The Five Pillars of Islam

The five pillars of Islam are:

  • Shahaadah: Declaration of faith “I bear witness that there is no god worthy of worship and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”.
  • Salat (Pray): Muslims must pray 5 times a day.
  • Zakat : paying an alms (or charity) tax to benefit the poor and the needy.
  • Sawm: fasting during the month of Ramadan.
  • Hajj: pilgrimage to Makkah.

These are the 5 basics things someone needs to do in order to be a Muslim. It was obtained from hadeeth of Ibn ‘Umar:

On the authority of Abdullah, the son of Umar ibn al-Khattab (ra), who said:

I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say, “Islam has been built on five [pillars]: testifying that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, establishing the salah (prayer), paying the zakat (obligatory charity), making the hajj (pilgrimage) to the House, and fasting in Ramadhan.” [Bukhari & Muslim]