The Five Pillars of Islam (arkān-al-Islām أركان الإسلام; also arkān ad-dīn أركان الدين "pillars of the religion") are five basic acts in Islam, considered obligatory by believers and are the foundation of Muslim life. These are summarized in the famous hadith of Gabriel.
The Quran presents them as a framework for worship and a sign of commitment to the faith. They make up Muslim life, prayer, concern for the needy, self purification and the pilgrimage. They are:
- the shahada (Islamic creed)
- daily prayers (salah)
- almsgiving (zakāt)
- fasting during the month of Ramadan (sawm)
- the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) at least once in a lifetime.
The minority Shia and majority Sunni both agree on the essential details for the performance of these acts, but the Shia do not refer to them by the same name (see Ancillaries of the Faith, for the Twelvers, and Seven pillars of Ismailism).
Famous quotes containing the words pillars and/or islam:
“But let my due feet never fail
To walk the studious cloister’s pale,
And love the high embowed roof,
With antic pillars massy proof,
And storied windows richly dight,
Casting a dim, religious light.”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“During the first formative centuries of its existence, Christianity was separated from and indeed antagonistic to the state, with which it only later became involved. From the lifetime of its founder, Islam was the state, and the identity of religion and government is indelibly stamped on the memories and awareness of the faithful from their own sacred writings, history, and experience.”
—Bernard Lewis, U.S. Middle Eastern specialist. Islam and the West, ch. 8, Oxford University Press (1993)