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The Five Pillars of Islam consist of the following:
- Shahadah - Testimony of Faith
- Salah - Daily Ritual Prayers
- Sawm - Fasting the month of Ramadhan
- Zakah - Alms tax for the poor
- Hajj - Pilgrimage to Mecca
-Shahadah
The first pillar of Islam is to believe and declare
the faith by saying the Shahadah (lit. 'witness'),
known as the Kalimah.
La ilaha ila Allah; Muhammadur-rasul Allah.
There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger
of Allah.
-Salah
Prayer (Salah), in the sense of worship, is the
second pillar of Islam. Prayer is obligatory and
must be performed five times a day. These five
times are dawn (Fajr), immediately after noon
(Dhuhr), mid-afternoon ('Asr), sunset (Maghrib),
and early night (Isha').
-Sawm
The fourth pillar of Islam is fasting. Allah
prescribes daily fasting for all able, adult Muslims
during the whole of the month of Ramadan, the
ninth month of the lunar calendar, beginning with
the sighting of the new moon.
-Zakah
The third pillar of Islam is the alms-tax (Zakah).
The word in Arabic implies "purification"
and it is understood to mean that a person "purifies"
his holdings of wealth from greed and stinginess.
-Hajj
The fifth pillar of Islam is to make a pilgrimage
(Hajj) to Makkah, in Saudi Arabia, at least once
in one's lifetime. This pillar is obligatory for
every Muslim, male or female, provided that he/she
is physically and financially able to do so.
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