the Qur'cin
to the lowest heaven where Gabriel
received it and revealed it in time to
Muhammad. Fasting demands complete
abstinence from food and drink from dawn
to sunset every day during Ramadan.
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(5) The
last cherished Pillar of Islam is the
Pilgrimage to Mecca, al-hajj, where
God's revelation was first disclosed to
Muhammad. Believers worship publicly at
the Holy Mosque, expressing the full
equality among Muslims with a common
objective-all performing the same
actions, all seeking to gain the favor of
God. All pilgrims, from various
cultures and classes, wear identical
white robes as they assemble around a
single center, the Ka ~ba, which
inspires them with a strong sense of
unity. Every Muslim is expected to make
the pilgrimage at least once during his
or her lifetime. Attached to the
experience of the pilgrimage is added
status: after the individual returns
home, he or she is addressed as ~al-
Hail" or '~l-Hajjah"(the
pilgrim), a title which carries great
prestige.
While the Islamic
community throughout the world is united
by the two essential beliefs in(l)the
Oneness of God and (2) the divine mission
of His Prophet, there developed shortly
after Muhammad's death a debate within
the Islamic community over who should
succeed the Prophet as leader of the
faithful. This debate split the community
into Sunni and Shi'ize Muslims.
It is important to remember, however,
that on fundamental issues, Sunni and
Shi'ite Muslims are in basic
agreement since they both draw on the Qur'an
and the Shari'ah, body of
Islamic Law.
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