How to Act According to the Five Pillars of Islam

Islam is a complete way of life which contains guidance on all aspects of life in great detail. From managing your finances, to family law, to inheritance, and even the smaller topics like keeping clean and washing your vegetable. However, there are five basic "pillars" of Islam which "hold up" your faith. These duties are incumbent on every Muslim.

• Shahidah: Declaring there is no God except Allah, and Muhammad is God's Messenger
• Salah: Ritual prayer five times a day
• Sawm: Fasting and self-control during the blessed month of Ramadan
• Zakat: Giving 2.5% of one’s savings to the poor and needy
• Hajj: Pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime if he/she is able to do.

Read on to find out how to live according to them.

1.  Believe in the unity and oneness of Allah. Belief in Tawheed, or the Oneness of Allah is the basic tenet of Islam on which all other practices are based.

• Recite the Shahadah. This is the testimony of faith, which reads "'ašhadu 'al-lā ilāha illā-llāhu wa 'ašhadu 'anna muħammadan rasūlu-llāh", or "I testify that there is no God but Allah, and I testify that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah". It is remarkable how much a simple recitation of the shahadah can help prepare you for the challenges of life. A reminder that Allah is Almighty, All-Powerful can be very encouraging and comforting.
• Watch out for shirk. Shirk is the sin of associating partners with Allah and the only unpardonable sin in Islam. There are many categories and sub-categories of shirk including polytheism. Stay away from actions that lead to shirk or those or commit shirk. There are two types of shirk; they are:
•        "Shirk akbar", which is the major shirk. This is associating something with Allah in a way that is only exclusive to Allah, such as worshipping them, when Allah is the Lord, or giving them Allah's attributes (asmaa al-husna). This can be done in public, such as by worshipping graves, or in private. It can be done in words, such as supplicating to one other than Allah, or in actions, such as prostrating to one other than Allah.
•        ".Shirk asghar", which is the minor shirk. This can be anything that may lead to major shirk, but isn't as bad itself. This can include wearing amulets or necklaces, claiming they offer protection, or believing that something brings blessings or harm.
•      Remember that believing in superstitions, involuntarily or by your own will, shall be considered shirk. Believe only and truly in Allah, and no one else.

2. Establish prayer. Prayer, or Salah is mandatory for all Muslims. Remember that missing prayer is not excused, even under unsafe circumstances (such as war) and is otherwise unacceptable for mature Muslims to miss it. However, girls who have passed puberty and are on their periods of menstruation do not have to perform Salah, and disobeying here would be an act of a highly punishable sin.

• Salat consists of five daily prayers according to the Sunnah. They are:

1. Fajr (dawn)
2. Dhuhr (noon)
3. Asr (afternoon)
4. Maghrib (evening)
5. 'Isha (night).

• The Fajr prayer is performed before sunrise; Dhuhr is performed in the midday after the sun has surpassed its highest point; Asr is the evening prayer before sunset; Maghrib is the evening prayer after sunset (also known as dusk); and Isha is the night prayer, of whose validity continues till 20 minutes before Fajr.
• All of these prayers are performed while facing in the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and forms an important aspect of the religion.
• Muslims must perform Wudu (ablution) before praying, or if a woman has her periods of menstruation completed, she must do ghusl.

3. Start fasting in Ramadan. Sawm is the Arabic word for fasting, and becomes obligatory on every Muslim after puberty. Of course, as different people experience puberty at different ages, it becomes obligatory at a different time for everybody. You are exempted from fasting if you are travelling, sick such that you need medication (e.g. diabetes), elderly, and pregnant or breastfeeding women, or if a lack of food will worsen your condition, or if you are menstruating. Diabetics using insulin might be able to fast provided that insulin timing is calculated carefully. You can make it up later by fasting when Ramadan is over.

• Fasting starts at Fajr. The Fajr adhaan signals the start of the day's fast. It is preferable to eat a small meal before Fajr. Eating a few dates and drinking water provides enough energy for the day and this depends upon the body of the individual. However, filling up yourself too much when you know you will work hard the rest of the day is wrong, since the metabolism process speeds up and you will feel hungrier at the end of your task.
• During the day, you are to abstain from eating food, drinking water, using foul language, and engaging in sexual activity. If you eat or drink by mistake i.e. you had forgotten that you are fasting, your fast is not broken. In case that happens, throw out whatever is in your mouth and rinse your mouth with water, and continue fasting as usual. If you break a fast intentionally by drinking, eating, or having sex, you either fast for 60 consecutive days, feed and cloth 60 needy people, or free a slave. If you cannot fast, due to sickness, menstruating or travelling, you must make up your fast at a later date.
• You open your fast at the time of the Maghrib prayer. This time is signaled by the Maghrib azaan. Most Muslims would eat a few dates and drink some water, following the sunnah of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him), and follow it with a meal after the Maghrib prayers.

 4. Pay Zakaat if you are self sufficient. Muslims with earnings above the nisab are considered to be self-sufficient. 2.5% of your earnings are to be paid annually to poor people, freed prisoners, those heavily indebted, or new converts to Islam. It is also good to use Zakaat to help out needy family members first. However, Zakaat can not be paid to some family members i.e the wife, children, parents, and grandparents, because their financial needs are already your responsibility. Please seek help from a religious expert for details on nisaab and zakaat to be paid on gold and silver (e.g. jewelry) and land, etc. Zakaat is paid on the money that you have had for a whole year and also returns earned during the year which is also considered as earnings.

There are 5 principles that should be followed when giving the zakāt:

• The giver must declare to God his intention to give the zakāt.
• The zakāt must be paid on the day that it is due.
• After the offering, the payer must not exaggerate on spending his money more than usual means.

• Payment must be in kind. This means if one is wealthy then he or she needs to pay 2.5% of their income. If a person does not have much money, then they should compensate for it in different ways, such as good deeds and good behavior toward others.
• The zakāt must be distributed in the community from which it was taken.

 5. Perform Hajj. Every able Muslim must perform a pilgrimage to Makkah once in their lifetime. Able is defined in terms of finances as well as physical health, so it is advisable to perform the Hajj when young, if able to. Hajj occurs during the Islamic month of Dhul Hijjah.

• Do not get confused between Umrah and Hajj. Umrah is a pilgrimage to Makkah, but is not performed in the month of Dhul Hijjah - rather, it can be done at any time. While it does not count towards the pillars of Islam, it is still a recommended act.