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Alms giving (Zakat in Arabic) is the THIRD PILLAR of Islam. The word itself means “blessing”, meaning that it blesses and purifies the wealth from which it is taken.   

The Qur’an mentions Zakat many times along with prayer Salat to emphasise its importance. For example:  

“My mercy encompasses all things, but I will specify it for the righteous who give Zakat” 

(Qur’an 7:156).

Your real allies are GOD and His messenger, and the believers who observe the SALAT AND GIVE ZAKAT, and they bow down.

(Qur’an 5:55)

and be constant in prayer, and spend in charity,  and bow down in prayer with all who thus bow down.

(Qur’an 2:43)

Zakat’s importance can be seen from how often Muslim jurists dealt with the topic. To give just one example Ibn Taimiah said:

“The soul of one who gives Zakah is blessed and so is his wealth.”

Muslims are required to show concern for and solidarity with the poor. Since the time of the Prophet Mohammed every Muslim has been expected to donate a minimum of one-fortieth (2½%) of assets that have been owned over a year in charity. There are no exceptions to this requirement Zakat is mandatory for every Muslim adult who is in good mental health. 

It may be helpful for Westerners to think of Zakat as a duty to perform charity for the community as a whole - a practical expression of concern for the poorest in the community and is additional to the requirement to support needy or poor family members such as grandparents, parents, spouses, and children.

The ways in which Zakat is handled can vary greatly from country to country and the rules for calculating it can be complex. Traditionally the matter was dealt with informally and in private - typically it involved helping needy or poor neighbours. In modern times however Zakat is often handled by charities and Muslim charities have become important international aid agencies.

Sawm is Islam’s FOURTH PILLAR. For the entire month of Ramadan all Muslims who have reached puberty, and who are in good physical and mental health are required to fast. The word literally means ‘to abstain’ and in Islamic law means abstenton from:

• Eating,
• drinking,
• sexual activity
• vices such as smoking

Westerners and non-Muslims almost invariably - and mistakenly, use the name of the month - Ramadan, during which Sawm is undertaken as the name of the fast itself. This is a very basic misundertanding:

Sawm

Means the religious fasting - abstaining from particular activities that takes place during the month of Ramadan.

Ramadan

Means the 9th month of the Hijra calendar, which is the calendar used in Islam. It is the month in which the revelation of the Qur’an began and and is the month during which the religious fasting festival of Sawm takes place. Devout Muslims recite the Qur’an in its entirety during this month.

The name “Ramadan” goes back to pre-Islamic times and refers to the heat of the summer.

At the end of the month of Ramadan is the feast of Eid al-Fitr

Sawm lasts for the entire lunar month of Ramadan and ends with the major religious festival of Eid al-Fitr. The act of fasting takes place from daybreak until the sun disappears under the horizon. The night is a period of eating, celebration, sleep, and of performing religious duties.

As well as fasting Muslims are particularly expected to engage in charitable works and to visit and comfort the sick and the poor. Indulging in vice or behaviour such as telling lies or speaking maliciously are considered to be particularly repugnant at this time.

If a Muslim deleiberately breaks one of the rules by engaging in forbidden behaviour the fast is broken for that day and must be made up after Sawm. Muslims - even those who would condider themseslves as devout are generally keenly aware of these obligations, and often in general follow them strictly. Once the sun is below the horizon people wait for a signal that mark the end of Sawm for that particular day. These signals vary from place to place Examples are ceremonial firing of a cannon, drumming, calls from the mosques, or announcements made on television and radio.

Sawm is mentioned in several places in the Qur’an but the key passages are in Surah 2.

2:183 O YOU who have attained to faith! Fasting is ordained for you as it was ordained for those before you, so that you might remain conscious of God:

2:184 [fasting] during a certain number of days. But whoever of you is ill, or on a journey, [shall fast instead for the same] number of other days; and [in such cases] it is incumbent upon those who can afford it to make sacrifice by feeding a needy person. And whoever does more good than he is bound to do does good unto himself thereby; for to fast is to do good unto yourselves - if you but knew it.

2:185 It was the month of Ramadan in which the Qur’an was [first] bestowed from on high as a guidance unto man and a self-evident proof of that guidance, and as the standard by which to discern the true from the false. Hence, whoever of you lives to see this month shall fast throughout it; but he that is ill, or on a journey, [shall fast instead for the same] number of other days. God wills that you shall have ease, and does not will you to suffer hardship; but [He desires] that you complete the number [of days required], and that you extol God for His having guided you aright, and that you render your thanks [unto Him].

2:187 IT IS lawful for you to go in unto your wives during the night preceding the [day’s] fast: they are as a garment for you, and you are as a garment for them. God is aware that you would have deprived yourselves of this right, and so He has turned unto you in His mercy and removed this hardship from you. Now, then, you may lie with them skin to skin, and avail yourselves of that which God has ordained for you, and eat and drink until you can discern the white streak of dawn against the blackness of night, and then resume fasting until nightfall; but do not lie with them skin to skin when you are about to abide in meditation in houses of worship. These are the bounds set by God: do not, then, offend against them - [for] it is thus that God makes clear His messages unto mankind, so that they might remain conscious of Him.

That relations between “the West” and Islam are bad, is perhaps one of the few things upon which Muslim and non-Muslim alike can agree. Though they disagree about who is to blame for this situation.

The favorability measures show a troubled relationship between Westerners and Muslims, but the overall picture is more mixed than unremittingly negative. With only a few exceptions, attitudes among Western publics (toward Muslims) and Muslims (toward Christians) have remained fairly stable over the past few years.

Source: The Great Divide: How Westerners and Muslims View Each Other

Quite apart from the effect of the various wars being waged by the USA and her proxies, there has long been a tradition of, at worst rampant Islamophobia, and at best muddled ignorance amongst westerners about Islam and its adherents. Ignorance about Islam is a bad foundation for relations between us. The need to know more about Islam is compelling. It is not merely about who has strategic control of the resources found in Muslim lands, it is not merely about hegemonism, the need springs from the nature of Islam itself.

There is something within Islam that has made it the faith of more than one great empire. There is something within Islam that has caused it to be embraced by such diverse peoples as the Arabs, the Persians, the Turks, the Mughals, the Indonesians, the Malays. There is something within it that causes it to command the adherence of well over a billion people and that makes it the fastest growing faith in the world.

Muslims believe in one God, the same God who is worshipped by Jews and Christians. One would think that that fact would engender co-operation between followers of the three Abrahamic religions but such is not the case. Islam is a closed book to most westerners, and not just because few are familiar with Arabic. When I, as a western Christian who lives in a very secular country and who have some experience of Islam talk about Islam with other westerners I find that most people have a confused tangle of half-acknowledged ideas, and unacknowledged prejudices about Islam until they learn better.

Islam is not necessarily oppressive to women. Islamic law does not necessarily lead to stonings or punishment amputations, it is very far from being the case that Muslims’ loyalty to their country is undermined by their religion. The problem is compounded by a lack of a lack of appreciation of the seriousness of Islam’s principles. Many do not know that Muslims believe the Qur’an to be the word of God, or understand the very genuine outrage that offensively sceptical Western characterisations of the Prophet Mohammed are inevitably going to cause.

There is a similar lack of knowledge of Western Secular, Western Christian, Jewish and liberal ideas and mores amongst many Muslims. But we can hardly blame Muslims for confusing Western religions and precepts with Western culture; we do the same to them.

Islam is built on clear, simple concepts. To learn even the basics about it allows the enquirer to see how much there is to how much there is to discover. The result is well worth the effort.

markfromireland

Resource: Pew Global Attitudes Project: I. Muslims and the West - How Each Sees The Other: The Great Divide: How Westerners and Muslims View Each Other

Islam, the Prophet said, is built on five pillars (1). The pillars do not define the religion as such because Islam’s essence is traditionally held to be its spiritual life rather than any formal practices. The five pillars are regarded as the foundations of Islam and their importance can be judged by the fact that they give Muslim societies their basic social rhythm.

The FIRST PILLAR — Declaration of belief (Shahada):

The first pillar is the most important. It consists of what are called the “Two Testimonies” (the plural of Shahada is shahadatayn). They function as a creed. A basic declaration of faith. Every Muslim is required to testify that:

1.  ”There is no god but God”,

   and that

2. “Mohammed is the messenger of God”.

The first of the shahadatayn  ”there is no god but God” is an assertion, declaring that Islam is strictly monotheistic. In a western context it might be compared to the declaration found in Deuteronomy 6:4. in the old testament:

“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord”.

The second of the shahadatayn, declarations of faith, tells the believer that this One God makes his will known to his straying creatures by choosing a prophet - like Moses or Elijah in the Bible - to remind people of his will. Muslim theology states that God has sent prophets to every people, and that Mohammed was the last of them. This is why you will often hear Muslims call the Prophet Mohammed ”The Seal of the Prophets,” or “Khatam-an-Nabiyyin” in Arabic. According to orthodox Muslim doctrine no prophet will, or indeed can, come after the Prophet Mohammed instead the believers are to expect the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Notes:

(1) Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Book 2: Volume 1, Book 2, Number 7:

Narrated Ibn ‘Umar:

Allah’s Apostle said: Islam is based on (the following) five (principles):

1. To testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and Mohammed is Allah’s Apostle.
2. To offer the (compulsory congregational) prayers dutifully and perfectly.
3. To pay Zakat (i.e. obligatory charity) .
4. To perform Hajj. (i.e. Pilgrimage to Mecca)
5. To observe fast during the month of Ramadan.

The SECOND PILLAR of Islam is the duty to pray five times daily.

All Muslims men and women alike are required to pray 5 times a day. The five prayer times their names in Arabic and their Qur’anic references are :

1. The Dawn Prayer (Fajr in Arabic),given in 11:114, 24:58
2. The Noon Prayer (Dhuhr in Arabic) , given in 17:78 and 30:18
3. The Afternoon Prayer (Asr in Arabic), given in 2:238
4. The sunset Prayer (Maghrib in Arabic), given in 11:114
5. The Night Prayer (Isha in Arabic), given in 24:58

The form of Muslim prayer is unfamiliar to many westerners. It involves a series of solemn bowings and prostrations as well as reciting the prayers. The purpose of the bowings and the prostrations is strengthen within the supplicant the Islamic belief that body and spirit are closely and inextricably bonded.

It is important to understand that while the form of prayer is very solemn and ceremonious it isn’t a rite conducted by a priest leading a congregation as found in the Christian tradition. 

Islam has no priests who conduct rites. There is no concept of ”Sacrament” in the Christian sense of the word.  Thus there is no need to have a hierarchy, or a priestly caste, set aside by ordination to administer a separate sacrament as a visible sign of God’s saving intervention. All of life, a Muslim will tell you, should be lived as a sacrament and every believer stands alone before God even as they pray shoulder to shoulder amongst a crowd of thousands of fellow-worshippers.

The fact that every worshipper stands alone before God makes it entirely acceptable to pray alone nevertheless it is seen as more meritorious to pray in a mosque as part of a congregation.  All Muslims, men and women alike, are required to participate in the prayers which are led by an imam. An imam can be anyone from the community who knows the prescribed form of the prayers, typically the Imam is the most learned or respected member of the congregation an Imam is not necessarily a full-time clergyman.

The prayers are virtually identical everywhere, and have not altered their form since the very earliest days of Islam. Muslims proudly proclaim that they are the only people who pray exactly as their Prophet did.