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genuinely reciting the Muslim profession of faith

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performing the correct praying rituals five times per day

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paying charity tax (or an alms) to help the poor or needy

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to fast during the month of Ramadan

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traveling to Mecca

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"There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger."

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All you do to become Muslim is recite this three times in front of a crowd.

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Salat al-fajr: dawn, before sunrise

Salat al-zuhr: midday, after the sun passes its highest

Salat al-'asr: the late part of the afternoon or evening

Salat al-maghrib: just after sunset

Salat al-'isha: between sunset and midnight

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They cannot:

drink

eat

bathe

smoke

alcohol

do anything that involves violence

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to learn to obey Allah

to learn self-discipline

to free themselves from being greedy

to behave honestly

to acknowledge that Allah protects them

many other reasons

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Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar.

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They learn to obey Allah, become spiritually stronger, helps appreciate Allah's gifts to them, and realize how good their lives truly are--learning to be grateful.

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Once per year, all Muslims--and that means all of them--travel in a group together to go to Mecca.

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Together, they praise Allah. They do this to show that everyone is equal in the eyes of Allah.

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They all wear just simple white clothes called Ihram. They wear this to show that they are clean.

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An article about the basic statement of faith encapsulates the most important Muslim beliefs.

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Salat

Salat is the obligatory Muslim prayers, performed five times each day by Muslims. It is the second Pillar of Islam.

God ordered Muslims to pray at five set times of day:

Salat al-fajr: dawn, before sunrise

Salat al-zuhr: midday, after the sun passes its highest

Salat al-'asr: the late part of the afternoon

Salat al-maghrib: just after sunset

Salat al-'isha: between sunset and midnight

All Muslims try to do this. Muslim children as young as seven are encouraged to pray.

Prayer sets the rhythm of the day

This prayer timetable gives Muslims the pattern of their day.

In Islamic countries, the public call to prayer from the mosques sets the rhythm of the day for the entire population, including non-Muslims.

A universal Muslim ritual

The prayer ritual, which is over 1400 years old, is repeated five times a day by hundreds of millions of people all round the world.

Carrying it out is not only highly spiritual, but connects each Muslim to all others around the world, and to all those who have uttered the same words and made the same movements at different times in Islamic history.

Prayers of body, mind and soul

The set prayers are not just phrases to be spoken.

Prayer for a Muslim involves uniting mind, soul, and body in worship; so a Muslim carrying out these prayers will perform a whole series of set movements that go with the words of the prayer.

Muslims make sure that they are in the right frame of mind before they pray; they put aside all everyday cares and thoughts so that they can concentrate exclusively on God.

If a Muslim prays without the right attitude of mind, it as if they hadn't bothered to pray at all.

Muslims don't pray for God's benefit

Muslims do not pray for the benefit of Allah.

Allah does not need human prayers because he has no needs at all.

Muslims pray because God has told them that they are to do this, and because they believe that they obtain great benefit in doing so.

Muslims pray direct to God

A Muslim prays as if standing in the presence of Allah.

In the ritual prayers each individual Muslim is in direct contact with Allah. There is no need of a priest as an intermediary. (While there is a prayer leader in the mosque - the imam - they are not a priest, simply a person who knows a great deal about Islam.)

Praying in the mosque

Muslims can pray anywhere, but it is especially good to pray with others in a mosque.

Praying together in a congregation helps Muslims to realise that all humanity is one, and all are equal in the sight of Allah.

Ritual washing

Muslims must be clean before they pray. They make sure of this by performing ritual washing, called wudhu. Mosques have washing facilities.

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This article is about Salat, the obligatory Muslim prayers performed five times each day.

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This article looks at Zakat, which is the compulsory giving of a set proportion of one's wealth to charity.

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History

History of the Hajj

Four thousand years ago the valley of Mecca was a dry and uninhabited place.

Muslims believe the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) was instructed to bring his wife, Hajira (Hagar) and their child Is'mail to Arabia from Palestine to protect them from the jealousy of Ibrahim's first wife Sarah.

Allah told the Prophet Ibrahim to leave them on their own, and he did so, with some supplies of food and water. However the supplies quickly ran out and within a few days Hajira and Is'mail were suffering from hunger and dehydration.

In her desperation Hajira ran up and down two hills called Safa and Marwa trying to see if she could spot any help in the distance. Finally she collapsed beside Is'mail and prayed to Allah for deliverance.

Is'mail struck his foot on the ground and this caused a spring of water to gush forth from the earth. Hajira and Is'mail were saved. Now they had a secure water supply they were able to trade water with passing nomads for food and supplies.

After a while the Prophet Ibrahim returned from Palestine to check on his family and was amazed to see them running a profitable well.

The Prophet Ibrahim was told by Allah to build a shrine dedicated to him. Ibrahim and Is'mail constructed a small stone structure - the Kaaba or Cube - which was to be the gathering place for all who wished to strengthen their faith in Allah.

As the years passed Is'mail was blessed with Prophethood and he gave the nomads of the desert the message of surrender to Allah.

After many centuries, Mecca became a thriving city thanks to its reliable water source, the well of Zam Zam.

Gradually, the people began to adopt polytheistic ideas, and worship spirits and many different gods. The shrine of the Prophet Ibrahim was used to store idols.

After many years, Allah told the Prophet Muhammed that he should restore the Kaaba to the worship of Allah only.

In the year 628 the Prophet Muhammed set out on a journey with 1400 of his followers. This was the first pilgrimage in Islam, and would re-establish the religious traditions of the Prophet Ibrahim.

Guide to going to Mecca

Guide to going to Mecca

It's best to travel light, so only take essentials.

Many pilgrims fly to Jeddah, and then travel to Mecca by bus.

Once you get to Mecca, there are two rituals which you can perform; the lesser pilgrimage or Umra, and the main pilgrimage or Hajj.

The Umra is an extra, optional pilgrimage and does not count as the once-in-a-lifetime Hajj. Although it includes some of the rituals of the Hajj, they are shortened and there are fewer of them.

Most pilgrims who come for the Hajj arrive a few days before it actually starts and perform Umra first. Combining the Hajj with the Umrah is called a Hajji-Tamattu.

Being pure

To carry out the pilgrimage rituals you need to be in a state of Ihram, which is a special state of ritual purity.

You do this by making a statement of intention, wearing special white clothes (which are also called ihram) and obeying the regulations below.

The person on the Hajj may not:

Engage in marital relations

Shave or cut their nails

Use cologne or scented oils

Kill or hunt anything

Fight or argue.

Women must not cover their faces, even if they would do so in their home country.

Men may not wear clothes with stitching.

Bathing is allowed but scented soaps are frowned upon.

Umra

The Hajj is a real pilgrimage - a journey, with rites and rituals to be done along the way.

You begin at a place just outside Mecca called the Miqat, or entry station to the Hajj.

There you bathe, put on the Ihram (the special white clothes), make the intention for Umra and begin reciting the Talbiya Du'a (prayer).

Then you go to the Masjid al Haram and walk around the Ka'ba seven times repeating du'as and prayers. This is called the Tawaf. Afterwards you should sip some Zam Zam water.

Zam Zam water is water from the Zam Zam well, the sacred well which opened in the desert to save Hajira and Is'mail from dying of thirst.

Next you go to the walkway between the hills of Safa and Marwa and walk back and forth between them seven times.

This completes the Umra portion of the Hajj rituals and some of the Ihram restrictions are relaxed.

Hajj

Now make your intention for the Hajj and put on the Ihram garments again.

Travel to Mina on the 8th of Dhul Hijjah (a date in the Islamic calendar) and remain there until Fajr (dawn) next morning.

Then you travel to the valley of Arafat and stand in the open praising Allah. The heat of Arabia at midday provides a hint as to what the Day of Judgement will be like.

At the end of the day, travel to Muzdalifa for the night. Gather together 49 or 70 small stones together to use the next day.

In the morning you return to Mina and throw the stones at pillars called Jamraat. These represent the devil. Then a sacrifice called a Qurbani should be made in which a lamb or sheep is slaughtered and the meat distributed among the poor. After this, men's heads are shaved and women cut a lock of their hair.

Then return to Mecca and make a Tawaf (this is the ritual of walking around the Ka'aba seven times). Then it's back to Mina for 3 or 4 days, stoning the pillars each day.

Finally do a farewell Tawaf in Masjid-al Haram on the twelfth day of the month of Dhul Hijjah, ask Allah's forgiveness, make du'a and the Hajj is finished.

Many people then go to the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, but this is optional.

A man who has completed the Hajj is called a Hajji, a woman who has completed it is called a Hajjah.

At the end of the Hajj, Muslims from all over the world celebrate the holiday known as the Eid ul Adha or Festival of the sacrifice.

This festival commemorates the obedience of the Prophet Ibrahim when he was ordered to sacrifice his son Is'mail.

Ibrahim proved his love and devotion to Allah by showing his willingness to kill his beloved son if Allah wished it. In the end Ibrahim did not have to kill his son as Allah gave him a ram to sacrifice instead.

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Four thousand years ago the valley of Mecca was a dry and uninhabited place. Muslims believe the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) was instructed to bring his wife, Hajira (Hagar) and their child Is'mail to Arabia from Palestine to protect them from the jealousy of Ibrahim's first wife Sarah.

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The Five Pillars figuratively hold up the entire Islam culture. It keeps it stable.

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They each play an important part or role in holding up the Islamic culture.

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Here's a bit of a definition.