The Four Pillars

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 spirit, yet is so designed that its performance, as well as fulfilling its basic purpose, may achieve other important ends. The pillars of Islam may, in this respect, be likened to human limbs, each having a separate function, but inseparably attached to the body.

1. One significant aspect of these acts of worship is that, even if their basic aim, that is, bringing believers closer to God, is not being served, they are bound in some measure to benefit from them. For example, even if prayer and fasting do not bring worshippers closer to God (96:19), these practices may at least make them God fearing, and they consequently keep themselves away from indecency and evil (29:45). Fasting, in the words of the Prophet, will teach them to refrain from falsehood, promise-breaking and loud talk; it provides them with a shield against the onslaughts of the devil.
2. Each act of worship has been so designed that, as well as fulfilling its own specific purpose, it is closely and meaningfully linked with other acts of worship. For example, the real aim of hajj is to prepare the pilgrim for a missionary life—that of calling people to God. But the form it takes in the process is that of visits to sacred places and the performance of the rites of hajj, as a result of which the pilgrim receives a special share in the love of God and a heightened awareness of the life hereafter. He returns purified after this act of worship, and is able to lead a fuller and better religious life.
3. Every act of worship is aimed, essentially, at bringing the worshipper into close contact with God. But the different forms of its performance have been so designed that they meet other requirements of life as well, or, at least, strengthen man’s will to achieve other worthy goals. For example, prayer in congregation and the worldwide gathering for hajj serve as a platform for Muslim unity; similarly, fasting is beneficial for physical health and zakat makes for a well-organised economic system.

FASTING

The Arabic term for fasting is sawm. In essence, it is the same as tabattul ilallah i.e. detaching oneself from the world and devoting one’s life entirely to God (Quran, 73:8). Fasting, along with most of the other rites of worship, was prescribed on a regular basis after the Prophet’s emigration to Madinah (2 a.h.), but it had been practiced even before Islam in one form or the other. According to Aishah, the Prophet’s wife, the Quraysh used to fast on the day of Ashura, in their days of Ignorance (before Islam) and the Prophet would also fast on that day (Sahih Muslim). So one might say that fasting marks the entrance to an Islamic life, if the Prophet’s stay in the cave of Hira, before his receiving prophethood, is taken into account.

When God decided to give His scriptures to Moses, He asked him to go to Mount Tur where, remaining apart from his people, he was to spend forty days in fasting and abstinence. Moses did so for forty days continuously. Only then did God speak to him. This is mentioned in verse 143 of Chapter 7 of the Quran.

Before commencing his prophetic mission, the Prophet Jesus had fasted for forty days in the desert. Only then was the word of God revealed to him. This is recorded in the Bible as the Sermon on the Mount (Jewish Encyclopaedia). Likewise, the Final Prophet used to go to the cave of Hira before receiving his prophethood. There he would fast in seclusion, engrossed in a world of worship and contemplation. Only after a long period of this inner purification did the time come for him to be visited by an angel, so that he might receive the word of God.

In the Islamic shari‘ah, fasting is known as sawm, a word which means to abstain. Literally, it means to abstain from meeting people, speaking, eating and drinking. A horse that has been detained at a stable and denied fodder is called al-Khail as-Saim, in Arabic. That is why the Prophet called the month of Ramadan a month of patience. Harith ibn Malik, describing one of his fasts to the Prophet, said, “I withdrew from the world and was thirsty all day.” The outer sign of fasting is abstention from food from morning till evening. But, in its real essence, it is to withdraw from all worldly attachments, and reduce all mundane necessities to a minimum. While fasting, one devotes much less time to conversation, social activity and other such worldly activities. This reaches a climax during Itikaf, a total retreat conducted during the last ten days of Ramadan. In Itikaf one is totally cut off from these pursuits. One retires from the human world and enters the world of God. The contact which the believer thus establishes with God should remain with him throughout his life. This is what the Prophet termed Zuhd (detachment from the world) and has been made obligatory in the form of fasting during the month of Ramadan. This renunciation, or Itikaf during the last days of the month of fasting is considered an extremely desirable form of worship. In Itikaf, one distances oneself completely from the world and turns to God. Itikaf is the most complete fulfilment of Islam’s requirements during the month of Ramadan, but, it is required to be practiced less strictly as concession, during the first part of the month.

What are the benefits sought in fasting? Its aim is to weaken the material aspect of man and strengthen the spirituality in him, so that he may enter the higher realms of faith.

Two things make up a man: his body and his soul. While the material part of man, the body, is indispensable for the performance of mundane tasks, it is his soul which will take him to the higher realities. The soul or the mind—as psychologists prefer to call it— must, therefore, be preserved in its pristine state. That means that just as the body requires physical nourishment, the soul must be nourished spiritually.

When one lifts oneself up from the material world and becomes attached to the spiritual world, one is astonished to apprehend a new door of truth opening before one. All those realities that were formerly invisible beneath a veil of matter now become plain for one to see. One reaches the loftiest station—the final stage in the ascent of man.

This is explained in a tradition of the Prophet:

When a person has elevated himself from the world, God endows him with wisdom, which emanates from his lips. He is shown the ills of the world, and their remedies. He is brought safely to the abode of peace. (Mishkat)

There comes a point on this path when one passes so far beyond the veil of matter that one can see realities exactly as they are. Then one “worships God, as if one were seeing Him.” (Bukhari)

A common man can also elevate his soul to this degree. Prophethood, however, is the final stage of this path. The difference is that a prophet is one chosen by God. There is no obscurity in his vision of the divine world; it appears before him in absolute, certain form; it actually becomes a part of his consciousness. The prophet is thus in a position to say: “I know that I know.” While a common man can never reach this stage, because he is not ‘chosen.’ Unlike the prophets, his contact with the divine world is neither absolute nor conscious.

Of the verses of the Quran prescribing the fast of Ramadan, there is one which does not apparently seem to deal with fasting, but it is in this verse that the significance of fasting has been explained:

And when My servants question you concerning Me, tell them that I am near. I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he calls upon me. (Quran 2:186)

The prophets, because of their being chosen, are in direct contact with God through angels. For others, the Quran takes the place of the angel Gabriel. By fasting and abstinence, the prophets cleansed and purified their souls or minds of all material stain, thus detaching themselves inwardly from the world. It was then that God’s angel descended to them and directly communicated to them the word of God. Others who hope to attain God through the Quran must also engage in fasting and abstinence in order to understand what they read. Although the Quran is with us today, preserved in written form as it was revealed, it enters one’s heart only when one is spiritually prepared to receive it by living a life of fasting and devotion.

The fact that Ramadan fasting was prescribed in the month when Quranic revelations began is an indication that the purpose of fasting is to prepare the individual mentally and physically for becoming a recipient of the Quran, in the true sense of the word.

Just as the Prophet had to fast in the solitude of the cave of Hira in order to receive the Quran, so shall other believers have to do the same. Otherwise they will be, in the words of the Quran, like donkeys, “laden with books” (62:5). The Book of God will not have entered their hearts.

The Quran is the law of the universe, it is the voice of nature. One who is submerged in the depth of its meanings begins to hear its message in every heartbeat. Every particle in the universe starts conveying its message to him. He eventually comes to see the Quran and nature as counterparts of one another: “But the Quran is a revelation that is clear to the hearts of those endowed with knowledge. Only the evil-doers refuse to acknowledge Our revelations.” (Quran 29:49)

Man’s prior and most important needs are food and drink. Abstinence from these things cannot but inconvenience him. Fasting, by its very nature, is sure to result in physical discomfort. The fact that God has said in the Quran that He desires your well-being, not your discomfort (2:185), shows indirectly that there is bound to be some physical inconvenience involved in fasting. Why, then, has it been called  a path to ease and well-being?

Yusr, the word used in this verse, is the Arabic for ease, or well-being. It is used when an individual becomes so well-prepared for any task that he finds it easy. The meaning of this verse is that fasting might appear to cause discomfort, but God has nothing to gain from causing  unnecessary trouble to human beings! Man has been created in such a way by God that he must necessarily satisfy his material needs, but if he is to discover the Quran on a truly intellectual level, it is also essential, at least for a few fixed days, to retire from the material world in order to develop the spiritual part in himself, so that he may see far and beyond all material veils: only then will he be able to receive the word of God. This is the relevance of fasting to the Quran, because of which the month in which the Quran was revealed has been decreed a month of fasting.

Some think that the most important thing about fasting is the breaking of it, so the whole day is spent in arranging for a variety of dishes and drinks. Others consider it to mean staying hungry all day, and reciting the whole of the Quran each day without stopping to ponder over its meanings. But such acts only serve to turn a purely Islamic kind of worship into a form of Christian monasticism. As for what is mistakenly called dhikr bil Jahr (loud remembrance of God)—repetitive recitation of this contradicts the very purpose of fasting, which is spiritual seclusion. The true aim of fasting is withdrawal from everything except essential subsistence and vital responsibilities. During this period, one should reduce conversation, social life, and all kinds of worldly activity to a minimum. For a certain time, one should lead a life of quiet devotion, reading the Quran and pondering over its meaning.

Abstinence from food symbolizes not only the eschewing of those forbidden things which a believer should give up for his entire life, but also the renunciation of lawful things for the duration of the fast. In seeking nearness to God, the believer must cut himself off from all worldliness.

Although fasting, in its specific and definite form, is prescribed just once a year, the fasting engaged in for this one month should be a continuous, permanent stage, if it is to be done in the correct spirit. Fasting is cutting oneself off from the world and turning to God not in a physical sense, but in one’s consciousness, one’s spirituality. The supreme state of faith is for one’s heart and mind to be continually directed towards God, whatever one’s bodily activity. Spiritually, one’s whole life should be a form of retreat at all times. Through not understanding this reality, people have fled to mountains and jungles in order to perfect their faith. But the perfection of faith results from one fulfilling one’s obligations in the turmoil of the world, while remaining in a state of inward “retreat” and remembrance of God. Abdullah ibn Masud, one of the Prophet’s closest companions, addressed his contemporaries in these words:

“You fast more than the Companions of the Prophet; you pray more than them, and strive more than them; but still they were better than you.” People asked him why. “They were totally disinterested in this world, they were extremely eager for the next,” was Ibn Masud’s reply. (Hilyatul Awliya, Vol. 1, p. 136)

PRAYER (SALAT)

The essence of prayer is remembrance of God (Quran, 20:14). The Arabic word for remembrance is dhikr. It means to bring something to mind. One might say, for instance, dhakkartuhu fa tadhakkara (I reminded him and that brought it to his mind). God requires man to remember Him. Time and time again, His greatness, wisdom, creativity and sovereignty should spring to mind. Prayer has, therefore, been prescribed as an obligation to bring about this state of constant remembrance.

The Quran states that everything in the universe is constantly engaged in praising God. When God placed Adam in charge of the earth, and commanded the angels to bow down before him, the angels replied: “We continuously sing Your praises and sanctify Your name.” (2:30) This shows that the angels thought that to be worthy of this trust God placed in man, one had to be continually praising God. According to Bukhari, the number of prayers initially decreed on the Prophet’s heavenly journey was fifty. Clearly, if one prayed fifty times in a 24-hour day, one would spend almost all of one’s time in prayer. In order to lessen the burden on people, this number was later reduced by God to five, although fifty remained the ideal.

Prayer is an acknowledgement by God’s servant of the divinity of the Almighty. So many are the aspects of His divinity and so countless the forms in which it is made manifest to man that, even if one lives in a constant state of remembrance of God, one cannot do all of them justice; one is obliged to admit that one’s worship of God can never be commensurate with His blessings. Ideally, man should always be in a worshipful state; he should remain in eternal supplication before his Lord.

Five specific times of prayer have been ordained by a merciful God, Who does not wish to tax us beyond our capacity. Prayer, as the Quran says, is a duty incumbent on the faithful, to be conducted at appointed hours (4:103). Prayer at other times takes no specific form. But whether performed at the appointed hours or at other times, the purpose of prayer is remembrance of God (20:14). Remembrance of God has even been called the highest form of prayer (29:45). If one keeps this reality in mind, the meaning of those verses which enjoin remembrance of God in the various circumstances of life will become clear. Although prayer, in a specific form is obligatory only five times a day, one should, in reality, be praying at all times. One is required to remain in a prayerful state even when engaged in what seem to be purely worldly pursuits. One should be like the “men whom neither trade nor profit can divert from remembering Him.” (24:37).

When the Quran refers to the people of Paradise as having been “in constant prayer” (70:23), prayer is meant in this vast, all-embracing sense. This constant prayer, or remembrance of God, does not consist of the repetition of any set words. True remembrance is expressed by spontaneous utterances, not by fixed formulas. When one becomes aware of higher realities, one becomes immersed in thoughts of God; one’s whole being shares in this divine state. The words which one then addresses to the Lord spontaneously are the stuff of true remembrance. In the words of the Prophet, it seems at that time as if one were grazing in the pastures of paradise: Whoever would like to graze in heaven’s pastures should remember God much (Tabarani).

The Quran has divided prayer into two kinds:

1.   Humble prayer (23:2)

2.   Unmindful prayer (107:5)

The first type of prayer entitles one to paradise, but the second type can only lead to doom:

Woe to those who pray but are unmindful of their prayer
(107:4-5).

On one occasion, when the Prophet was seated in his mosque in Madinah, a man entered, prayed without much concentration, and then came before him. The Prophet told him to go back and pray again, “for you have not prayed.” On another occasion the Prophet said:

The closest man comes to his Lord is in the act of prostration during prayer (Muslim).

The difference between the two kinds of prayer does not relate to outward appearances, or to the performance of certain rituals. It is entirely dependent upon the inner state in which the prayer is performed. Unmindful prayer is simply an empty ritual during which one is not conscious of what one is doing; one goes through the formalities of prayer, but, inwardly, one does not participate in the prayer experience. Anas gives us the Prophet’s description of the hypocrite’s prayer: “He sits and watches the sun go down. Then when it has become pale and yellow (i.e. when the time is almost up), he gets up and prays in the manner of a chicken pecking at the ground. He remembers God but little in his prayer.” (Nasai).

Humble prayer is the prayer of submission, an experience in which one’s whole being shares. Uqbah ibn Amir reports this saying of the Prophet:

One who peforms his ablutions well, and then prays two rakat in which, inwardly and outwardly, he is concentrating fully on his prayer, is assured of paradise (Muslim).

On another occasion, the Prophet said as reported by Usman ibn Affan that whoever performed his ablutions as he had demonstrated, then prayed two rakat without thinking of anything else, would be forgiven all previous sins (Bukhari and Muslim).

One fundamental requirement of prayer is adherence to specific outward forms, which the Quran calls “attending to prayer” (70:34). There are certain actions by means of which one enters the world of prayer. The lifting of the hands at the beginning of the prayer is a sign that one is leaving one’s environment and going to another world. One then becomes lost in the supplications one makes and the praise that one offers to God. One should, in fact, become oblivious of one’s surroundings, just as one would when totally engrossed in some captivating worldly pursuit, for prayer is a meeting between man and God.

The various actions of prayer are stages in that meeting. Finally, the worshipper looks to his right and left and says the words: “Peace be upon you, and the mercy of God.” When he says this, he feels as if he is coming back from another world. He is returning to his old surroundings and greeting those who are there to meet him.

Fiqh (Islamic law) divides prayer into various parts. It makes some things obligatory, some essential, and some voluntary. It emphasizes some things more than others. But, in the world of reality, there is no such division in prayer. Prayer which goes no further than this classification is but the mouthing of a robot; it is not the prayer of a human being, a robot can copy the actions of prayer exactly; ritually, its prayer can come up to any standard laid down by Islamic law. But human prayer is more than just a ritual, for it is full of feeling. It is a spiritual experience that cannot be divided into legal compartments, and cannot be explained in legal terms.

Submission to God in prayer should become a sign of submission in practical life. When the Prophet Shu‘ayb pointed this out to the people of Midian, and urged them to worship God and obey His commandments, they replied: “O Shu‘ayb, did your prayers teach you that we should renounce the gods of our fathers and not conduct our affairs in the manner we pleased?”

In prayer, which “restrains one from indecency and evil” (29:45), one repeatedly bows and prostrates oneself before God. This is a sign that one is ready to accept and act upon God’s commandments. The Quran makes it clear that to succumb to one’s desires is to neglect the true spirit of prayer. The generations who succeeded the early Israelites “neglected their prayers and succumbed to their desires. These shall assuredly be lost” (19:59).

The most sublime state of prayer occurs when remembrance of God has become ingrained in one’s nature. That is when one feels that one is truly drawing nearer to the Almighty. The Quran says, “Prostrate yourself and draw nearer” (96:19).

“Worship your Lord until certainty comes to you” (15:99). Some commentators take this stage of ‘certainty’ mentioned in the Quran to refer to the most sublime state of prayer. But this does not mean that when one reaches this stage, one should stop praying. This feeling of ‘certainty’ only marks the beginning of prayer in its highest form. How can prayer end at that point? It is, in reality, a description of the ultimate state of prayer. Having reached this state does not mean that prayer is subsequently rendered unnecessary.

The true nature of this state of “nearness” and “certainty” cannot be explained in words. When one crosses that threshold, it is as if beholding, with absolute certainty, an unseen reality. Something which was infinitely remote has, it appears, drawn very near. Love wells up inside one for that most awesome of beings.

Prostration is the physical expression of the ultimate state of prayer in which the believer is in the closest proximity to God.

But, seen in its true light, it is a posture which expresses man’s helplessness before his Maker, and his total surrender to Him, the Infinite and Perfect Being. When one places one’s forehead on the ground, it is as if one has formed an indissoluble bond at the psychological level with the Almighty.

What is meant by the constant remembrance of God which true prayer entails? It is not something which can be materially analysed. Remembrance is a reciprocal act, with man at one extreme and God at the other. When one thinks of God, standing and sitting, sleeping and waking (3:191), one merits God’s attention, and that is when He engenders in one the state of true remembrance. He inspires in one the words with which to express this remembrance. In fact, one is constantly receiving spiritual replenishment from the Lord. As Mary said, “God gives without measure to whom He will” (3:37). Clearly, we are dealing here with spiritual experiences which cannot be categorized and listed. Nevertheless, the Quran has described some of the signs of the state of remembrance.

1. The thought of God is so all-pervasive that every event serves to remind one of Him:

In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are signs for men of sense; those that remember God when standing, sitting and lying down, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth saying: ‘Lord, You have not created all this without purpose. (3:191)

2. One is so overwhelmed by the greatness of God that the hairs of one’s body stand on end:

The skins of those who fear their Lord tremble for fear of Him. (39:23)

3. Mention of God fills one with awe:

The true believers are those whose hearts are filled with awe at the mention of God (8:2).

4. One weeps on hearing the word of God:

When they listen to that which was revealed to the Prophet, you will see their eyes fill with tears as they recognize its truth (5:83).

The true believers have always followed the Quranic edict: “Fortify yourselves with patience and prayer” (2:45). Hudhaifa tells how the Prophet, in times of distress, would get up and pray. Likewise, when the great theologian, Ibn Taimiyya, was unable to solve some problems, he would go to some desolate mosque, cast himself before God and pray: “Teacher of Abraham, teach me.” Abdullah ibn Mas‘ud once said: As long as you are praying, you are knocking on the Lord’s door. And whoever knocks on His door will have the door opened to him (Abu Nu‘aim).

For the true believer, prayer is an oasis in the desert of life. When one is blessed with this state of prayer, it becomes the dearest thing one has in life. The Prophet once said:

Prayer is the balm of my eyes (Nasa‘i).

One day the Prophet called on Bilal to deliver the adhan. These were the words that came to the Prophet’s lips:

Bilal, make ready for prayer; and comfort us thereby (Abu Dawud).

The ideal way to pray is not by reciting the entire Quran once, or even twice in the course of the prayer. The most important feature of prayer is one’s pondering over the verses of the Quran as one recites them. One who treats recitation of the Quran as an outpouring of feeling for God, who remembers God as he repeats His words, cannot possibly recite the whole of the Quran once or twice in a day. Only one who mechanically repeats words learnt by heart can do that. Sometimes the Prophet would spend one whole night reciting a single chapter of the Quran. It is related by ‘A’ishah that when the Prophet was told about certain people who recited the whole Quran once or twice in a single night, he replied, “They recite, but they do not really recite at all.” (Ahmad). “I used to stay up the whole night with the Prophet,” ‘A’ishah continues. “He used to read the chapters Al-Baqarah, Al-Imran, and An-Nisa only. When he reached a verse in which there was some warning, he used to seek refuge and invoke God’s protection. When he reached a verse which contained good tidings, he would show eagerness and pray to God.”

ZAKAT

Zakat, in essence, is a form of sacrifice. Its purpose is to fulfil God’s desire for a society in which people are ready to give rather than take; in which people seek opportunities to benefit rather than exploit others; in short, everyone should feel responsible for the welfare of his fellow men. Zakat, designed to create a spirit of social co-operation, makes each individual fully aware of his having duties rather than rights in this world.

The great importance of zakat in the religious system is evident from an exchange which took place between the Prophet and one Bushair ibn Khasasiya. The latter had come to the Prophet to express his readiness to swear allegiance to the true faith. But first he was anxious to know on what conditions he could do so, and what he should have to surrender. When the Prophet specified what he would have to accept on becoming a Muslim, Bushair said that two of the precepts, Zakat and Jihad, would be difficult for him to follow, and requested that he be exempted from them. The Prophet, who had extended his hand to receive Bushair’s pledge of faith withdrew it saying: “O Bushair how can you enter heaven without Zakat and Jihad?”

The apostasy which grew after the Prophet’s death arose out of resistance to the payment of Zakat. The ancient Arabs had very limited economic resources, and many tribes, therefore, wanted zakat to be excluded from Islamic obligations. On the plea that “the man who brought divine grace to the Muslims has left this world.” (Kanzul Ummal, Vol. III, p. 142), these newly converted Muslim tribes made it plain that they no longer felt obliged to obey the economic orders of the Islamic government. But they did not object to anything other than the payment of Zakat. They still called themselves Muslims, and even observed the rituals of prayer and fasting as enjoined in the Quran. Even so, the first caliph said “By God, I will fight those who make a distinction between Salat and Zakat (prayer and almsgiving) because Zakat is wealth to which God has a right.” (Bukhari, Muslim, Ahmad)

There are many verses of the Quran which emphasise that “all wealth is God’s” (24:33) and that all bounties come from God (67:15), (17:20). This being so, had God held all goods and wealth to be His share, He had the right to do so. But He called only one portion His and left the rest to His servants. The Quran says: “Pay the due thereof upon the harvest day.” (6:141)

Canonically, Zakat was enforced in the fifth year after the Hijrah, although in an unspecified form. Having been considered desirable right from the beginning of the Prophet’s mission, it is mentioned even in those verses that were revealed in Makkah.

In the same year a group of Muslims migrated from Makkah to Ethiopia. There, when they introduced Islam in the court of King Najashi, their leader, Jafer bin Abi Talib, laid emphasis on the payment of Zakat: “He (the Prophet) ordered us to worship God, establish Salat as a rite and pay Zakat.”

Chapter 23 of the Quran, entitled ‘The Believers’ begins: “Blessed are the believers who give alms to the destitute,” while chapter 42 gives a warning to the unbelievers: “Woe to those who give no alms.” (41:7)

In the beginning, it was a general commandment. Later, the frequency of payment, the amount and individual items of Zakat were fixed, so that alms had to be collected on behalf of the state like a tax. But since the payment of Zakat is not just tax-payment in the ordinary sense, but is also an act of worship, no upper limit has been set to it. It is, therefore, left to individual’s discretion to how much should be expended on Zakat in order to please God. According to Fatima bint Qays, the Prophet once answered a question about how much should be given as Zakat by saying, “Truly, God’s share in men’s possessions is more than Zakat.” (Tirmizi). The Quran enjoins man to spend whatever is left after providing for his own needs – ‘what you can spare.’ (2:219)

There are two forms of Zakat, or spending for the sake of the Lord: (i) Charity and (ii) what is called the ‘goodly loan.’

Those that give alms, be they men or women, and those that give a generous loan to Allah, shall be repaid twofold. They shall receive a noble recompense. (57:18)

Charity means feeding the hungry (Quran, 74:44) or, in a more general sense, providing for the needy. Giving a ‘goodly loan’ means spending for the cause of God as a measure of support to the faith. The spreading of faith is greatly desired by God. Dedicating one’s life and property to this end is considered to be deserving of great rewards. As this activity is not solely to provide for the material needs of the people, but is also for the sake of God, God has called it making a loan to Himself.

The amount to be given in charity has been fixed in the form of Zakat, but the amount to be given as a ‘goodly loan’ has no upper limits. Whoever wishes to be included in the first rank of God’s servants, i.e. da‘is, must surrender all of his possessions to the Almighty.

‘Allah has purchased from the faithful their lives and worldly goods in return for paradise.’ (9:111) Man is enjoined to give generously for the cause of God. (57:10) Any other course would lead to self destruction.

If Muslims did not strive for the cause of Islam, they would not receive the divine blessing. It is for this reason that spending for the cause of God has been promised a seven hundred fold rewards, nay even more (2:261). For those who spend on the cause of God, such precious blessings lie in store as would completely surpass human knowledge and imagination.

To all appearances, Zakat is a tax, but, in essence, it is a form of worship. This means that even if the government makes its payment compulsory (as in the case of government taxation) the giver cannot properly benefit from it in terms of the reward he will receive in the hereafter, unless he experiences the feelings special to an act of worship when he makes the payments.

1. When the believer expects a good reward from God for his charity, he should be prepared to give away good things.

The Quran states:

O believers, give in alms of the wealth you have lawfully earned and of that which We have brought out of the earth for you; not worthless things which you yourselves would only reluctantly accept. (2:267)

Aishah once intended to give stale meat in charity. Then the Prophet said: “You are giving in charity what you yourself cannot eat.” (Musnad Ahmad)

2. Whatever is given should be given with fear in one’s heart. Believers should “give alms with hearts filled with awe, knowing that they will return to their Lord.” (23:60).

“Although they hold it dear, they give sustenance to the poor man, the orphan and the captive, (saying): ‘We feed you for God’s sake only; we seek of you neither recompense nor thanks: for we fear from our Lord a day of anguish and woe.” (76:9-10)

3. Whoever is given charity should not be reminded of it, nor should anything be said to hurt his self respect. “Those who give their wealth for the cause of God and do not follow their almsgiving with taunts and insults shall be rewarded by their Lord.” (2:262)
4. Givers should not consider their donations either a financial loss or a burden. They should “give away their wealth from a desire to please God and to strengthen their own souls.” (2:264)
5. According to the Quran it is better to give alms to the poor in private rather than in public. The Prophet’s companions, therefore, took special care to keep their almsgiving secret. There is the story of Abdur Rahman bin Sabit Jamhi who, when he received his stipend, would buy essential food for his family and give away the rest of his money in alms. If his wife asked him about the remainder of his earnings, he would reply that he had lent it to someone. Such actions often created many delicate situations in the household. How the Sahaba (followers of the Prophet) dealt with such situations is illustrated by the following incident.

Hassan bin Atiya narrates that when Caliph Umar dispatched Saeed bin Amir to Syria as governor, the latter set out with his wife, a bright-faced Quraysh girl. But he was very soon in dire need of money. When Umar heard of this, he sent him one thousand dinars. Saeed brought the money home to his wife and said that Umar has sent it for them. His wife suggested that he had better store food and other necessities with that money. He offered a better suggestion, that they entrust the money to someone who should bring it to them when they were in great need, that is, in the Hereafter. (Abu Nuaim, Hilyatul Auliya, Vol. 1, p. 244)

The narrator goes on to say that Saeed then quietly gave away all the money in charity. When the wife came to know of this, she started crying, and the family was faced with the kind of delicate situation which arises on such occasions. Saeed tried to make her understand with great difficulty. Finally the wife agreed with him.

Abu Dhar Ghefari had sage observations to make on the importance of almsgiving.

There are three partakers of wealth. First there is fate, which will not consult you before taking all your possessions away from you, whether this be good or bad, or whether this ruins or kills you. Second, there is the heir who while waiting for your burial, so that he may take possession of your wealth, regards you as expendable. The third is you yourself, and if you do not wish to prove the weakest of the three, you must give to charity, because God has said that, “you shall never be truly righteous until you give away what is dearest to you.” (3:92). (Hilyatul Auliya, Vol. I, p. 163)

According to Anas, once, when Aisha was at home in Madinah, she heard a commotion and was told, on enquiry, that it was the caravan of Abdur Rahman ibn Auf which was returning from Syria with seven hundred camels laden with merchandise. Aisha said that on this occasion she heard the Prophet remark: “I see Abdur Rahman entering heaven on his knees.” When Abdur Rahman bin Auf heard this, he said, “If I can, I shall walk into heaven.” Having said this, he gave away all the animals and all the goods for the sake of his Lord.

Abdur Rahman bin Sabit Jumahi reported the Prophet as saying: “When God gathers the people together to be held to account on the Day of Judgement, the poor believers will come hopping like pigeons. They will be asked to stay to give an account of themselves. They will say, ‘We have no accounts to give, neither did you give us any. Then God will say, ‘My servants have spoken the truth.’ Then the gates of paradise will be opened for them, and they will enter heaven seventy years ahead of the others.”

PILGRIMAGE-HAJJ

Hajj in essence is sacrifice. The journey undertaken to perform the pilgrimage means a sacrifice of time and money, and the animal offered to God symbolizes the sacrifice of life. The rites of Sa‘i (movement between the two hillocks) and Tawaf (circumambulating the Kabah) means that the pilgrim diverts his attention from all worldly matters in order to devote himself to the one and only God.

What is that divine mission in the course of which the believer must offer all these sacrifices? It is, in effect, to proclaim the glory of God on earth: “And when you have fulfilled your sacred duties, remember God as you remembered your forefathers or with deeper reverence” (2:200).

The Prophet said: “The acts of Rami Jamar (throwing of stones at the devil) and the walking between the hills of Safa and Marwa are for the proclamation of God’s name” (Mishkat, Kitab Al-Manasik).

The message of Hajj has been handed down from generation to generation through the repeated re-enactment of the life history of the greatest missionary, the Prophet Abraham (c. 1985-2160 BC) who dedicated his entire life to perform the role of a da‘i. The full extent of Abraham’s dedication was demonstrated by his readiness to sacrifice even his own son for God. But God was satisfied that Abraham, by showing his willingness to perform the sacrifice, had passed the test of loyalty to his Creator. God, therefore “ransomed his son with a noble sacrifice and bestowed on him the praise of later generations” (37:107-8). Every rite of Hajj reminds us of the life of this great da‘i.

The pilgrim (Haji) symbolically ‘relives’ certain historic events in the life of Abraham, whose entire existence was dedicated to dawah (the call to religion). He makes a pledge to God that he will similarly dedicate his life to the propagation of the Truth, irrespective of the circumstances, and even when it entails passing through all the stages of Abraham’s ordeals in this mission.

The Prophet was once asked who a Haji was. He replied: “One who has disheveled and smelling hair.” Asked which Hajj was the best, the Prophet replied: “The one in which a person is covered with dust and bleeds” (Mishkat, Kitab al-Manasik).

That is to say that the disordered life and the frantic acts of Hajj are not mere soulless rituals unrelated to the real life of men. The pilgrim, in fact, leads an extremely dedicated life, and is the picture of purposefulness with his expression of the determination to go to the extent even of sacrificing his life for a religious purpose.

During the acts and rites of Hajj, it is as if the servant of God has given himself up to his Lord to the ultimate extent. The undertaking of the journey entails the sacrifice of time and money; the wearing of ihram is the symbol of having renounced everything but his barest needs; tawaf and sa‘i portrays total surrender to the Lord of the Kabah; rami jamar is a demonstration of the fact that far from adopting an attitude of compromise or cooperation with the devils, he will put up a stiff resistance to them; the animal sacrifice is a pledge of self-sacrifice to God; staying out on the open plain of Arafat is symbolic of the assembly, on Doomsday, of all men in the presence of God. Thus the various practices of Hajj aim at giving men the lesson of surrendering before God, fearing God, and awareness of the Day of Judgement. A strong love of God is thus developed, which leads the believer to fulfil like one possessed the Lord’s commandments.

The four pillars of Islamic worship are the source of developing, from four different sides, the one common state in which man is totally attached to his God and considers fulfilling His will to be the only purpose in life. Fasting aims at achieving this state within the framework of physical needs. Salat achieves this through bodily movements. Zakat achieves this purpose through monetary expenditure and the same desired aim is achieved in Hajj by the pilgrim symbolically reenacting the history of the Prophet Abraham.

Hajj as an act of worship dates back to the time of Abraham. He was born in Ur, a city in ancient Iraq, where his father was the Chief of the Idol House. Abraham, believing in the only God, broke the idols, criticised his father, proclaimed the Truth to the King and warned the people against their waywardness. These acts turned everyone against him. Consequently, he had to leave his hearth and home. He left his motherland along with his wife, Sarah, and his nephew, Lot. He did not renounce the propagation of faith. Instead, the work of propagation, which was originally confined to Ur, was now organised on an international scale. He sent his nephew, Lot, as a preacher to the area of Sodom, which is now known as eastern Jordan. He established his younger son, Isaac, for this same purpose in Canaan, now known as Palestine. The elder son, Ishmael, was appointed to Makkah in Hejaz, where he founded a centre for Islam, the House of God, in Makkah. Abraham, after settling his son in that barren land, prayed to God to send to the descendants of his son Ishmael a prophet who “shall declare to them His revelations and instruct them in the Book.” (2:129). It was in answer to this prayer of Abraham that the last Prophet was born to the Ishmaelite branch of his family.

The Prophet Abraham lived for 175 years. His life of preaching from Ur to Makkah extends over a century. The various stages that Abraham passed through during his preaching life are symbolically repeated over a short period during the Hajj. Arriving at the centre of Islam after undertaking a journey, circumambulation of the House of God, running between Safa and Marwah, setting out for Mina, staying at the plain of ‘Arafat, passing the night at Muzadalfa, casting stones at the devil in Jamarat, sacrificing an animal in Mina—all these are symbolic of the historic stages in the preaching life of Abraham, which we all repeat as a matter of religious training. God has made it obligatory upon Muslims of all ages to renew their pledge to propagate the Truth by re-living these occasions. The Prophet Muhammad, on whom be peace, said, “Stay at your mashair (place of stay during Hajj) for you are the inheritor of what your patriarch, Abraham, has passed on to you” (Mishkat, Kitab al-Manasik).

According to the Quran, when Abraham had passed all the tests set by God and remained committed to the mission of Truth in every circumstance, God accorded to him a position that in His Omniscience He had pre-ordained:

“When Abraham was tried by His Lord with certain commands, which he fulfilled, He said: ‘I will make thee an Imam (leader in religion) to the people’” (2:124).

The conferring of this imamat upon Abraham was not to invest in him political power but rather to place him in a position which would enable him to continue to pass on the message of God to the people. At one place, referring to Abraham, Lot, Isaac, and Jacob (peace be upon them), the Quran says:

We ordained them leaders to guide at Our behest, and We inspired in them the doing of good deeds (21:73).

This religious leadership, that is, prophethood, was thenceforward continued through Abraham’s descendants. In the beginning, the prophets came from among the offspring of Isaac to inform people of God’s will. The last prophet of this line was Jesus. After that Muhammad (570-632), from the family of Ismael, son of Abraham, was ordained Prophet. This chain of prophethood ended with him, and the faith, in a fully preserved form, was entrusted to the followers of Muhammad. Thus the Ummah of Muhammad was made responsible for continuing to inform people of God’s will till the Last Day (22:78).

The gist of the divine scriptures given to Abraham was that no soul shall bear another’s burden and that each man shall be judged by his own labours; that his labours shall be scrutinized and that he shall be justly requited for them; that all things shall in the end return to Allah (53:38-42).

In the eyes of God this is the greatest concern of mankind. All the prophets were, therefore, obliged to take a pledge that they would inform man of this Truth at all costs:

“And remember We made a covenant with you as We did with the other prophets; with Noah and Abraham, with Moses and Jesus, the son of Mary. A solemn covenant We made with them, so that Allah might question the truthful about their truthfulness. But for the unbelievers He has prepared a grievous chastisement.” (33:7-8)

The last Prophet was ordained for this very purpose in fulfilment of Abraham’s prayer (2:129). He was given the Arabic Quran and was entrusted with the task of conveying the message of God to the Makkans and to the inhabitants of other Arab lands surrounding Makkah:

Thus We have revealed to you an Arabic Quran, that you may warn the Mother City and those who dwell all around it; that you may forewarn them of the Day of Gathering which is sure to come: when some will be in Paradise, and some in Hell (42:7-8).

The people of Arabia were directly given the Quran in their own language and other people who joined them in faith were indirect recipients. The Quran says:

It is He who has raised among the unlettered people a messenger from among themselves who recites His revelations to them, and purifies them, and teaches them the Book and wisdom, for they had formerly been clearly misguided—and to others also, from among them, who have not yet joined them. He is the Mighty, the Wise One. That is God’s grace; He bestows it on whom He pleases; for God is limitless in His grace. (62:2-4).

A part of the prayer of Abraham, which he made at the time of the Kabah’s construction was “to make this place the centre of the worshippers” (14:37). During Abraham’s own time, therefore, it had been decreed as a matter of Divine Will that Makkah should be the centre of annual worship (22:27). Ibn-e-Kathir writes in his commentary on this verse of the Quran that when the House of God was constructed, God asked Abraham to announce to the people that God had appointed a centre for them to which they should flock. The aim of gathering at this centre was the same as that of every prophet, and it is this same aim which is the very raison d’etre of the Ummah of Muhammad, that is, taking God’s message to the people of the world:

“The first House ever to be built (as sanctuary) for men was that at Bakkah (Makkah), a blessed place, a beacon for the nations” (3:96).

To this end, the Kabah was made the centre for the gathering of all Muslims:

“We made the House (Kabah) a resort and a sanctuary for mankind. Saying: ‘Make the place where Abraham stood a house of worship” (2:125).

It is this central position of the Kabah which has been described in the Quran as Qiyaman Linnas, a means of support (5:97). This is fundamental to Makkah being the international meeting place of Muslims. It has been thus appointed so that Muslims from all over the world may gather there, worship their God and a universal campaign to convey the message of God be organised. That is the real status of the House of God. The other things are thus subservient to this main object.

People, therefore, have been enjoined by God to return from Hajj with the feeling of celebrating God’s glory, a feeling very different from that of describing the glory of their ancestors, which had been their practice prior to Islam.

Those who consider Hajj only a ‘pilgrimage’ and who regard the increasing number of pilgrims as a matter of prestige should pay heed to what Abdullah bin Abbas had to say about this (as recorded by Abu Nu‘aym):

“I love to look after the members of a Muslim household for a month, or a week, or so long as God wills, more than I love to perform one Hajj after another.” (Hilyatul Auliya, Vol. 1).

To ensure the continuity of the actual purpose of this work (of propagating the message of God) this world Muslim centre has been made a protected place. It was ordered that the House would be only for those who promised faith in God.

“We covenanted with Ibrahim and Ismail that they should sanctify My House for those who walk round it, or use it as a retreat, and who kneel and prostrate themselves (therein in prayer).” (2:125)

For the material needs of the community, Abraham prayed to God: ‘Lord,’ said Abraham, ‘make this a land of peace and bestow upon its people an abundance of the earth’s fruits.’ (2:126) God answered this prayer, and this city has remained prosperous for four and half thousand years in spite of the surrounding land being unsuited to agriculture. The modern Arab wealth deriving from oil proves that the Master of the Universe has also arranged in fulfilment of Abraham’s prayer that even in the industrial age this area may obtain, from its “own resources” not only abundant provision for local needs but also pay the cost of fulfilling propagational requirements, i.e. bear the expenses of performing Dawah work of the highest standard. Geologists regard Arabian oil reserves as an accident of geography, one third of the world’s oil resources being stored beneath the area now known as the Middle East. But, in actual fact, this is the outcome of the prayer of Abraham—the prayer in which he had requested God to provide for the inhabitants of that land the fruits of the earth, so that they did not depend on others and might have the means and resources to carry out, in every age, the responsibilities laid upon them by God.

When God bestowed upon Abraham religious leadership, and declared the House constructed by him as ‘guidance to the world’ and the ‘centre for mankind,’ He ordered Abraham to announce to the world that the faithful should come to this centre from all over the world, be present there for their spiritual good (22:28) and worship their God. Moreover, all the faithful should gather once in the year at this central House of God, give thought to their religious duties and return to their homelands, prepared and determined to revive the mission of Abraham.

The worship during Hajj is a means whereby believers may draw close to God and avail of His succour. The real purpose of Hajj is that the Muslims of the world should gather at one place to look after their spiritual good and to take stock of their pledge and thus prepare themselves to follow this path with renewed interest. The Prophet Muhammad, who had come to revive the people of Abraham, not only set right the perversions that had crept into the rites of Hajj, but also made it into a religious pivot from where he could announce matters of special religious import and explain duties of a religious order. It was during Hajj that the acceptance or cancellation of national agreements were announced; it was on the occasion of Hajj that the Prophet took the last testimony from his people when he asked them after his Khutba (sermon): ‘Have I conveyed it (i.e. the truth) to you?’ The people replied, ‘Yes, O Prophet of God!’

The Prophet has been reported as saying: Religion will take refuge in Hejaz (Makkah and Madinah) just as the snake returns to the snake hole (Mishkat).

The Quran says that the Israelites were exalted above the nations (2:47). Similarly, the people of Muhammad are called the “best nation,” the Quran says: You are the best nation that has ever been raised up for mankind.’ (3:110)

Before the Ismaelites the Israelites were chosen to inform people of the truth. “The particular duty of the Israelites was to call people to the Oneness of God and to carry on a crusade against the sun, moon, and star worship of the heathens.” (Jewish Encyclopaedia, VI, pp. 3-5).

When the Israelites were entrusted with this responsibility in the time of Moses (c. 152-1400 B.C.) God also made special provision for them in the form of mann wa salwa (manna and quails), which they received in abundance at their halting places. They were enjoined to fulfil their needs by means of this special arrangement and to spend their time working as hard as they could for the divine mission. But they failed to understand the wisdom behind this arrangement. They started recalling the comforts of city life, and craved delicious foods, etc. They began to prefer a low to a high spiritual condition. At last they were deposed from their place of eminence, for their attitude was, in the eyes of God, synonymous with the rejection of divine signs. (Quran 2:61)

The oil wealth of the Arab world was given to it for exactly the same purpose as the manna and quails were given to the Israelites, i.e. for ‘bearing witness to the religion of God.’ The wealth deriving from oil is meant to ensure the maintenance of the highest standards in the conveying of God’s message on a universal scale.

The establishment of the Kabah in the Arab world means that this place has been made a permanent centre of invitation to Islam. On the one hand, it has a historical appeal, so that people from all over the world flock to it every year; on the other hand, it has been regarded as the sanctum sanctorum and a place of safety, i.e. it has been so arranged that this area always remains under Muslim jurisdiction; no outsiders will ever be able to have political or administrative control over it. Besides the first two arrangements, amazingly indeed, a third arrangement has been made to lay the economic foundation of this territory on very firm ground, so that the people of this area are never dependent upon others for their material needs and so that they may never have to stint upon the proclamation and exercise of their Dawah duty.