Five Pillars of Islam

(noun)

Five basic acts in Islam, considered mandatory by believers and are the foundation of Muslim life.

Related Terms

Examples of Five Pillars of Islam in the following topics:

  • The Quran

    • Muhammad received revelations from 609-632 CE, and they became the basis for the Quran, the central religious text of Islam.
    • An adherent of Islam is called a Muslim.
    • Religious concepts and practices include the Five Pillars of Islam and following Islamic law, which touches on virtually every aspect of life and society, from banking and welfare to the status of women and the environment.
    • The Five Pillars of Islam are five basic acts in Islam; they are considered mandatory by believers and are the foundation of Muslim life.
    • The Five Pillars are:

  • Islamic Art

    • Islam is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion articulated by the Qur'an, a book considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God (Allah) and the teachings of Muhammad, who is considered to be the last prophet of God.
    • An adherent of Islam is called a Muslim.
    • Religious concepts and practices include the five pillars of Islam, which are basic concepts and obligatory acts of worship, and following Islamic law, which touches on virtually every aspect of life and society.
    • The five pillars include:
    • Because figural representations are generally considered to be forbidden in Islam, the word takes on religious meaning in art as seen in the tradition of calligraphic inscriptions.

  • Sacred Ceremonies and Pilgrimages

    • For example, the Holy Land acts as a focal point for the pilgrimages of the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
    • While many religions retain pilgrimage sites specific to their spiritualities, for this chapter we will focus on the pilgrimage sites of Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
    • The pilgrimage to Mecca (the Hajj) is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, and is the most important of all Muslim pilgrimages.
    • Another important place for Muslims is the city of Medina in Saudi Arabia - the second holiest place in Islam - where Muhammad rests in Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (the Mosque of the Prophet).
    • Kedarnath, one of the Himalayan towns of Badrinath, is part of the sacred Hindu pilgrimage circuit of Char Dham.

  • Songhai

    • Yet he was tolerant of other religions and did not force Islam on his people.Like Mansa Musa, Askia also completed one of the five Pillars of Islam by taking a hajj to Mecca, and, also like the former, went with an overwhelming amount of gold.
    • Islam was so important to him that, upon his return, he recruited Muslim scholars from Egypt and Morocco to teach at the Sankore Mosque in Timbuktu as well as setting up many other learning centers throughout his empire.
    • Even after subduing them he did not force them to convert to Islam.
    • His army consisted of war canoes, expert cavalry, protective armor, iron tipped weapons, and an organized militia.Not only was he a patron of Islam, he also was gifted in administration and encouraging trade.
    • During his reign Islam became more widely entrenched, trans-Saharan trade flourished, and the Saharan salt mines of Taghaza were brought within the boundaries of the empire.

  • Jain Architecture

    • Many of the styles they used were a function of the time and place rather than the particular religion.
    • The rise in Islam contributed to the decline of Jain art but did not result in its total elimination.
    • Built under Chalukya rule in Rajasthan between the 11th and 13th centuries CE, the Dilwara Temple complex consists of five ornately carved marble temples, each dedicated to a different Tirthankara.
    • Among its most remarkable features are the rang manda, a grand hall supported by 12 pillars and surmounted by a breathtaking central dome, and the navchowki, a collection of nine rectangular ceilings, also richly carved.
    • The pillars in the main hall are carved into the likenesses of women playing musical instruments and the 16 vidyadevis, or goddesses of knowledge; each holds a symbol representing her individual branch of learning.

  • Muhammad's Successors

    • They believe God chose Ali to be Muhammad's successor and the first caliph of Islam.
    • After Muhammad's death, many Arabian tribes rejected Islam or withheld the alms tax established by Muhammad.
    • Muslim armies conquered most of Arabia by 633, followed by north Africa, Mesopotamia, and Persia, significantly shaping the history of the world through the spread of Islam.
    • Ali's tumultuous rule lasted only five years.
    • The followers of Ali later became the Shi'a minority sect of Islam, which rejects the legitimacy of the first three caliphs.

  • World Religions and Religious History

    • If one were to ask any sociologist of religion which are the world religions, they would likely give the standard answer that there are five world religions:
    • A detailed description of these religions is beyond the scope of this chapter.
    • The classification of these groups as world religions is, like all classifications, artificial.
    • Considering the remarkable dissimilarity between these five religious bodies, that they are grouped together at all is remarkable.
    • Finally, while four of these religious groups are very populous, Judaism is not.

  • Religion

    • Symbols representing some world religions, from left to right: row 1: Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism row 2: Islam, Buddhism, Shinto row 3: Sikhism, Bahá'í Faith, Jainism
    • The members of your audience could be followers of any of those religions.
    • The five largest religious groups by population, estimated to account for between 5 and 7 billion people, are Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Chinese folk religion.
    • The terms "atheist" (lack of belief in any gods) and "agnostic" (belief in the unknowability of the existence of gods), though specifically contrary to theistic (e.g.
    • Of course, you not required to accept or embrace other religions but simply to be aware of and sensitive to them.

  • The Java Culture

    • These include Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam, and Christianity, all of which are strong in the major trading cities.
    • The paragon of religious monuments are the Hindu temple of Prambanan and the Buddhist temple of Borobudur, both of which were built in the 9th century and located near city of Yogyakarta.
    • Traditional Javanese buildings can be identified by their trapezoidal rooves supported by wooden pillars.
    • Another common feature in Javanese buildings is the pendopo, a pavilion with open sides and four large pillars.
    • The pillars and other parts of the buildings are often richly carved.

  • Flight from Mecca to Medina

    • During the first three years of his ministry, Muhammad preached Islam privately, mainly among his near relatives and close acquaintances.
    • There were three main groups of early converts to Islam: younger brothers and sons of great merchants; people who had fallen out of the first rank in their tribe or failed to attain it; and the weak, mostly unprotected foreigners.
    • Sumayyah bint Khabbab, a slave of the prominent Meccan leader Abu Jahl, is famous as the first martyr of Islam; her master killed her with a spear when she refused to give up her faith.
    • Converts to Islam came from nearly all Arab tribes in Medina; by June of the subsequent year, seventy-five Muslims came to Mecca for pilgrimage and to meet Muhammad.
    • This was followed by the general acceptance of Islam by the pagan population of Medina, with some exceptions.