Believers and non-belivers, know that the foundation of Islam is based upon five matters:
(1) Professing and believing no one is God except Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah;
(2) Prayer;
(3) Zakah;
(4) Fasting;
(5) Hajj.
The belief in the truth of Islam is the same despite the color of the skin, whether one is a man or a woman, how much wealth one might or might not have accumulated, where one lives, and who one’s family and/or friends are.
Prayer, five times each day, is required by all Muslim mukallaf (Mukallaf in this context means sane and pubescent.).
Fasting during the month of Ramadan is an obligation on all Muslims who have reached puberty and who are physically able to fast. This helps the Muslim to feel what the poor feel, and in this way one remembers to care for those less fortunate than oneself. Fasting also disciplines the Muslim and brings Muslims together–uniting them by a common, shared experience.
The Hajj, pilgrimage as defined by Islam, is the journey to the Ka^bah to perform, at a specific period of the year, certain actions in Makkah and its vicinity. It is required at least once during the lifetime of each Muslim mukallaf if he is able. During Hajj, all Muslims leave their worldly possessions and perform the same religious obligations in the same way as those Muslims with them and those Muslims who performed Hajj before them.
Zakah is paying a certain portion of one’s money (Money in this context includes property, possessions, and wealth.) to specific types of people with certain conditions. This provides for the poor Muslims and those whose needs are not being met within the Muslim community.
Islam also requires a Muslim to be humble and to care about and to respect one’s brother and sister Muslim. It is not acceptable Islamic behavior to talk about other Muslims or to cause problems amongst them.
Learning the Obligatory Knowledge of the Religion puts the Muslim on the road for excellence and self-betterment. With knowledge, the Muslim differentiates between what is lawful and what is not, and what is an acceptable, valid worship and what is not. What differentiates one Muslim from another is the amount of Islamic knowledge one attains and applies within one’s own life. “The Essentials of Belief” is an insight into the Religion of Islam. Believing and uttering ‘No one is God except Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah’ is the most important thing any person can do and it is a condition for the acceptance of the good deeds. The one who becomes Muslim and stays Muslim will have the enjoyment of Paradise without end in the Hereafter and the one who rejects Islam will suffer the torture of Hellfire without end in the Hereafter. It is certain that death will come to all of us. The one who is prepared for the Day of Judgment is the one who knows, accepts, and applies the essentials of belief, and implements the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, in all sincerity to Allah, the Exalted.
The truth of Islam must be accepted and the Obligatory Knowledge of Islam must be acquired and taken if it is from reliable, trustworthy, Islamic sources–regardless of whether the teacher is young or old, male or female, rich or poor, black or white, Arab or American or African or Indian or Chinese or Spanish or of any other origin.
Allah knows best.
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Ahmad/Islamic Studies