The Five Pillars of the Islamic Faith
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Muslims believe in Allah and that he is unique, all powerful, gracious and merciful to all Muslims.
The Islamic faith is lived out according to five "pillars" that must be adhered to if one is to hope for salvation.
The Five Pillars of Islam are:
1. Reciting the two-fold Creed (shahada) (profession of faith) - ‘There is no God but Allah’ and ‘Muhammad is his prophet’ (or ‘Muhammad is the Messenger of God’).
2. Prayer (salat) - At five set-times a day while facing towards the city of Mecca.
3. Alms-giving (sakat) (zakat - means ‘purification’, an act of worship) - Both obligatory and voluntary giving to the poor.
4. Fasting (saum) - Especially during the ‘holy’ month of Ramadan.
5. Pilgrimage (hajj) - At least once in a lifetime - to Mecca, Saudi Arabia if at all possible, known as The Hajj.
Although the Hajj is well known today, it should be noted that the Black Stone was a meteorite to which great religious significance was attached even before Muhammad was born. Muhammad simply adopted the pagan practice. Thus the act of walking around the Ka’aba ("Cube") seven times, kissing and touching the Black Stone became the "Islamic" pilgrimage of "Hajj" - one of the pillars of Islam today.
No guarantee
While a Muslim may observe each of these pillars there is still no guarantee of salvation. Islam is based on a religion of self-righteousness. Muslims often think about the Day of Judgement where they believe Allah (or an angel) will take a balance and weigh each persons deeds. His hope is that his good deeds will outweigh his bad deeds, but even then Allah’s judgement is based solely on Allah’s will - not on justice.
Another interpretation is that man’s deeds are written in a book and on the Day of Judgement Allah will open the book and the sum of a man’s account will be placed in either his right or left hand. The only sure way to paradise is to die as a martyr during an Islamic Holy War, Jihad.
Muhammad
Muhammad is Islam’s highest prophet, but the Qur’an also speaks often of Jesus, also known as Isa. The Qur’an also refers to Jesus as Kalimat Allah, which means The Word of God. Muslims do not believe in Jesus death on the cross, His resurrection nor in His deity. Although Jesus is the second highest prophet in Islam, the Isa of the Qur’an is only one prophet among 124,000.
Jinn
The belief of angels and evil spirits, also known as Jinn, plays a very prominent part in the lives of most Muslims. Although the Qur’an states that ‘good and evil comes from Allah’, this belief is not founded in orthodox Islam but is a result of pagan religions, particularly from Africa and India, being incorporated in Islam.
The Law
Islam incorporates rules for every aspect of life. Within the Qur’an and the Hadith’s there is instruction for every detail of a Muslim’s daily life. The Shari’a - the sacred law of Islam, applies to all aspects of life, not just religious practices. It describes the Islamic way of life, and prescribes the way for a Muslim to fulfill the commands of God and reach heaven.
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Filed under: Basics of Islam by TDI
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Will stand in prayer during this time of world conflict and need for the gospel.
Welldone. keep to the good work.As God wills I ll join you in prayers. thanks
I find TDI to be misinformed about Islam and our views about God, prophets, angels, jinn etc. I have tried to explain some misconceptions on the main article “About Islam”.
I will deal with these issues piece by piece as I did on the main article.
1. No guarantee.
“While a Muslim may observe each of these pillars there is still no guarantee of salvation”
In Islam we believe that we will enter paradise based on God’s grace. This by no means suggest there is no guarantee! Read Surah 103 of the Holy Quran and God gives his guarantee to those who believe and do good works. Anyone who brings a submitting heart will “definitely” receive God’s grace and will enter paradise.
Here a question may be asked that if the person does good deeds why does he/she still require God’s grace? The reason is, whatever deeds a person may do in this world are incomparable to the reward God has promised for us in the hereafter. So if a straight forward comparison were to be made (i.e. compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges) no one is able to say to God “O God I did such and such work and now give me all the rewards of Paradise what is rightfully mine because I have paid for it in full”.
Continued…Response to Main Article.
1. No Guarantee.
TDI, can you tell me if Christians can claim they can enter the kingdom of God without God’s grace? Christians believe everyone is born in sin because of Adam and Eve and no human can/could repay for this sin, so the son of God had to come and sacrifice himself? I don’t hold these views but even so, is this not grace of God?
Continued…Response to Main Article.
1. No Guarantee
“The only sure way to paradise is to die as a martyr during an Islamic Holy War, Jihad.”
As I already explained in my previous post, guarantee is given with the only condition being that the person should come before God with a submitting heart and some good works. We believe that God may even forgive a person even if his/her bad deeds outweigh their good deeds if he/she repents and turns to God, as God is the master, but this is an exceptional case and not the norm. We believe, that if a person submits to God before death, God will forgive his/her sins and accept him/her in paradise.
With regards to Jihad I have already established on the main article site “About Islam” that in Islam only defensive wars are permitted to safeguard ones life, family, places of worship, property etc. So when God commands to fight and defend oneself, then if a person fights for his/her rights and defends the weak, and loses his life because God ordered him to fight and protect others how do you think God should treat such a person?
If a robber were to attack your family and if one of your sons stands up and fights for your family then how will you treat him? How should you treat him? Now can you imagine someone protecting God’s people and God remains thankless, non-Gracious when He is the owner of all that is in the heavens and the earth? We don’t attribute such conduct to any good human being, how can we attribute this behavior of indifference to God?
TDI, if someone seeks refuge in a church fearing death, will good Christians not fight those trying to kill the innocent person seeking refuge? And if some Christian dies protecting others, how will Jesus treat him? And if they do the unthinkable and turn over the innocent person to the killers, how will Jesus treat them?
Continued…Response to Main Article.
“Allah’s judgement is based solely on Allah’s will - not on justice.”
I disagree with the statement that Allah’s will is not just.
Of course Allah’s judgment is based on Allah’s will and thank God for that! Allah’s will is not only Just but also Gracious and Merciful. Show me any reference from Quran where Allah says or has been claimed to be unjust.
Otherwise I would like you to acknowledge that calling Allah unjust was not based on justice.
Continued…Response to Main Article.
2. Muhammad
“Although Jesus is the second highest prophet in Islam, the Isa of the Qur’an is only one prophet among 124,000.”
I am not really sure what is the point you are trying to make?
Muhammad (Peace and Blessings of Allah be on him) is the highest ranking prophet in Islam. But I don’t know from where you got the information that Jesus is the second highest prophet in Islam? Please provide a reference for me to comment on this. Also Jesus is Islam is known as Isa (a slight variation on the name ‘Yesu’ dervied from Jesus: “J” pronounced as “Y” like Yahweh), so how can you say Jesus is the second highest ranking prophet and Isa is not? This doesn’t make any sense.
Continued….Response to Main Article.
2. Muhammad (Peace and Blessings of Allah be on him)
“The Qur’an also refers to Jesus as Kalimat Allah, which means The Word of God.”
In the Quran Jesus (Peace be on him) is mentioned as one of the many words of God. Indeed God says that even if all the trees become pens and the oceans become ink, you will not be able to write down the words of Allah.
Kalima or the word of God means a specific way of creation. Indeed Allah says in the Quran the when Allah decides to create something He says Be and it begins to happen immediately, without delay according to the will of Allah. When Allah calls Jesus as a word of Allah, He is referring to the special manner of his creation (i.e. without a father, a phenomenon called parthenogenesis).
Continued…Response to Main Article.
2. Muhammad (Peace and Blessings of Allah be on him).
“Muslims do not believe in Jesus death on the cross, His resurrection nor in His deity”
Of course we don’t believe in Jesus death on the cross nor in his resurrection or his deity. Ahmadi muslims believe him to have been delivered from the cross alive. We also believe he passed away and is buried in Sri Nagar, Kashmir (see http://www.tombofjesus.com or http://www.alislam.com for details).
Continued…Response to Main Article.
3. Jinn.
In the Holy Quran the word Jinn is used as a generic word to describe things which can not be seen by the naked eye as well as on people of fiery nature and on nations outside Arabia with whom Arabs didn’t have frequent relations (i.e. Arabs didn’t see them often).
Paradise is called Jannah in Arabic which is from the same root word as Jin. Jannah is a garden which such thick foliage which doesn’t let sunlight to reach the ground (the same meaning of something covered or hidden is applicable here as well).
Angels are not the same as Jinn (see http://www.alislam.org/books/study-of-islam/index.html ).
The belief in angles is compulsory in Islam but not in Jinn (as a hob-goblin type creature).
Continued…Response to Main Article.
3. Jinn
“Although the Qur’an states that ‘good and evil comes from Allah’, this belief is not founded in orthodox Islam but is a result of pagan religions”
God only creates positive attributes. In Quran when Allah says good and evil comes from God, it means that Allah has created good things and evil is a consequence of absence of goodness.
For example Allah created light and darkness is the absence of light.
I agree that in places like India islam has been distorted, but a fair person would not attribute this to the teaching of Islam, rather on people who don’t follow it. (Isn’t the same true in Christianity? You also had many heretics which were crushed during inquisition).
Continued…Response to Main Article.
4. Law
“Islam incorporates rules for every aspect of life. Within the Qur’an and the Hadith’s there is instruction for every detail of a Muslim’s daily life. The Shari’a - the sacred law of Islam, applies to all aspects of life, not just religious practices. It describes the Islamic way of life, and prescribes the way for a Muslim to fulfill the commands of God and reach heaven”
First of all, if law was the curse why did God give this curse to his favored nation (i.e. the Jews)? Is this how God treats his people (i.e. by putting a curse on them?).
There is not a single saying in the Bible that is attributed to Jesus (Peace be on him) claiming the law was the curse. Please provide a reference if there is one.
Jesus (Peace be on him) says in Bible that he did not come to erase even a jot of the law but to fulfill it. Fulfillment could be done in two ways:
1) Abrogate (i.e. erase the law).
2) Complete it with what is lacking in it.
Jesus himself denied the first option. So we muslims believe he completed the law with what was lacking in it and that was the godly spirit of the law. Jews of his time had stuck to the form and had lost connection with the spirit and purpose of the law which God gave them to make them fair in their dealings and to bring them closer to God. This is not a curse! The real curse is to take this teaching away which was to bring them closer to God!
Islam provides complete guidance to become a godly person and in Islam Law is a gift of God and not a curse.
Who can say fairness in dealing with people and their issues (like distribution of inheritance, paying poor due, duty to relatives, neighbors, travelers, weak and needy etc.) is a bad thing?
If at all I find it to be a severe short-coming of the Bible to not present mankind with guidance in such matters.
I would like to emphasize though that law is there to make people fair in their dealings and to help them get closer to God. However, form without spirit is worthless. The law must be followed with the spirit and remembrance of God.