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The Five Pillars Of Islam (Part 1)

Hadrat [1] Imam-i Rabbani says in the 17th letter of the third volume of his Maktubat:

After correcting our belief, it is necessary to do the things which the Shari'at [2] commands. Rasulullah 'sall-Allahu alaihi wa sallam' declared: "The building of Islam has been constructed upon five pillars.

The first of them is to say, "Ash-hadu an la ilaha illallah wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluh' and to believe in its meaning. " The meaning of this word of Shahadat (testimony) is: "I know and believe as if I saw that there is no god, nobody besides Allahu ta'ala, whose existence is necessary and who is worth worshipping and obeying. I know and believe as if I saw that Muhammad (alayhissalam) is both a born servant and the Prophet of Allahu ta'ala. He having been sent, the religions of the prophets preceding him have been completed and their validity has been abrogated. Attaining endless bliss necessitates following him. Each of his utterances has been communicated to him by Allahu ta'ala. All of them are correct. There is no likelihood for any mistake. " [A person who wants to become a Muslim first expresses this word of Shahadat and its meaning. Then he learns how to perform a ghusl [3] and salat, and then the fards (obligation) and harams (prohibitions) to the extent that is needed.]

The second pillar of Islam is to perform salat five times each day, which is a basic pillar of the religion. Salat is the highest of worships. The most valuable worship after iman (belief) is salat. Like iman, its beauty also is of itself. But the beauty of other worships are not of themselves. We should be very careful to perform salat correctly. First, we should perform a perfect wudu (ablution), and then we should begin salat without showing any indolence. We should try to perform it in the best manner in the qiraat (standing and reciting the Qur'an when performing salat), in ruku' (bowing by putting the hands on the knees, in sajdas (prostrating twice), in qawma (standing upright and motionless after ruku') and in jalsa, (sitting upright and motionless for a moment between the two sajdas) and in its other places. We should know that tumaninat is necessary, which means to keep each of our limbs motionless during ruku', sajda, qawma and jalsa. We should perform salat at the beginning of its time and avoid slackness.


[2] Shari'at: (pl. of Shari'a) i) rules and commandments as a whole of the religion. ii) religion.
[3] ghusl: ablution of the whole body as defined in fiqh.