The Islam Compass

The Five Pillars

What Islam asks a Muslim to do.

Islam

The framework comes from a single well-known narration.

“Islam is built upon five: the testimony that there is no deity except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, establishing the prayer, giving the zakah, the pilgrimage, and fasting Ramadan.”

Sahih al-Bukhari · 8 (also Sahih Muslim 16)

The five

  1. 0101 — Shahada · The testimony of faith

    Ash-hadu an lā ilāha illā Allāh, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan rasūlu Allāh: I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. To say it sincerely is to accept that worship is owed to God alone, and that the guidance brought by Muhammad ﷺ is from Him — which is also what makes a person a Muslim.

    • SunnahSahih al-Bukhari 8; Sahih Muslim 16 — "Islam is built upon five"
    • Qur'anQur'an 47:19

  2. 0202 — Salah · Prayer

    Five prayers each day, at fixed times from before dawn to night, facing the Kaaba in Makkah. They are short, physical and regular: standing, bowing, and placing the forehead on the ground. "Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times." (Qur'an 4:103)

    • Qur'anQur'an 4:103
    • SunnahSahih al-Bukhari 8; Sahih Muslim 16 — "Islam is built upon five"

  3. 0303 — Zakah · Obligatory charity

    An annual due on accumulated wealth above a threshold, paid to categories of recipients named in the Qur'an — the poor, the needy, the indebted and others. It is treated as a right the poor hold over the wealthy, not as a donation. (Qur'an 9:60)

  4. 0404 — Sawm · Fasting Ramadan

    During the lunar month of Ramadan, Muslims abstain from food, drink and intimacy from dawn until sunset. The stated purpose is taqwā — God-consciousness. "O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you, that you may become righteous." (Qur'an 2:183)

  5. 0505 — Hajj · Pilgrimage to Makkah

    Once in a lifetime, for those physically and financially able. "And [due] to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House — for whoever is able to find thereto a way." (Qur'an 3:97) Millions perform the same rites, in the same two unsewn white garments, in the same days.

Sources & References

6 cited

Religious content here follows the Qur'an, the authentic Sunnah, and the established scholarship of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah. Qur'an citations link to the verse; hadith carry collection and number; Tafsir and historical claims name the work. Where something could not be verified, it is not published.

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