RS9Islam: Sawm, Zakah, Hajj, Jihad and Festivals

• Sawm is fasting during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic year. It is one of the Five Pillars and one of the Ten Acts.
• Duties: from dawn to sunset, no food, drink (including water), smoking or sexual relations. Muslims also try to avoid lying, arguing and unkind thoughts.
• Each day begins with an intention (niyyah) and a meal before dawn (suhur). The fast is broken at sunset with iftar, often dates and water as the Prophet did.
• Many Muslims pray extra prayers at night (taraweeh, in Sunni mosques) and try to read the whole Qur'an during the month.
• Origins: the Qur'an says fasting is prescribed for believers as it was for those before them (2:183) and names Ramadan as the month the Qur'an was revealed (2:185). It became a duty soon after the Prophet moved to Madinah.
• Benefits: self-discipline; becoming more aware of God, ‘that ye may ward off (evil)’ (2:183, Pickthall's translation); empathy with people who are hungry; gratitude; giving more to charity; and community, as families and mosques share iftar.
• Ramadan follows the lunar calendar, so it moves about 11 days earlier each year. In a British summer, the fast can last well over 16 hours.

The shape of a fasting day

Sawm

Fasting from dawn to sunset during Ramadan; one of the Five Pillars.

Ramadan

The ninth month of the Islamic year, when Muslims fast.

Suhur

The meal eaten before dawn in Ramadan.

Iftar

The meal that breaks the fast at sunset.

• Why: the Qur'an says, ‘Allah desireth for you ease; He desireth not hardship for you’ (2:185, Pickthall's translation). It also teaches that God does not burden anyone beyond what they can bear (2:286).
• Fasting is meant to bring people closer to God, not to damage their health, so the exceptions protect life and health.
• People who can't fast still share Ramadan: through prayer, charity, reading the Qur'an and joining iftar.

Fidyah

Feeding a person in need for each day of fasting missed, by someone who can't fast at all.

• What it remembers: the night in 610 CE when Muslims believe the angel Jibril first brought the Qur'an to Muhammad, in the cave of Hira on a mountain near Makkah.
• The first words revealed (Qur'an 96:1-5, Pickthall's translation): ‘Read: In the name of thy Lord Who createth, Createth man from a clot. Read: And thy Lord is the Most Bounteous, Who teacheth by the pen, Teacheth man that which he knew not.’
• This passage is a prescribed text: AQA can ask about it by name.
• Surah 97 says the Night of Power is ‘better than a thousand months’ and that angels descend on it.
• When: the exact night isn't known. Muslims seek it in the last ten nights of Ramadan; many Sunni Muslims mark the 27th, and many Shi'a Muslims stress the 19th, 21st and 23rd.
• How it is marked: staying up to pray, reading and reciting the Qur'an, asking forgiveness (du'a), and for some, i'tikaf: staying in the mosque for the last ten days.
• Why it matters: it marks the start of the revelation that guides Muslim life; worship on that night is believed to be greatly rewarded; many seek forgiveness and a fresh start.

Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr)

The night when Muslims believe the Qur'an was first revealed to Muhammad, marked in the last ten nights of Ramadan.

I'tikaf

Staying in the mosque for worship, often in the last ten days of Ramadan.

• Zakah (‘purification’) is the third Pillar: giving 2.5% of savings held for a year, above a minimum amount called the nisab (linked to the value of gold or silver). The home you live in and everyday belongings don't count.
• Origins: the Qur'an pairs prayer and zakah again and again (‘establish worship, pay the poor-due’, 2:43, Pickthall's translation) and lists who should receive it: the poor, the needy, debtors, travellers and others (9:60). It became a fixed duty in the Prophet's time in Madinah.
• How it is given: directly to people in need, through the mosque, or through Muslim charities. Many give in Ramadan.
• Why: God commands it; it purifies wealth and the giver from greed (9:103); everything belongs to God, so wealth is held in trust; it reduces inequality and binds the ummah together.
• Benefits of receipt: basic needs are met; in Muslim teaching zakah is the right of the poor, not a favour, so it can be received without shame; debts can be cleared; communities grow stronger.
• Khums (Shi'a): one of the Ten Acts. Shi'a Muslims pay one-fifth (20%) of surplus yearly income, after living costs, as well as zakah. Half (the share of the Imam) goes to senior religious scholars for religious and community work; half to the needy, including the Prophet's descendants. It is based on Qur'an 8:41 (a fifth).
• Sadaqah: voluntary charity at any time, in any amount, including time and kind acts. The Qur'an says giving secretly to the poor is better (2:271) and a kind word is better than charity that hurts (2:263).

Compulsory and voluntary giving

Zakah

Compulsory giving of 2.5% of savings above the nisab each year; the third Pillar.

Nisab

The minimum amount of wealth a Muslim must have before zakah is due.

Khums

A Shi'a duty to give one-fifth of surplus yearly income, half to religious leaders and half to the needy.

Sadaqah

Voluntary charity: money, time or kind acts, given at any time.

• Hajj is the pilgrimage to Makkah in the month of Dhu al-Hijjah. It is the fifth Pillar and one of the Ten Acts.
• It is a duty once in a lifetime for every adult Muslim who is healthy enough and can afford it: ‘pilgrimage to the House is a duty unto Allah for mankind, for him who can find a way thither’ (3:97, Pickthall's translation). They must also be able to provide for their family while away.
• The Ka'aba: a cube-shaped building in the Great Mosque in Makkah, covered in a black cloth (kiswah). Muslims believe it was the first house of worship to the one God (3:96) and that Ibrahim and his son Isma'il raised its foundations (2:127). It is the qiblah for every prayer.
• Origins: Muslims remember how Ibrahim left Hajar and their son Isma'il in the valley; Hajar ran between the hills of Safa and Marwah looking for water until the spring of Zamzam appeared. God told Ibrahim to proclaim the pilgrimage to all people (22:27).
• In 630 CE the Prophet Muhammad cleared the Ka'aba of idols, and in 632 CE he led his Farewell Pilgrimage, which set out how Hajj is performed.
• Umrah is a shorter pilgrimage to Makkah that can be made at any time of year; it doesn't replace Hajj.
• Why it matters: obedience to a Pillar and the Prophet's example; equality, as rich and poor wear the same simple clothes; unity of the ummah, as Sunni and Shi'a Muslims from every country pray together at the Ka'aba they face every day; forgiveness, as many believe a sincere Hajj wipes away past sins; and following the prophets Ibrahim and Muhammad.
• Afterwards many pilgrims say it changes them. Challenges: cost, heat, crowds and the limited number of places. Muslims who can't go aren't blamed; many save for years.

Hajj

The pilgrimage to Makkah in Dhu al-Hijjah, a duty once in a lifetime for those able; the fifth Pillar.

Ka'aba

The cube-shaped building in Makkah that Muslims believe was the first house of worship to God; the qiblah.

Umrah

A shorter pilgrimage to Makkah that can be made at any time of year.

Hajji

A title for a Muslim who has completed Hajj (Hajjah for a woman).

• Ihram rules: no perfume, cutting hair or nails, sex or arguing (2:197).
• Standing at Arafat is the essential rite: a pilgrim who misses it hasn't completed Hajj.
• After Hajj a pilgrim may be called Hajji (or Hajjah for a woman).

The route of Hajj

Ihram

The state of purity pilgrims enter for Hajj, shown by simple white clothes for men.

Tawaf

Walking seven times around the Ka'aba.

Sa'i

Walking seven times between the hills of Safa and Marwah, remembering Hajar.

Wuquf

Standing in prayer at Arafat on the 9th of Dhu al-Hijjah.

Jamarat

The three pillars at Mina at which pilgrims throw pebbles, rejecting the devil.

• Jihad means ‘struggle’ or ‘striving’ in the way of God. It is one of the Ten Acts and a duty for Sunni Muslims too.
• Greater jihad: the inner struggle to live as God wants: resisting temptation and selfishness, keeping the Pillars, studying the Qur'an, being honest and patient, and working for justice.
• Sources: ‘As for those who strive in Us, We surely guide them to Our paths’ (29:69, Pickthall's translation); a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari (6114) says the strong person is the one who controls themselves when angry.
• A saying often attributed to the Prophet, after returning from a battle, calls the inner struggle the ‘greater jihad’. It is recorded by al-Bayhaqi, and many hadith scholars regard its chain of narrators as weak, though some textbooks and mark schemes call it a hadith. The idea that the inner struggle comes first is widely held, and students can still name it as a saying attributed to the Prophet.
• Lesser jihad: the outward struggle for God. It includes speaking out against injustice and, as a last resort, defending Islam and the community in war, under strict conditions.
• Influence: for most Muslims, jihad means daily effort, such as getting up for Fajr, fasting in Ramadan, controlling anger or giving when it is hard.

Two understandings of jihad

Jihad

Struggle or striving in the way of God.

Greater jihad

The inner, personal struggle to live as a good Muslim.

Lesser jihad

The outward struggle for God, including defensive war under strict conditions.

• Origins: in Makkah the early Muslims were persecuted and didn't fight back. After the move to Madinah (622 CE), the Qur'an gave permission to fight to those who had been wronged (22:39), and the Muslims defended themselves against the Makkans.
• Conditions in mainstream Muslim teaching (both Sunni and Shi'a):
• 1. Declared by a legitimate authority: a recognised Muslim leader or government, never an individual or a self-appointed group.
• 2. A just cause: self-defence, or protecting people who are oppressed (4:75) and the freedom to worship; the Qur'an mentions churches, synagogues and mosques as places to be protected (22:40).
• 3. Not aggression: ‘Fight… against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities’ (2:190, Pickthall's translation). It can't be used to force anyone to convert, because the Qur'an says there is no compulsion in religion (2:256).
• 4. A last resort, after peaceful ways have been tried.
• 5. Limits in fighting: no harm to civilians (women, children, older people), crops, trees or animals; force must be proportionate. These rules go back to the Prophet and the early caliphs.
• 6. End when the enemy seeks peace: ‘if they incline to peace, incline thou also to it’ (8:61, Pickthall's translation).
• Many Shi'a scholars teach that only defensive jihad is allowed while the twelfth Imam is hidden.
• In mainstream Muslim teaching, attacks on civilians break every one of these conditions, so they are never jihad.

Legitimate authority

A recognised leader or government with the right to declare war.

Last resort

Used only after all peaceful ways have been tried.

‘Id’ (often spelt Eid) means festival. Both Ids go back to the Prophet's time in Madinah.

• Qur'an 22:37 explains the meaning of the sacrifice: ‘Their flesh and their food reach not Allah, but the devotion from you reacheth Him’ (Pickthall's translation).
• The Qur'an doesn't name the son in the story; Muslims usually say it was Isma'il.
• In Britain, animals must be slaughtered in a licensed slaughterhouse, so many families order qurbani through a butcher, or pay a charity to give the meat to people in poorer countries.
• Muslims everywhere celebrate Id-ul-Adha, not only pilgrims.

Id-ul-Fitr

The festival at the end of Ramadan, giving thanks for the fast.

Id-ul-Adha

The festival of sacrifice at the end of Hajj, remembering Ibrahim's obedience.

Zakat al-Fitr

A set gift for the poor, given before the Id-ul-Fitr prayer.

Qurbani

The animal sacrifice at Id-ul-Adha.

• Ashura falls on 10 Muharram, the first month of the Islamic year. Sunni and Shi'a Muslims mark it in different ways.
• Shi'a Muslims mourn the death of Husayn, the Prophet's grandson, son of Ali and Fatimah, who was killed with his family and companions at Karbala (in present-day Iraq) in 680 CE after refusing to accept a ruler he saw as unjust.
• Shi'a practices include gatherings to hear the story (majalis), processions, re-enactments and passion plays, wearing black, public signs of grief, and giving free food and water, recalling the thirst at Karbala. For many, Husayn is a model of standing up to injustice.
• Sunni Muslims may fast on Ashura (often with the day before or after). A hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari (2004) says the Prophet fasted that day because it was the day God saved Musa and the Israelites. Many Sunni Muslims also remember Husayn with respect.
• In Britain: in 2021, 6.5% of people in England and Wales (about 3.9 million) were Muslim. The Ids aren't bank holidays, so families ask schools and employers for time off; Id prayers fill mosques and some parks; mosques hold community iftars open to neighbours of other faiths; Ashura processions take place in several cities.
• Why festivals matter: they strengthen faith and the ummah, pass traditions on to children, include the poor through charity, and help others understand Islam.

Where the duties and festivals fall in the year

Ashura

10 Muharram: for Shi'a Muslims, mourning Husayn's death at Karbala; for many Sunni Muslims, a day of fasting remembering Musa.

Karbala

The place in Iraq where Husayn was killed in 680 CE.