An Introduction
With more than 1.3 billion followers across the
world, and 3 million in United States alone, the
religion of Islam is the second largest religion
after Christianity, as well as the fastest growing
in the world. Though the Gulf region is presumably
believed to hold the largest segment of Muslims,
yet countries such as Indonesia and India today
have the largest populations in the world respectively.
Indonesia has a Muslim population of more than
172, the largest in the world followed by India
with some 104 million adherents. The word "Islam"
has a dualistic meaning of peace and submission
to the will of God. Islam being a monotheistic
religion implies that there is only one God. The
religion can be traced back to Prophets of Abraham
and Adam and is prophesized as a continuation
of religions of Judaism and Christianity with
both Jesus and Moses enjoying an exalted position
in Islam. The Holy text of Islam follows the teachings
of Quran and the biography of Prophet Muhammad
(Muck, 2001).
The Five Pillars of Islam
Prophet Muhammad is also called as the "seal
of the prophets", the Only Being to Whom
Allah, the name given to God of the Muslims, revealed
his revelations in the form of Quran, the Holy
book of the Muslims. Though the basic teachings
of Muhammad constitute of three points: the uniqueness
of Allah, the need to care for the poor, orphaned
and widowed, and the inevitability of the final
judgement. Yet the entire teachings of the Muslim
religion focus on the five basic elements, as
also termed as the five pillars of Islam.
The first pillar is that of 'Creed (Shahada)',
which clearly states that the basic requirement
for calling oneself Muslim is to be able to say
the creed with conviction of its truth: "There
is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger."
Second pillar is the Prayer (Salat), one of the
basic requirements of the Muslim religion, where
in each Muslim has to observe a set of prayers
five times during the duration of the day. The
timings of these prayers are at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon,
dusk, and the last prayer at evening. In addition,
the noon prayers of Friday have a particular importance
and are observed with solemnity in the Muslim
world. The contents of the entire Prayer constitute
of various chapters taken from the Holy Book,
the Quran.
The third pillar of Islam is the Alms-giving
(Zakat), where every individual with the ability
to offer a specified amount calculated on the
total net worth of the same individual is ordered
to give to the deserving and the needy. In addition,
Muslims in general are also encouraged to donate
and give whatever amounts each can afford not
only to the mosque, the place of worship, but
also for the support of the poor of their community.
The fourth pillar is fasting (Sawm), which is
a 30-day period observed every year by the Muslims
across the world. The salient aspect of this month
of fasting is that Muslims cannot drink, nor have
any kind of edible food, nor smoke during the
entire period. It is thus a form of a abstinence
from the worldly bounties, from which the Muslims
refrain during this month.
The fifth pillar is that of pilgrimage (Haj),
which is applicable to every Muslim individual
who can afford to make the Holy trip to the cities
of Macca and Medina. Hence, the only obligation
is on those Muslim adults who are not only physically
fit, as well as financial capable to perform this
Muslim rite. The rite of Haj or the pilgrimage
is performed during the official three days during
which Muslims from all over the world coverage
in the twin cities of Mecca and Median located
in Saudi Arabia, and openly acknowledge the oneness
of Allah and offer gratitude thereof of His bounties
of life upon mankind.
From the above, one may thus observe that the
five basic pillars of Islam not only serve as
the primary tenets of Islam, but also confirm
the Oneness of Allah, the Praiseworthiness of
Allah, the Importance of the Prophet Muhammad
as well as fulfilling the requirements of the
larger Islamic community (Muck, 2001).
Compassion and Social Justice In Islam
An overview of the above five basic pillars of
Islam shows that the religion of Islam offers
a universal concept of compassion through the
system of Zakat, the third pillar of Islam. As
also reiterated in the above lines, it is this
particular belief that no body should sleep empty
stomach, and nobody should go undressed that gives
rise to the concept of Zakat that is somewhat
of compulsory donation on the part of those wealthy
Muslims, the status of wealth is calculated through
a system of Laws governed by the "Shariah",
or the "Islamic Law".
It is also the same Shariah that offers equal
and social justice to every Muslim irrespective
of his status in the community of Muslims. Thus,
the Shariah is applicable equally on the King
of the state, as it is on an average labor.
One of the most misunderstood of Islamic terms,
by both the believers as well as the non-believers
of the Muslims religion is that of 'Jihad'. Yet,
it is this very term and concept, which rightly
implies a righteous struggle against all varieties
of injustice. The teachings of Prophet Muhammad
provide special emphasis on this particular aspect,
according to which the greatest 'jihad' is one
which is a struggle against one's own limitation,
inadequacies and wrongdoing. Furthermore, the
most excellent individual in he eyes of the Prophet
Mohammed is one "who strives hard in the
way of God with his person and his property".
In similar context, social, economic, intellectual
and cultural struggle against injustice is all
considered as important as "speaking the
truth in the face of a unjust tyrant". Hence,
the elements of compassion and justice that is
not only propagated, but forms a crucial part
of the original teachings of Islam (New Internationalist,
2002).
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