The Five Pillars of Islam

The Five Pillars of Islam There are five pillars of Islam. These are the foundation of what holds the principles of all of the beliefs of the Muslim religion. Just a pillar would hold up a building in Rome so the five pillars hold up or mold the principles of Islam. A Muslim who fulfills the Five Pillars of Islam and remains in the faith of Islam, sincerely repents of his sins, will make it to Jannah or paradise. If he performs the Five Pillars but does not remain in the faith, he will not be saved. The first pillar of Islam is Shahada which is the Islamic affirmation that "There is no true God except Allah and Muhammad is the true messenger of Allah." This is the confession that Allah is the one and only true God, that Allah alone is worthy of worship, and that Allah alone is the sovereign lord who basically does whatever he wants to do. This means that all his rules and laws that are found in the Koran are to be followed. All other belief systems including the Christian doctrine with God as a trinity is false, as are all other belief systems including pantheism. Muhammad is the true and greatest prophet of Allah, and recognition of Muhammad as the Prophet of God is required. It was through Muhammad that Allah conveyed the last and final revelation. The second pillar is of ritual prayer or Salat which is what they call it. Prayer would involve confession of sins, which would begin with purification of the body and end with purification of the soul. Prayer is done five times a day and there is a call to prayer in the highest part of the Muslim city. Then one must pray facing Mecca on the prayer rug. The first prayer is at dawn with the last one at sunset. The names of the prayers are Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha. The Maghrib prayer is the sunset prayer. Isha is the prayer that is said after sunset. There is also a prayer that is said right after Fajr known as Shurooq. A Muslim will carry a compass on them with them also so no matter where they are