The five pillars

If the six articles of faith are what a Muslim holds, the five pillars are what a Muslim does. They are obligations rather than suggestions, and they take the same form in Jakarta as in Casablanca, which is much of why Muslims from unrelated cultures recognise each other’s practice on sight.

The testimony, shahadah. To say, meaning it, that nothing deserves worship except God and that Muhammad is the messenger of God. Said once with understanding, it makes a person a Muslim. It is also a daily habit, on waking, before sleeping and inside every prayer. The Arabic word means bearing witness, which suggests testimony given rather than a formula recited.

The prayer, salah. Five times a day, at dawn, midday, mid-afternoon, sunset and evening. The prayer has a fixed shape of standing, bowing, going down with the forehead to the ground and sitting, with recitation from the Quran and words of praise and request. It takes a few minutes and can be performed anywhere clean: at home, at work, at the roadside. Praying together is preferred, and everyone faces Mecca, where the Kaaba stands. The practical effect is that the working day gets cut into pieces by something with no relation to work, which is close to the point.

The obligatory share, zakah. Once a year a Muslim gives away 2.5 percent of the wealth they have held for a full year: savings, gold, livestock, agricultural produce, trade goods. Note that this is wealth rather than income. It goes to the poor, the needy and the indebted. Muslim writers are firm that this is not charity in the sense of a kind gesture. The idea underneath it is that wealth belongs to God and is held in trust, so the share is owed. Giving beyond it has its own name, sadaqah, and is voluntary.

The fast, sawm. Through Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar, healthy adults take no food, no drink and no sexual relations between first light and sunset. Because the calendar is lunar, Ramadan drifts through the seasons, so the fast runs long in some years and short in others. Families eat before dawn and break together at sunset. Evenings bring long congregational prayers with extended recitation of the Quran. Anyone ill, travelling or otherwise unable is excused. The month closes with Eid al-Fitr, a day of visiting, gifts and considerable relief.

The pilgrimage, hajj. Once in a lifetime, every adult Muslim who is physically and financially able travels to Mecca and performs a fixed set of rites over several days. Millions come each year from everywhere Islam has reached. They wear plain unstitched cloth, which flattens the visible difference between a labourer and a minister, and they retrace acts associated with Abraham and his son Ishmael, who built the Kaaba together. Anyone who cannot afford or safely make the journey is under no obligation, and there is no penalty attached.

What the five have in common

Each one costs something real: time, money, appetite, comfort, a journey across the world. None can be performed by proxy, and none requires a clergy to administer it, because Islam has no priesthood standing between a person and God. An imam leads a prayer and often teaches, but he holds no sacramental office and cannot absolve anyone.

Muslims usually learn the pillars alongside the six articles of faith, and the two lists are meant to work on each other. Belief without the practice is considered thin; the practice without belief is considered empty.