Advice of Scholars - THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM (PART 1)

Hadrat Imâm-i Rabbânî says in the 17th letter of the third volume of his Maktûbât:

After correcting our belief, it is necessary to do the things which the Sharî’at commands. Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam’ declared: “The building of Islam has been constructed upon five pillars.

The first of them is to say, “Ash-hadu an lâ ilâha illallah wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasûluh’ and to believe in its meaning. ” The meaning of this word of Shahâdat is: “I know and believe as if I saw that there is no god, nobody besides Allahu ta’âlâ, whose existence is necessary and who is worth worshipping and obeying. I know and believe as if I saw that Muhammad (alayhissalâm) is both a born servant and the Prophet of Allahu ta’âlâ. 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’âlâ. 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 Shahâdat and its meaning. Then he learns how to perform a ghusl and namâz, and then the fards and harâms to the extent that is needed.]

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