RS8Islam: The Five Pillars, the Ten Obligatory Acts and Salah

Most British Muslims are Sunni; a minority are Shi'a. The two traditions list their core duties differently, and AQA expects you to know both lists.

• Five Pillars (Sunni Islam): Shahadah (declaration of faith), salah (prayer), zakah (giving alms), sawm (fasting in Ramadan) and hajj (pilgrimage to Makkah).
• A hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari (8) reports the Prophet Muhammad teaching that Islam is built on five: the declaration of faith, prayer, zakah, hajj and fasting in Ramadan.
• They are called pillars because, like the pillars of a building, they hold up a Muslim's life of faith. Missing one weakens the whole.
• Ten Obligatory Acts (Shi'a Islam): salah, sawm, zakah, khums, hajj, jihad, amr bil-ma'ruf, nahi anil-munkar, tawalla and tabarra.
• Shared: salah, sawm, zakah and hajj are on both lists.
• The Shahadah is a Pillar but not one of the Ten Acts. Shi'a Muslims say it too, but they place belief in God and the Prophet among the roots of faith (Usul ad-Din) rather than the practices.
• Jihad appears in the Ten Acts. It is a duty for Sunni Muslims too, but it isn't one of the Five Pillars.
• The spec asks you to study the Five Pillars and jihad in both traditions, plus the extra Shi'a duties.

What is shared and what is different

Five Pillars

The five key duties of Sunni Islam: Shahadah, salah, zakah, sawm and hajj.

Ten Obligatory Acts

The ten practical duties of Shi'a Islam: salah, sawm, zakah, khums, hajj, jihad, amr bil-ma'ruf, nahi anil-munkar, tawalla and tabarra.

• The Qur'an describes believers as those who enjoin the right and forbid the wrong (3:104; 9:71). Shi'a Muslims see these as duties for every believer, not just leaders.
• Tawalla and tabarra reflect the Shi'a belief that the Prophet's family, starting with Ali, were chosen to lead and should be loved and followed.
• Influence: these duties make faith social as well as personal. A Shi'a Muslim is expected to care about how the wider community lives, not only their own worship.

Khums

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

Amr bil-ma'ruf

Encouraging what is good.

Nahi anil-munkar

Forbidding what is wrong.

Tawalla

Love for God's friends, including the Prophet and his family.

Tabarra

Dissociation from (turning away from) the enemies of God.

• Shahadah means ‘bearing witness’. In Arabic it begins Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah.
• In English: ‘I bear witness that there is no god but God, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God.’
• Part one states Tawhid: God is one, with no partners. The Qur'an says God himself bears witness that there is no god but him (3:18) and tells believers to know that there is no god but God (47:19).
• Part two states Risalah: Muhammad is God's messenger (Qur'an 48:29), the final prophet, so Muslims follow the Qur'an revealed to him and his example (Sunnah).
• Shi'a Muslims often add ‘and Ali is the friend (wali) of God’, showing their belief that Ali was chosen to lead after the Prophet. Most treat this as a recommended addition, not part of the essential words.
• It is the first Pillar in Sunni Islam: the other duties rest on it.

Shahadah

The Muslim declaration of faith: there is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God.

Wali

A friend or guardian of God; Shi'a Muslims use it of Ali.

• Becoming a Muslim: a person says the Shahadah sincerely, believing it, usually in front of Muslim witnesses. That is enough to become a Muslim.
• At birth: the call to prayer (adhan), which contains the Shahadah, is whispered into a newborn baby's ear, so these are the first words they hear.
• Every day: it is part of the call to prayer and is said within salah, so a practising Muslim repeats it many times a day.
• At death: Muslims hope to say it as their last words, and family members may say it to a dying person.
• Living it out: if there is no god but God, nothing else (money, fame, pleasure) should come first. Following the Prophet's example shapes everyday choices, from honesty in business to kindness to neighbours.
• The Qur'an links faith and action: it says humans are lost except those who believe and do good works (103:2-3). It also warns of people who said they believed when faith ‘hath not yet entered into your hearts’ (49:14, Pickthall's translation).

Adhan

The call to prayer, which includes the Shahadah.

Ummah

The worldwide community of Muslims.

• Salah is the set prayer that Muslims perform five times a day. It is the second Pillar and one of the Ten Acts.
• Why: God commands it. ‘Establish worship’ appears many times in the Qur'an (e.g. 2:43), and God says to establish worship ‘for My remembrance’ (20:14, Pickthall's translation).
• Fixed times: ‘Worship at fixed times hath been enjoined on the believers’ (4:103, Pickthall's translation). The Qur'an also mentions prayer at the two ends of the day and in the night (11:114).
• The five prayers: Fajr (dawn), Zuhr (just after midday), Asr (afternoon), Maghrib (just after sunset) and Isha (night).
• The times follow the position of the sun, so clock times change through the year. Mosques print timetables and many Muslims use apps.
• Purposes: remembering God through the day, giving thanks, asking forgiveness, discipline, and keeping away from wrongdoing: the Qur'an says worship keeps believers from indecency and wrong (29:45).
• A prayer missed for a good reason should be made up later (qada).

The five prayers frame the day

Salah

The set prayer Muslims perform five times a day; the second Pillar of Islam.

Qada

Making up a missed prayer later.

• Wudu (ritual washing) is done before salah: hands, mouth, nose, face, arms to the elbows, head and ears, then feet. The Qur'an tells believers rising for prayer to wash the face and hands to the elbows, wipe the head and wash the feet (5:6).
• Why: to be pure before God, outwardly and inwardly. A hadith in Sahih Muslim says purity is half of faith.
• Ghusl is a full washing of the whole body, needed after major impurity (for example after sex or menstruation), and many Muslims do it before Jummah.
• Tayammum: if there is no clean water, Muslims may use clean earth or dust instead (also in 5:6).
• A clean place and clothes: many use a prayer mat. Men cover at least from the navel to the knee; women cover all but the face and hands.
• Qiblah: Muslims face the Ka'aba in Makkah (Qur'an 2:144). In Britain that is roughly south-east. A mosque's mihrab (niche) shows the direction.
• Niyyah (intention): a Muslim makes a sincere intention in their heart to pray, so prayer isn't just a habit.
• The adhan (call to prayer) is called by the mu'adhin, often from a mosque's minaret in Muslim countries; in Britain it is usually called inside the mosque.

Washing before prayer

Wudu

Ritual washing of parts of the body before prayer.

Ghusl

Full ritual washing of the whole body after major impurity.

Qiblah

The direction of the Ka'aba in Makkah, which Muslims face when they pray.

Mihrab

A niche in a mosque wall that shows the direction of the qiblah.

Niyyah

Intention: a sincere decision in the heart to perform an act of worship.

• Each prayer is made of rak'ahs: set cycles of movements and words, said in Arabic.
• Takbir: standing, hands raised, saying ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is the greatest) to begin.
• Qiyam: standing and reciting al-Fatihah (Surah 1) in every rak'ah, often followed by another passage of the Qur'an.
• Ruku: bowing from the waist, hands on knees, praising God.
• Sujud: prostrating with forehead, nose, palms, knees and toes on the ground, the position of greatest humility before God. It is done twice in each rak'ah.
• Julus: sitting back on the heels between the prostrations and at the end.
• Ending: sitting, reciting the tashahhud (which includes the Shahadah), then turning the head right and left saying ‘peace be upon you’ (taslim).
• After salah many Muslims add personal prayers (du'a), in any language, and remember God (dhikr), sometimes using prayer beads (subhah).

One rak'ah, step by step (stick figures)

Rak'ah

A set cycle of movements and recitations in salah.

Sujud

Prostration, with the forehead on the ground.

Al-Fatihah

The opening surah of the Qur'an, recited in every rak'ah.

Du'a

Personal prayer, which can be said at any time and in any language.

• Anywhere clean: salah can be said at home, school, work or outdoors. Many workplaces, universities, hospitals and airports in Britain have prayer rooms.
• At home: families often pray together; many women pray at home, which is fully valid.
• In the mosque: worshippers stand shoulder to shoulder in straight rows behind an imam (prayer leader), whatever their wealth or status, which shows equality before God. Many Muslims believe praying in congregation brings greater reward.
• Jummah is the Friday midday congregational prayer, held in place of Zuhr. The Qur'an tells believers, when the call to Friday prayer is heard, to hurry to remember God and leave trading (62:9).
• At Jummah the imam gives a khutbah (sermon), often on how to live as a Muslim today, from the minbar (raised platform).
• For Sunni Muslims, Jummah is compulsory for men; women may attend. Shi'a scholars differ on whether it is compulsory today, and many Shi'a attend.
• Muslims may do ghusl, wear clean clothes and arrive early for Jummah. Friday isn't a day of rest: many return to work or school.

Jummah

The Friday midday congregational prayer, with a sermon.

Khutbah

The sermon given at Jummah.

Imam

In a mosque, the person who leads prayer. (In Shi'a belief, the Imams are also the twelve leaders chosen by God.)

Minbar

The raised platform from which the khutbah is given.

Both traditions share the essentials: wudu, the qiblah, the rak'ahs, al-Fatihah, bowing and prostration. The spec asks for the key differences.

• Why the three times? Shi'a scholars read the Qur'an's verses on prayer times (11:114; 17:78) as allowing three times, and point to hadith that the Prophet sometimes joined prayers in Madinah when he wasn't travelling.
• Why the turbah? Many Shi'a Muslims believe prostration should be on earth or something natural, not on woven cloth. Clay from Karbala recalls the martyrdom of Husayn.
• Practice varies within each tradition too, for example between Sunni schools of law. Don't call either way ‘wrong’.

Turbah

A small tablet of clay on which many Shi'a Muslims place their forehead in prostration.

• A defining duty: many Muslims see salah as the clearest sign of being a Muslim, a Pillar commanded at fixed times, which should come before everything else in the day.
• Closeness to God: others stress the relationship it builds. God says he is near and answers the prayer of those who call on him (Qur'an 2:186), and ‘in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest’ (13:28, Pickthall's translation).
• Intention over outward form: the Qur'an warns against worshippers ‘heedless of their prayer’ who only want to be seen (107:4-6, Pickthall's translation). Some Muslims, including many Sufis, put great weight on inner devotion, dhikr and personal du'a.
• Community: some stress praying together, especially at Jummah, because it builds the ummah and shows equality.
• Moral effect: some value prayer mainly for how it shapes behaviour, since worship keeps believers from wrongdoing (29:45).
• Influence: the day is planned around prayer times; discipline and patience; a regular reminder of God's presence; in Britain, asking school or work for time and space to pray, especially at Jummah.

Dhikr

Remembrance of God, for example repeating his names or short phrases of praise.