Reference: Islam
Reference: The World’s Religions by Huston Smith
[NOTE: In color are Vinaire’s comments.]
It is true that God revealed the truth of monotheism; but, God’s oneness includes the oneness of the reality of this universe. Until that is fully understood, the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule would be difficult to apply. Islam tries to bring that understanding together through definite laws.
If a Muslim were asked to summarize the way Islam counsels people to live, the answer might be: It teaches them to walk the straight path. The phrase comes from the opening surah of the Koran, which is repeated many times in the Muslim’s five daily prayers.
In the Name of Allah the Merciful, the Compassionate:
Praise be to Allah, Creator of the worlds,
The Merciful, the Compassionate,
Ruler of the day of Judgment.
Thee do we worship, and Thee do we ask for aid.
Guide us in the straight path,
The path of those on whom Thou hast poured forth Thy grace.
Not the path of those who have incurred Thy wrath and gone astray.
Islam teaches people to walk the straight path through an opening prayer that is repeated five times during the day.
This surah has been called the heartbeat of the Muslim’s response to God. At the moment, though, the question is why “the straight path”? One meaning is obvious; a straight path is one that is not crooked or corrupt. The phrase contains another meaning, however, which addresses something that in Islam is distinctive. The straight path is one that is straightforward; it is direct and explicit. Compared with other religions, Islam spells out the way of life it proposes; it pinpoints it, nailing it down through clear injunctions. Every major type of action is classified on a sliding scale from the “forbidden,” through the “indifferent,” to the “obligatory.” This gives the religion a flavor of definiteness that is quite its own. Muslims know where they stand.
The straight path is direct and explicit. Islam spells out the way of life it proposes; it pinpoints it, nailing it down through clear injunctions. This gives the religion a flavor of definiteness that is quite its own. Muslims know where they stand.
They claim this as one of their religion’s strengths. God’s revelation to humankind, they say, has proceeded through four great stages. First, God revealed the truth of monotheism, God’s oneness, through Abraham. Second, God revealed the Ten Commandments through Moses. Third, God revealed the Golden Rule—that we are to do unto others as we would have them do unto us—through Jesus. All three of these prophets were authentic messengers; each introduced important features of the God-directed life. One question yet remained, however: How should we love our neighbor? Once life became complicated, instructions were needed to answer that question, and the Koran provides them. “The glory of Islam consists in having embodied the beautiful sentiments of Jesus in definite laws.”
It is true that God revealed the truth of monotheism; but, God’s oneness includes the oneness of the reality of this universe. Until that is fully understood, the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule would be difficult to apply. Islam tries to bring that understanding together through definite laws.
What, then, is the content of this straight path that spells out human duties? We shall divide our presentation into two parts. In this section we shall consider the Five Pillars of Islam, the principles that regulate the private life of Muslims in their dealings with God. In the next section we shall consider the Koran’s social teachings.
The Five Pillars of Islam are the principles that regulate the private life of Muslims in their dealings with God.
The first of the Five Pillars is Islam’s creed, or confession of faith known as the Shahadah. Every religion contains professions that orient its adherents’ lives. Islam’s wastes no words. Brief, simple, and explicit, it consists of a single sentence: “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is His Prophet.” The first half of the proclamation announces the cardinal principle of monotheism. “There is no god but Allah.” There is no god but the God. More directly still, there is no God but God, for the word is not a common noun embracing a class of objects; it is a proper name designating a unique being and him only. The second affirmation—that “Muhammad is God’s prophet”—registers the Muslim’s faith in the authenticity of Muhammad and in the validity of the book he transmitted.
The first pillar is Shahadah, which is creed, or confession of faith, “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is His Prophet.”
At least once during his or her lifetime a Muslim must say the Shahadah correctly, slowly, thoughtfully, aloud, with full understanding and with heartfelt conviction. In actuality Muslims pronounce it often, especially its first half, La ilaha illa ’llah. In every crisis and at every moment when the world threatens to overwhelm them, not excepting the approach of death, “There is no god but God” will spring to their lips. “A pious man, seized by rage, will appear suddenly to have been stopped in his tracks as he remembers the Shahadah and, as it were, withdraws, putting a great distance between himself and his turbulent emotions. A woman crying out in childbirth will as suddenly fall silent, remembering; and a student, bowed anxiously over his desk in an examination hall, will raise his head and speak these words, and a barely audible sigh of relief passes through the whole assembly. This is the ultimate answer to all questions.”
The idea of One God, or of the “Oneness of Reality” is very calming; because of its truth.
The second pillar of Islam is the canonical prayer, in which the Koran adjures the faithful to “be constant” (29:45). Muslims are admonished to be constant in prayer to keep their lives in perspective. The Koran considers this the most difficult lesson people must learn. Though they are obviously creatures, having created neither themselves nor their worlds, they can’t seem to get this straight and keep placing themselves at the center of things, living as if they were laws unto themselves. This produces havoc. When we ask, then, why Muslims pray, a partial answer is: in response to life’s natural impulse to give thanks for its existence. The deeper answer, however, is the one with which this paragraph opened: to keep life in perspective—to see it objectively, which involves acknowledging human creatureliness before its Creator. In practice this comes down to submitting one’s will to God’s (islam) as its rightful sovereign.
The second pillar of Islam is the prayer that adjures the faithful to “be constant” in order to keep their lives in perspective—to see it objectively. In practice this comes down to submitting one’s will to the oneness of reality (God).
How often should Muslims pray? There is an account in the Koran that speaks to this point. One of the crucial events in Muhammad’s life, we are told, was his renowned Night Journey to Heaven. On a certain night in the month of Ramadan, he was spirited on a wondrous white steed with wings to Jerusalem and upward from there through the seven heavens to the presence of God, who instructed him that Muslims were to pray fifty times each day. On his way back to earth, he stopped in the sixth heaven, where he reported the instruction to Moses, who was incredulous. “Fifty times a day!” he said in effect. “You’ve got to be kidding. That will never work. Go back and negotiate.” Muhammad did so and returned with the number reduced to forty, but Moses was not satisfied. “I know those people,” he said. “Go back.” This routine was repeated four more times, with the number reduced successively to thirty, twenty, ten, and then five. Even this last figure struck Moses as excessive. “Your people are not capable of observing five daily prayers,” he said. “I have tested men before your time and have labored most earnestly to prevail over the [sons of] Isra’il, so go back to your Lord and ask Him to make things lighter for your people.” This time, however, Muhammad refused. “I have asked my Lord till I am ashamed, but now I am satisfied and I submit.” The number remained fixed at five.
The prayer when done earnestly is a very satisfying learning experience. However, when a prayer is done mechanically it feels like a waste of time, which it is.
The times of the five prayers are likewise stipulated: on arising, when the sun reaches its zenith, its mid-decline, sunset, and before retiring. The schedule is not absolutely binding. The Koran says explicitly, for example, that “When you journey about the earth it is no crime that you come short in prayer if you fear that those who disbelieve will attack you.” Under normal conditions, however, the fivefold pattern should be maintained. While in Islam no day of the week is as sharply set apart from the others as is the Sabbath for the Jews or Sunday for the Christians, Friday most nearly approximates a weekly holy day. Congregational worship is not stressed as much in Islam as it is in Judaism and Christianity; even so, Muslims are expected to pray in mosques when they can, and the Friday noon prayer is emphasized in this respect. Visitors to Muslim lands testify that one of the impressive religious sights in the world comes to view when, in a dimly lighted mosque, hundreds of Muslims stand shoulder to shoulder, then repeatedly kneel and prostrate themselves toward Mecca.
The muslim prayer has ritualistic aspects, so as to make it one’s habit; but the ultimate benefit comes from the deep study of the words used to pray.
Although Muslims first prayed in the direction of Jerusalem, a koranic revelation later instructed them to pray in the direction of Mecca; and the realization that Muslims throughout the world do this creates a sense of participating in a worldwide fellowship, even when one prays in solitude. Beyond this matter of direction the Koran says almost nothing, but Muhammad’s teachings and practices moved in to structure the void. Washing, to purify the body and symbolically the soul, precedes the prayer, which begins in dignified, upright posture but climaxes when the supplicant has sunk to his or her knees with forehead touching the floor. This is the prayer’s holiest moment, for it carries a twofold symbolism. On the one hand, the body is in a fetal position, ready to be reborn. At the same time it is crouched in the smallest possible space, signifying human nothingness in the face of the divine.
Muslims throughout the world pray exactly in the same manner creates a sense of participating in a worldwide fellowship, even when one prays in solitude.
As for prayer’s content, its standard themes are praise, gratitude, and supplication. There is a Muslim saying that every time a bird drinks a drop of water it lifts its eyes in gratitude toward heaven. At least five times each day, Muslims do likewise.
The standard themes of the Muslim prayer are praise, gratitude, and supplication.
The third pillar of Islam is charity. Material things are important in life, but some people have more than others. Why? Islam is not concerned with this theoretical question. Instead, it turns to the practical issue of what should be done about the disparity. Its answer is simple. Those who have much should help lift the burden of those who are less fortunate. It is a principle that twentieth-century democracies have embraced in secular mode in their concept of the welfare state. The Koran introduced its basic principle in the seventh century by prescribing a graduated tax on the haves to relieve the circumstances of the have-nots.
The third pillar of Islam is charity. Those who have much should help lift the burden of those who are less fortunate. Koran prescribes a graduated tax on the haves to relieve the circumstances of the have-nots.
Details aside, the figure the Koran set for this tax was 2 1/2 percent. Alongside the tithe of Judaism and Christianity (which, being directed more to the maintenance of religious institutions than to the direct relief of human need, is not strictly comparable), this looks modest until we discover that it refers not just to income but to holdings. Poorer people owe nothing, but those in the middle and upper income brackets should annually distribute among the poor one-fortieth of the value of all they possess.
Those in the middle and upper income brackets should annually distribute among the poor one-fortieth of the value of all they possess. It is for the direct relief of human need and not for the maintenance of religious institutions.
And to whom among the poor should this money be given? This too is prescribed: to those in immediate need; to slaves in the process of buying their freedom; to debtors unable to meet their obligations; to strangers and wayfarers; and to those who collect and distribute the alms.
And to whom among the poor should this money be given is also prescribed.
The fourth pillar of Islam is the observance of Ramadan. Ramadan is a month in the Islamic calendar—Islam’s holy month, because during it Muhammad received his initial revelation and (ten years later) made his historic Hijrah (migration) from Mecca to Medina. To commemorate these two great occasions, able-bodied Muslims (who are not ill or involved in crises like war or unavoidable journeys) fast during Ramadan. From the first moment of dawn to the setting of the sun, neither food nor drink nor smoke passes their lips; after sundown they may partake in moderation. As the Muslim calendar is lunar, Ramadan rotates around the year. When it falls in the winter its demands are not excessive. When, on the other hand, it falls during the scorching heat of the summer, to remain active during the long days without so much as a drop of water is an ordeal.
The fourth pillar of Islam is the observance of Ramadan, a holy month, during which one fasts from the first moment of dawn to the setting of the sun. Neither food nor drink nor smoke passes their lips; after sundown they may partake in moderation.
Why, then, does the Koran require it? For one thing, fasting makes one think, as every Jew who has observed the fast of Yom Kippur will attest. For another thing, fasting teaches self-discipline; one who can endure its demands will have less difficulty controlling the demands of appetites at other times. Fasting underscores the creature’s dependence on God. Human beings, it is said, are as frail as rose petals; nevertheless, they assume airs and pretensions. Fasting calls one back to one’s frailty and dependence. Finally, fasting sensitizes compassion. Only those who have been hungry can know what hunger means. People who have fasted for twenty-nine days within the year will be apt to listen more carefully when next approached by someone who is hungry.
Fasting makes one think. It underscores the creature’s dependence on God. Fasting teaches self-discipline; one who can endure its demands will have less difficulty controlling the demands of appetites at other times.
Islam’s fifth pillar is pilgrimage. Once during his or her lifetime every Muslim who is physically and economically in a position to do so is expected to journey to Mecca, where God’s climactic revelation was first disclosed. The basic purpose of the pilgrimage is to heighten the pilgrim’s devotion to God and his revealed will, but the practice has fringe benefits as well. It is, for example, a reminder of human equality. Upon reaching Mecca, pilgrims remove their normal attire, which carries marks of social status, and don two simple sheet-like garments. Thus everyone, on approaching Islam’s earthly focus, wears the same thing. Distinctions of rank and hierarchy are removed, and prince and pauper stand before God in their undivided humanity. Pilgrimage also provides a useful service in international relations. It brings together people from various countries, demonstrating thereby that they share a loyalty that transcends loyalty to their nations and ethnic groupings. Pilgrims pick up information about other lands and peoples, and return to their homes with better understanding of one another.
Islam’s fifth pillar is pilgrimage. Once during his or her lifetime every Muslim who is physically and economically in a position to do so is expected to journey to Mecca, where God’s climactic revelation was first disclosed.
The Five Pillars of Islam consist of things Muslims do to keep the house of Islam erect. There are also things they should not do. Gambling, thieving, lying, eating pork, drinking intoxicants, and being sexually promiscuous are some of these. Even Muslims who transgress these rulings acknowledge their acts as transgressions.
The Five Pillars of Islam consist of things Muslims do to keep the house of Islam erect.
With the exception of charity, the precepts we have considered in this section pertain to the Muslim’s personal life. We turn now to the social teachings of Islam.
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