Saturday, July 10, 2010

(4) The Five Pillars Of Islam.


By Sodium

The five pillars of Islam are:

1- Witnessing: Publicly witness that there is no God but God, (Allah), and Muhammad is his Messenger.

2- Praying: Perform prayers to God five times a day: Dawn, Morning, Noon, Evening and Bed Time.

3- Zakat: Voluntary payment of  the Zakat, (financial or food contributions), to help the poor of the community.

4- Fasting: One must fast the whole month of Ramadan in each year. There are exceptions, however, depending on the mundane circumstances under which Muslims live.

5- Pilgrimage: Make once in a life time,the pilgrimage to Mecca, providing health and financial conditions permit to do so.

To be a good Muslim one must perform all of the five pillars listed above, with emphasis on the health and financial conditions, as noted in the fifth pillar.

3 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Reading this made me consider the Life called into believers and followers of the 66 books of the Bible have 5 pillars as well. But pillars are to be built upon a Rock solid foundation. The foundation of Islam is Mohammed. The foundation of Life is God.

    Inspired by these 5 pillars of Islam, I propose 5 pillars for those who follow the Anointed One of God (1) :

    1. Witnessing - In the New Testament book of Acts, Jesus (2) said that His followers would be His “witnesses” over an ever increasing geography. The Greek word for witnesses is “martyro” from where we get our English word “martyr.” Whereas Islam calls for a simple declaration, Jesus calls for a complete martyrdom of His followers. Although this martyrdom most often begins with choosing to die to your “self” & live in consideration for others (seeking their interests above your own (3)), in the book of Acts, throughout the New Testament, and throughout the modern world, we see evidences that those who follow Jesus can expect that if they love as Jesus loved, they may even love to the point of laying down their life for someone else…just like Jesus.

    2. Praying – believers in this Jesus are called to “pray without ceasing.” (4) This makes perfect since if the New Testament claims that humans can have a relationship with God are correct (as I think). Relationships grow when there is open & honest two way communication. So how do humans communicate with the Divine? Talking with the Divine is “prayer.” Listening to the Divine respond is “hearing” through reading (or hearing read) the Bible.

    3. Fasting – learning that self-control is lesser than Divine-control is part of the walking with God that every believer needs to experience. Giving up anything & everything that would hinder someone else from putting their hope & trust in Jesus is what every one of His believers needs to be actively engaged in doing (5) … everywhere, every day…and this is especially true for those who would be hindered in spiritually maturing (6) if others are rampantly exercising their freedom without submitting it to God first.

    4. Zakat – all that believers have is God’s. The first century believers shared everything they had with one another. (7) Modern gatherings of followers of Christ are to live that way too.

    5. Pilgrimage – this is the essence of the entire Life of a believer of Jesus walking toward His glorious return.


    Hence, in being a good follower of Jesus, we are prepared to lay down our lives for anyone the Spirit of God puts in our path, talk with God all day, give up anything any time for anyone who is hindered by our freedom, give freely to anyone in need, & to always be moving toward the Eternal City. But every follower of Jesus fails on every one of these 5 pillars. The need of a foundation….this Jesus is the foundation. His rooftop over these 5 pillars is the payment for the failures of those who have taken shelter under His roof. So every follower of Jesus, because Jesus paid all the debts, is a good follower of Jesus.

    FootNotes
    (1) that is...He who came from God full of grace & truth, He who died in place of those who receive His gift of forgiveness, He who declared those He's forgive as righteous, He who gives Life to those who receive Him...etc

    (2) Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew Yeshua which means "The Salvation of the I AM.” We can understand this a little better when we are reminded that the words “I AM” are the first person singular of the verb “to be”, hence, the name of God being “I AM” is really His declaration that He is the Fundamental Existence. As the Fundamental Existent One, He is all places at all times. The name of His Son (Jesus, Yeshua, “The Salvation of the Fundamental Existent One”) is even more powerful with this linguistic understanding.
    (3) See Philippians 2.1-5
    (4) See 1 Thessalonians 5.17
    (5) See Isaiah 58
    (6) See Romans 14-15
    (7) See Acts 2.44-45

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry,Sub,I have no time to check all those references you have listed for me to check.

    This series of topic is designed for those two electronic friends who had asked me to do it for their own benefits in learning about Islam,not Christianity. Therefore,I will adhere firmly to that end: Providing the two electronic friends, whom I have never met,with some knowledge about Islam for the sole purpose of enhancing their understanding the ESSENCE of Islam. I simply cannot allow deviation from that end.

    ReplyDelete