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CHAPTERTWO
T h e Fou r Pi ll a rs
§
I created the jinn and mankind only so that they might worship Me.
—The Quran, 51:56
After belief in God and the Prophet, four practices enjoy the
status of pillars of Islam—fasting, prayer,
zakat
(almsgiving) and
hajj
(pilgrimage to Makkah). In essence, these are the four parts
which make up the whole that is called Islam.
Fasting means not just abstaining from food and drink, but
rising above the material world so that man may come in contact
with God. Prayer, in spirit, is remembrance of God.
Zakat
, in
reality, is a form of sacrifice meant to underline those ethical values
which are known in Islam as
Huqu qul Ibad
, that is, fulfilment of
one’s responsibilities towards others. Hajj, a re-enactment of the
missionary life of the greatest preacher of truth, the Prophet
Abraham, also necessarily entails sacrifice in the cause of God.
Understanding and acceptance of these four pillars, as symbols of
the fundamental parts of Islam, prepare one to adopt Islam fully in
one’s life.
Each of these four acts of worship is imbued with a particular
