(Pillars of Islam (Arkaan AL-Islam

(Pillars of Islam (Arkaan AL-Islam

❶Testifying that there is no true god except Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

❷Establishment of prayer (Salah).         

❸Payment of obligatory charity (Zakah).

❹Fasting the month of Ramadan (Saum).

❺Performing pilgrimage (Hajj) to the House of Allah (Kaᶦbah) for whoever is able to bear the journey.

Pillars of Islam are of three types:

1) Physical worship, as prayer and fasting.   

2) Financial worship, as charity.

3) Both physical and financial, as pilgrimage.

Necessary Correction:

Some people incorrectly think that the five pillars of Islam are enough for a Muslim to be forgiven for his bad treatment of others. And this is a mistaken belief, as Islam and faith are the summation of success in life elements which are: religion and this world, or acts of worship and transactions.

Here is an example for clarification:

Suppose that Islam is a great palace. The five pillars of Islam would serve as the walls and columns, and dealing with people (i.e., purchase, marriage, education, neighborhood and social relationships) would serve as the doors and windows that make this palace livable. Success in performing acts of worship does not substitute for success in transactions.

God’s rights:

He may tolerate in them, if His servant’s repentance is sincere.

Servants’ rights: 

Are based on miserliness, so on Judgment Day, the servant needs critically to have merits to avoid going to hell. To be more precise, we will provide these two traditions:

●In Sahih Muslim, Abu-Hurairah reported that the Prophet (P.P.B.U.H) said:“Do you know who is the bankrupt?” They said: “The bankrupt among us is the one who has neither money with him nor any property.” 
He said, “The real bankrupt of my nation (Ummah) is the one who comes on the Day of Judgment with prayers, fasts and obligatory charity, but he comes having abused this one, falsely accusing that one, unlawfully consuming the wealth of this one, spilling the blood of that one, and beating this one. 
So his merits are credited to the account of those (who suffered at his hands). And if his merits are exhausted before they clear the account, then their sins will be entered in his account and he will be thrown in the Hell.”

●In Sahih AL-Bukhari, Abu-Hurairah reported that the Prophet said, “Whoever has oppressed another person concerning his reputation or anything else, he should beg him to forgive him before the Day of Judgment when there will be no money (to compensate for wrong deeds), but if he has good deeds, those good deeds will be taken from him according to his oppression which he has done, and if he has no good deeds, the sins of the oppressed person will be loaded on him.”

So, a Muslim who wants to escape going to hell, should consider his situation from God’s rights and people’s rights daily before he meets God.

It remains for us to mention that, these five pillars are essential in a Muslim’s faith, so whoever denies one of them is an infidel according to scholars’ consensus.

 A delegation from Thaqif came to the Prophet offering to be Muslims without performing prayers, but the Prophet refused and said: “There is no good in a religion with no prayer.” And when some Muslims refused to pay obligatory charity (Zakah), Abu Bakr spoke loudly and said, “By Allah, I will kill those who differentiated between prayer and charity.”

Indeed, whoever testifies that there is no god but Allah, but refuses to testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, is NOT a Muslim according to scholars’ consensus.

Read also
Prayer (Salah)      
Obligatory Charity (Zakah)
Fasting (Saum)
Pilgrimage (Hajj) and (Umrah)