THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM (أركـان الإسـلام الـخـمـسـة)

:أركـان الإسـلام الـخـمـسـة

• 1. To recite the Testification of Faith ‘Shahadah’: To say there is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger.

• Having faith in one God, Allah.

• 2. Praying five times a day.

• To perform prayers with clockwork regularity.

• 3. Almsgiving (Zakat): Giving alms to the poor.

• Zakat must be given to its rightful recipients.

• The recipients of Zakat include needy relatives.

• To bestow one’s largesse on…

• Zakat is the religious tax that purifies one’s worldly goods.

• Religious donations collected through door-knocking.

• Entailed estate.

• 4. Fasting in/during Ramadan. During the holy month, Muslims should abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and having sexual relations during daylight as a sign of sacrifice and purification of the body and soul.

• To undergo spiritual cleansing.

• Because of illness or travel, dispensations may be granted and they must be made up during the year.

• Moon-sighting signals the start of the month-long fasting.

• Ramadan would begin on Wednesday, in accordance with lunar observation(s).

• To greet s.o. the commencement of Ramadan.

• Ramadan has sparked in us a culture of generosity and amity. It has inculcated in Muslims the essence of self-restraint and has instilled in their hearts an ethos of care and compassion.

• The shutting of all restaurants and eateries during the day.

• To break the fast in the mosque.

• The Night of Decree.

• The sighting of the new moon…Eid al-Fitr.

• 5. Performing the pilgrimage to Mecca, if possible.

• To undertake the pilgrimage to Mecca.

• To make/fulfil the hajj pilgrimage.

• Ordinance.

• To perform the rites of Umrah.

• The minor/lesser pilgrimage.

• An awareness campaign to help pilgrims perform rituals with utmost ease and comfort.

• Muslims who died performing the hajj, a duty at least once in a lifetime for all who can afford it, were granted immediate entry to paradise.

• At sacred sites, worshippers, garbed in white robes…

• Under a searing desert sun, able-bodied Muslim pilgrims were on a bridge to stone the devil by throwing seven chickpea-size pebbles at three columns.

• To visit the sites of pilgrimage such as The Prophet’s Tomb.

• Crowded pilgrimage sites.

• Draped in black silk, the cube-shaped Kaaba…