ISLAM IS THE VOICE OF HUMAN NATURE
The Prophet is reported by ‘Abdullah ibn Umar as saying: ‘Islam has been built on five pillars: testifying that there is no god but God, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God; saying prayers; paying zakat (the poor’s due); making the pilgrimage to the House of God in Mecca and fasting in the month of Ramadhan.’ (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 8) This figure of speech, ‘five pillars,’ is expressly used in certain traditions, and notably in the Book of Salah by Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Maruzi.
Although a building is composed of many parts, what really holds up the entire structure is its pillars. If they are strong, the whole structure will be sound. But should they be weak, the entire edifice will crumble. Those, which support the edifice of Islam, are of immense strength, but they must first of all be raised up by its adherents if they are to support its structure.
Man’s life is like a piece of land on which he must build a house to God’s liking. His first step must be to set up these five sturdy pillars, without which Islam cannot raise itself up either at the individual or at the community level.
These five pillars—faith, prayers, fasting, charity and pilgrimage—are meant to engender in man a lifelong piety and devotion to God.
FAITH
Faith (iman) means belief in divine truths. Prayer, in essence, means bowing before the glories of God, so that any sense of superiority a man may have will be dispelled. Fasting (sawm), with its emphasis on abstinence, builds up patience and fortitude. Charity (zakat) entails the recognition of other’s needs, so that what has been given to mankind by God may be equitably shared. Pilgrimage (hajj) is a great rallying of God’s servants around Him. These are not mere empty rituals, but the exercise of positive virtues, the quintessence, in fact, of those qualities, which our Lord wishes to be inculcated in us. If we can cultivate them, we shall be deemed to possess the divine characteristics so cherished by Islam. Thus, it is true to say that faith, humility, fortitude, recognition of the rights of others and unity are the pillars on which rests the entire edifice of Islam.
Acceptance of God as one’s Lord (shahadah) is like making a covenant to place Him at the central point in one’s life, so that He may become the pivot of one’s thoughts and emotions. It means entrusting oneself to Him entirely, and focussing upon Him all one’s hopes and aspirations, fears and entreaties. Then, instead of living for worldly things, one will live for one’s Sustainer. He will thus become all in all in one’s life.
Man all too often lives for worldly things which come to dominate his thoughts and emotions. Some live for their household and family; some for business and the money it brings; some for political activity and party leadership, and some for honour and authority. Every man, big or small, lives for something or the other which is material in this everyday world of ours. But this is to live in ignorance—trying to build one’s nest on branches that do not exist. A truly worthy life is that which is lived for one’s Lord, with no support other than Him. Man should live in remembrance of God. His name should be on his lips as he wakens and as he sleeps. As he halts or proceeds on his way, he should live in trust of God, and when he speaks or remains silent, it should be for the pleasure of his Lord.
Faith in God is like the electric current, which illuminates the whole environment and sets all machines in motion. When a man finds the link of faith to connect him to God, he experiences just such an illumination from within—sudden and all-embracing. His latent spirit is then awakened, and his heart is warmed by his new-found faith. A new kind of fire is kindled within him. Man, born of the womb of his mother, has his second birth from the womb of faith. He now experiences what is meant by union with God. A lover, emotionally, is one with his beloved, even when he is physically separated from the object of his love. In this state, he sees in everything the image of the loved one. One who is inspired by his faith in God is just like this earthly lover. He sees the glories of God in heaven’s blue vaults, and His might and grandeur in the fury of tempests. The birds, with their twittering, seem to warble hymns to God. The rising sun is the radiant hand of God extending towards him. Every leaf of every plant and tree is a verdant page on which he reads the story of divine creation. Zephyrs fanning his cheeks are harbingers of his unity with God. A true believer in God is like a diver in the divine ocean. Every plunge that he makes serves to unite him in his experience more and more inextricably with his Maker, so that he belongs to God as God belongs to him.
Faith in God means faith in a Being who is at once Creator, Master and Sustainer of all creation. Everything has been made by Him and Him alone and receives eternal sustenance from Him. There is nothing which can exist without Him. Consciousness of this and faith in God go hand in hand. As a consequence, a man of faith begins to look upon himself as a servant of God. In each and everything he witnesses the glory of God, and every blessing he receives strikes him as a gift from God, hymns to the deity and remembrance of God spring from his heart like fountains. He lives, not in forgetfulness, but in a state of acute awareness, all events being reminders to him of God. When he awakens from a deep and refreshing sleep, he begins involuntarily to thank his Lord for having blessed man with sleep, without which he would be in such a perpetual state of exhaustion that life, brief as it is, would become hellish for him and drive him to madness. When the sun rises high in the sky and sends its light to the world, dispelling the darkness of the night, his heart cries out in ecstasy, ‘Glory be to God who created light. Had there been no light, the whole world would be a fearful ocean of darkness.’ When, driven by hunger and thirst, he eats and drinks, his entire being is filled with heartfelt gratitude and, bewildered and amazed, he asks himself: ‘What would become of men if there were no God to send us food and drink?’ When in need, or if he is hurt, he looks towards God, calling upon Him for succour. When he encounters adversity, he accepts it as part of God’s design, and if he is fortunate enough to earn profits or, in some other way, finds himself at an advantage, he is reminded of God’s blessings and his heart is filled with gratitude. His achievements do not, however, fill him with conceit, nor do his failures crush him or even make him impatient. In all such matters, whether of loss or gain, his adoration of God is never impaired, nor does anyone or anything other than God ever become its object. No expediency ever makes him forget his Lord.
The discovery of the power of gravity on earth and on other bodies, or of radiation in the universe with the help of sophisticated instruments, is an achievement of an academic nature with no overtones of religious compulsion. But the discovery of God is an entirely different phenomenon. It is the direct apprehension of a Being who is all-seeing and all-hearing, and who is the repository of all wisdom and might. Discovering God means, moreover, acceptance of the fact that God has not created man, or the universe at large in vain. That a magnificent universe should stand mute, without its true significance ever being understood and appreciated, is inconceivable when its Creator and Sustainer is an all-knowing God.
Man’s discovery of faith instills in him the conviction that a day must come when the unseen God—the great orchestrator of all events in the Universe—will make Himself manifest, so that man will see and believe tomorrow what he fails to see and, therefore, questions, today. His belief tells him that the manifestation of the Creator and Master will be like the brightness of the sun after the darkness of the night—the manifestation, indeed, of an omniscient Judge and Arbiter.
The Lord’s manifestation of Himself will be the hour of retribution for the universe. At the very moment of His appearance, the arrogant and the self-centred will be cast down from their self-erected pedestals, when they will seem smaller than the smallest of insects. In sharp contrast, God’s righteous and faithful servants, no matter how oppressed and dejected in condition, will forthwith become exalted and worthy of the greatest respect. God’s withholding Himself from view gives His faithless servants the opportunity to indulge in all kinds of reprehensible behaviour, while His assumption of a physical, visible form will be a moment of absolute glory for the faithful, who will then set foot in a new, better, nay, perfect world where the transgressors will be consigned to hellfire for ever, and the faithful will enjoy eternal bliss in Paradise.
When man acquires this faith, he trembles with fear of God, and cries out: ‘O my God save me from disgrace on the day when You make Yourself manifest in all Your might and glory, when the balance of judgement is set up and man stands helpless before You, because no one besides You has any power or authority.’
One important aspect of making God the sole object of worship is the acceptance of the idea of prophethood. The moment an individual accepts God as a living, conscious Being, he is confronted with the question: ‘What does my Lord expect from me?’ From within himself, he receives signals in response.
The universe, too, seems silently to be relaying messages from his Lord. But he feels a strong desire to receive such messages loud and clear, so that he may know for certain what the future holds for him, and as he strains to find answers to his questions, he hears as if by a miracle, the pronouncement of the Apostle of God: ‘I am God’s servant and messenger. He has sent me down for the guidance of mankind. Turn to me and receive from me the message of your Lord.’ For someone genuinely in quest of the truth, it will not be difficult to recognize that voice, for he would have already torn away whatever veil of ignorance and prejudice had been preventing the voice of truth from penetrating his innermost thoughts. Just as a child can recognize the voice of his mother, so can a man recognize the voice of the Prophet, bringing him God’s message. Like the blessed rain falling upon parched earth, each drop of divine truth is immediately and gratefully absorbed.
Discovery of God leads him to the discovery of the Prophet, and recognition of the Prophet in turn deepens and intensifies his understanding of his Lord.
A prophet is neither an Angel nor a superhuman being. He is human being born of a human mother just like any other normal person. His uniqueness lies in the fact that God has chosen him to bring His message to mankind. God saw in Muhammad ibn Abdullah (peace be upon him) a man whose natural self was fully alive; in whom there was no contradiction between word and deed; who never once betrayed a trust during the forty years of his life prior to his prophethood. He was completely truthful, never failed to keep his word and possessed a heart that throbbed for humanity. To him, personal gain meant nothing. What really mattered to him was the cause of truth. God saw in him an immaculate spirit that made him worthy of divine trust. He found in him a character free of all subservience to expediency, and fully capable of carrying out divine commandments without swerving so much as an inch from the straight and narrow path. In this man from Mecca, He discovered a thirst for truth which could only be slaked at a divine source, which held out the assurance that whatever truth was revealed to him would be cherished by him as such. In these respects, he had proved himself the most perfect man during the forty years prior to his prophethood. It was on these grounds, therefore, that God chose him as His last messenger for the whole of creation. Throughout the twenty-three years of his life as a Prophet, this perfect man discharged his duties in an entirely exemplary fashion, thus fully justifying his elevation to the status of Prophet of God.
It was through him that the Quran, as revealed to him by God’s emissary, the Angel Gabriel, was given to mankind. The Prophet and his companions did everything in their power to preserve it in its original form and, in this pristine state; it has been handed down in its entirety from generation to generation. In this way we can never be in any doubt as to what God demands of us. Through the Quran God still speaks to man in his own tongue.
The Prophet not only received the divine revelation, but strictly applied its principles to his own mode of living. The example he set appealed to people because his experiences were those of a normal human being, ranging throughout his lifespan from those of the ordinary, common man to those, ultimately, of judge and ruler. Just like other men, he lived in a household, and moved among the populace in the towns and in the marketplaces. He knew prosperity. But he also knew hunger, thirst, poverty. He knew what it was to be successful and he knew what it was to be rejected, especially when it was a question of calling his fellowmen to the true path of enlightenment. Just like any other person, he had his joys and his sorrows, his moments of elation and his moments of despair. But, at all times, notwithstanding life’s vicissitudes, no speck of dishonour ever tarnished his reputation. At all times, his conduct was godly. His life indeed became the perfect living model of the divine guidance set forth in the verses of the Quran. He provided a shining example for all men, and it will be so till the very Day of the Last Judgement.
Those who aspire to reach their Sustainer, and enter into the eternal gardens of paradise, have but one course to follow: they must seek out the commandments of God in the Quran, and their realization in the life of the Prophet, and then must pattern their lives along the same lines. For the Prophet’s life is so perfect as to be an example for both great and small, for king and commoner alike. No other course will lead such aspirants to their true objective. No other life will be pleasing in the eyes of God.
SALAH
Worship (salah) is the second ‘pillar’ of Islam. In its prescribed form, it entails the worshipping of God at five appointed times during the day and night. God himself, through His Prophet, has taught us the way of doing so, and this is so all-embracing that a better way of worship would be difficult to imagine. As the appointed hour approaches, God’s glory is proclaimed in the call to prayer (adhan). Thus reminded that it is the time for prayer, we must assemble together for our salvation. Worshippers perform their ablutions, then make their way to the mosques with God ever in their thoughts. There, as a congregation, they worship together, following the leader in prayer, the imam. Their doing so symbolizes the vow made by all Muslims to gather round the Prophet of God and make him their sole rallying point.
There are different positions, which supplicants may adopt. By folding their hands, bowing, sitting reverentially, touching the ground with their foreheads, they renew their covenant of servitude to God. One of the important features of salah is that it includes recitation of verses from the Quran. No matter where it is opened, there is sure to be the essential message of God. It is a Book where each page is the quintessence of the whole. Although in salah, only a small part of the Quran is recited at a time, it is always sufficient to convey the divine will. Besides God’s message, words in praise and remembrance of God are recited; His mercy is invoked; exalted sentiments are expressed about the Prophet and the faithful. Worship is then concluded by prayers to God for peace for the entire human race. An object lesson in dynamism and action in life, it imparts a sense of order and discipline. It is at one and the same time food for the souls of the believers and a means of creating unity and the spirit of collectivism amongst them. In this way, salah, with its various elements, is an act which is at once a service to God and a reminder of His dictates. Above all, with its symbolism of the Islamic way of life it is the prime occasion for communion with God.
Salah, in its form, is a particular way of worship; in essence, it projects a profound sense of humility and devotion to God. The ultimate expression of one’s recognition of someone else’s greatness or superiority would be to say, ‘You are the greatest.’ In salah, the words ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is the greatest) are repeated over and over again, conceding absolute mastery to God. This sentiment is given physical expression in total prostration before God, which, carried out repeatedly in salah, clearly symbolizes one’s recognition of the glory of God.
Again, the most effective way of demonstrating one’s acceptance of someone as the central object of adoration is to turn one’s face towards him. The turning of one’s face towards the House of God (Ka’bah) in worship indicates that one has turned one’s life towards God, thus making one’s life God-oriented from within and without.
Man’s obeisance to God is not confined in its effect to God alone; it becomes a permanent feature of the devotee’s character. If, in bowing before God, he has begun to fear Him, and has inevitably realized his own insignificance vis-à-vis his Maker, it is certain that the effects of such worship will be reflected in his attitude towards his fellow-men. The devotee will not, of course, lie prostrate before other men; but, at the same time, he will not be arrogant towards them. He will certainly not consider any of his fellow men worthy of the compliment: ‘Thou art the greatest,’ but neither will he try to impress them with his own superiority. His prostrations in prayer will engender humility in his character. His covenant with God to be His obedient servant will give rise to a resolve to fulfill his obligations towards his fellow human beings, just as his choice of the right direction in prayer will result in principled behaviour towards others. Salah invests the devotee with humility before God and with modesty in general human relationships. One who has emerged from the mosque, bound by a covenant of complete obedience to God, will become for his fellowmen the model of perfect morality.
Apart from the five regular prayers, there are other forms of salah: the midnight worship (tahajjud); prayer in the event of some unusual happening; prayer in the hour of need; prayer to seek God’s will and guidance (istikharah); the Friday and ‘Id prayers; funeral prayers, etc. All these are meant to intensify the effect sought in regular worship. Indeed, if a devotee is able to arrive at the essence of prayer, it becomes an integral part of his existence. If in his work he breaks new ground, or undertakes an entire new project, he performs two rak’ah prayers and afterwards implores God’s succour; if he achieves some major breakthrough, he expresses his gratitude to God in his prayers. If he is confronted by some problem, which seems insoluble, again he tries to resolve it by offering his prayers to God. The same attitude prevails in him whenever he has to deal with his fellow human beings, prayer acting as the divine force, which gives direction to his life. As he plays his part in the vast expanse of the world, it seems to him as if the whole of the earth is one gigantic mosque wherein he has to accomplish his duties in devotion to God.
SAWM
Fasting (sawm) is the third pillar of Islam. Right from dawn till dusk, a man who is strictly on a fast will neither eat so much as one morsel of food nor drink so much as one drop of water. By submitting to this discipline, that is, by depriving himself of the prime necessities of life, he learns the valuable lesson of fortitude. With no food and drink, he naturally feels hungry and thirsty, and his strength begins to ebb. The entire routine of his life is severely disturbed and his whole system is upset. But, out of a high sense of discipline, he braves all these difficulties and discomforts, and, remaining alert and never losing heart, he steadfastly discharges his duties. Food and drink may be temptingly placed before him, but, despite an overwhelming urge to have both, he will not even touch them. In this way, he prepares himself for a well-regulated and responsible life, doing only what is his duty and refraining from pernicious acts and habits. He is thus strengthened to continue with his mission in life, no matter how he may be beset by adversity.
God has endowed man with innumerable gifts, but all too often, he takes them for granted without any feelings of gratitude. Countless benefits like the air, the sun, the water, have been showered upon man, the absence of anyone of which would cast his delicately balanced system into a living hell. But because he has received these things without any effort on his part, he sets no great value upon them, and hardly ever stops to ponder upon how they came to be his.
It is only when fasting temporarily curbs the satisfying of his desires that his consciousness of the value of these divine gifts is awakened. When, at sunset, after a whole day’s hunger, thirst and the accompanying discomfort and fatigue, a man begins to eat and drink, he becomes fully aware of his utter dependence on God’s bounty. He is then filled with gratitude towards God and the realization comes to him that, even were he to lay down his life for this Bountiful Creator, the price he should have to pay would not be too high.
The life of a believer in this world is one of fortitude and forbearance, limited as it is to the enjoyment of whatever is allowed by God and avoidance of whatever is forbidden by Him. It will naturally be beset by all the difficulties encountered in the path of righteousness and truth, and the believer must staunchly face up to them. Much of his time must be given to such activity, and no precious moment can be wasted in stooping to revenge himself upon adversaries who have made him the object of their spite and malice. On the contrary, the slights and injuries of this world should leave him undaunted; he should be able simply to take such untoward incidents in his stride so that he may continue unflinchingly to discharge his duties. Whenever his pride has been hurt, or whenever some unpleasantness has left him in a state of agitation, he must guard against adopting a negative attitude—for this is sheer weakness!—and must continue to devote his energies in a positive manner to worthy objectives. Nothing, in fact, should stop him, or even slow him down in his progress towards the Hereafter.
All of this demands enormous fortitude, and, without it, no one can travel along the path of Islam. The annual month-long period of fasting builds up the strength of character which is essential, if devout Muslims are to tread the path of righteousness for the rest of the year, avoiding impatience, cruelty and all such evil acts, and making no attempt to meddle with divine commandments. While in its outward form, fasting means abstinence from food and drink for a given period, in essence, it is training for a whole life of self-denial, inculcating patience, fortitude and forbearance.
ZAKAT
Zakat is the fourth ‘pillar’ of Islam. Zakat means setting apart for God every year a certain portion of one’s saving and wealth (generally 2.5 percent) and spending it upon religious duties and on needy members of the community. The fulfillment of this duty is, in fact, a kind of reminder that all one has is in trust for God. Man should, therefore, hold nothing back from God. To whatever one may amass in one’s lifetime, one’s own personal contribution is insignificant. If the Supreme Being, who is at work in the heavens and on the earth, refused to co-operate with man, there would be nothing that the latter could accomplish single-handed. He would not be able to plant so much as a single seed to make things grow. Nor could he set up any industries or carry out any other such enterprise. If God were to withdraw anyone of His material blessings, all our plans would go awry, and all our efforts would be brought to naught.
Zakat is the practical recognition of this fact through the expenditure of money. Islam requires man to consider his personal wealth as belonging to God and, therefore, to set apart a portion for Him. No maximum limit has been prescribed, but a minimum limit has definitely been fixed. According to statutory zakat, each individual must abide by this and spend a fixed minimum percentage of his wealth every year in the way prescribed by God. In so spending his wealth, he is permitted neither to belittle the recipient nor to make him feel obliged or grateful to himself. His wealth must be given to the needy in the spirit of its being a trust from God which he is making over to the genuine title-holders. He should feed others so that he himself is fed in the Hereafter, and he should give to others so that he himself is not denied succour by God in the next world.
Zakat is a symbol of one’s obligation to recognize the rights of others and to be in sympathy with them in pain or in sorrow. These sentiments should become so deep-rooted that one begins to regard one’s own wealth as belonging, in part, to others. Moreover, one should render service to others without expecting either recognition or recompense. Each individual should protect the honour of others without hope of any gain in return. He should be the well-wisher of not just friends and relations, but of all members of society. Zakat, first and foremost, makes it plain to people that their entire ‘possessions’ are gifts of God, and, secondly, dissuades the servants of God from living in society as unfeeling and selfish creatures. Indeed, throughout their entire lives, they must set aside some portion for others.
One very wrong way of conducting oneself in any social set-up is to live in expectation of worldly gain from the services rendered to others. An example of such behaviour is to lend money in the hopes of getting it back with interest. Where this is a common practice, exploitation becomes rampant, with everyone trying to subjugate and plunder others. As a consequence, the whole of society is plagued with disorder. No one, be he rich or poor, can be happy in such a set-up. If a man is correctly motivated, he will be of service to his fellow-human beings only in the hope of receiving a reward from God: he will give to others with the divine assurance that he will be repaid in full in the next world. In a society where there is no exploitation, feelings of mutual hatred and unconcern cannot flourish. A climate of mutual distrust and disorder is simply not allowed to come into being; each lives in peace with the other, and society becomes, a model of harmony and prosperity.
On the legalistic plane, zakat is an annual tax, or duty, in essence and spirit: it is recognition on the part of man of the share which God, and other men, have in his wealth.
HAJJ
The fifth pillar of Islam is pilgrimage (hajj). On this occasion, believers from all corners of the earth gather together at Islam’s holy city, Mecca, and perform the various prescribed rituals in worship of God. These are symbolic representation of those qualities, which according to Islam, it is imperative that we personally cultivate. They are a concretization in different visually appreciable forms of the dictates of Islam—a physical affirmation to God that man will organize the moral structure of his life on the same pattern. Although these particular elements are inherent in other modes of Islamic worship, in Hajj, they are more pronounced, more comprehensive and altogether on a grander scale.
One very important obligation during Hajj is the wearing of unstitched clothing (ihram), for it is inconsistent with Islam that the material distinctions of clothing should set up artificial barriers between the servants of God. Dressed in this way, all men of all countries look alike in identical, simple garments, and no pilgrim may then feel tempted to take pride of place over another.
In Islam, man’s life must rotate around God. Circling the holy Ka’bah is but a symbolic representation of this. Similarly, running between Safa and Marwa, two hillocks of the region, gives physical expression to the Islamic precept that the true servant of God should come running at his bidding, that he should have an overwhelming feeling of urgency about carrying out God’s commandments. The vocal affirmation of man’s desire to bow to God’s will is the repetition of the words, ‘Labbaik allahumma labbaik’ (Here I am, my Lord, Here I am.) The assembling of the pilgrims on the vast plains of Arafat is an impressive visual reminder of the day when according to Islam, all men will be assembled before God. On the score of wanting man to be intolerant of the devil, Islam is quite positive, and the casting of stones at the symbolic figures of ‘Satan’ gives physical expression to this striving to ward off evil. Perhaps the greatest Islamic imperative is that man should be steadfast in his covenant with God, even at the cost of life and property. The material expression of his adherence to this covenant is the symbolic sacrifice of animals in Mina.
Islam has always set a great value upon social harmony. In order, therefore, that all discord should be eliminated, much emphasis is placed upon the individual’s ability to ignore the malevolence of others. The Hajj period, with its assembly at one place of a heterogeneous crowd running into millions, provides a special occasion for the exercise of such self-discipline. It has been ordained then for the duration of the Hajj period, when there are bound to be occasions for grievances, that anger, foul talk, fighting, injury to living things, obscenity or dishonesty will not be indulged in by anyone. God’s servants must treat each other with respect and decency if they expect to have God’s blessings.
Hajj is a complete lesson in leading a God-oriented life. In that it reminds one of the awesome day of Resurrection—a day that could be painful for many—it is a prelude to the attainment of God, exhorting us to strive with all our might to tread the path of righteousness. It warns man that Satan is his archenemy and that he should never allow him to draw near. It conveys the message that if we are anxious to receive the bounties of God, we should be ready to sacrifice our lives and property for His sake. A grand demonstration of the equality of man, it provides a situation in which being able to bear the disagreeable behaviour of others and living together in an atmosphere of amity and goodwill, are of paramount importance.
Hajj, in a nutshell, is a complete mode of worship which, if performed in the correct manner, will have a transfiguring effect upon the moral aspects of the affairs of man, be they worldly or religious in nature.
