Library

Written by: Beth Davies-Stofka

Muslims are united across boundaries of geography and culture through their observance of five practices known as the Five Pillars, or the Pillars of Islam. These include pledging one's faith (witnessing, the shahadah), ritual prayer (salat), charity to the poor (zakat), fasting during the month of Ramadan (sawm), and pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca (hajj). The Five Pillars are mentioned in the Quran, and are required of all Muslims. Sunni and Shi'i Muslims agree that these are the essential duties of all Muslims. The Five Pillars are strong expressions of the Islamic ideals of equality and unity. The pillars of ritual prayer, the Ramadan fast, and the hajj are particularly powerful signs of Muslim egalitarian unity, since all Muslims in all places pray, fast, and go on pilgrimage at the same time.

The profession of faith (witnessing), or shahadah, very simply states that "There is no god but God (Allah), and Muhammad is the messenger of God." A person becomes a Muslim by reciting this sentence with sincere belief in the presence of witnesses. It is also recited in daily prayer, and inscribed outside the doors and inside the domes of mosques. It captures the essential Islamic belief in one absolute God, and affirms that Muhammad was God's messenger, the last and final prophet sent by God.

Ritual prayer, or salat, is a basic activity of daily life. Muslims are called to pray five times a day: before dawn, at midday, in the mid-afternoon, at sunset, and at night. The call to prayer is made by a muezzin, who calls out from the top of a tower, called a minaret. The muezzin's call is an art form, and begins by proclaiming "God is great" (Allahu akbar), and then continues "I bear witness that there is no god but God; I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God; hasten to prayer; hasten to success; establishing the communal ritual of prayer." In many places in the contemporary Islamic world, recordings of a muezzin's call are played over loudspeakers, replacing a live person.