READING 5

WORSHIP & DEVOTION IN DAILY LIFE

  • 5 pillars of Islam

  • The 5 Pillars are agreed upon Sunni and Shi’i Muslims

  • Ramadan and Hajj are signs of Muslim egalitarian unity, since all Muslims in all places pray, fast and go on pilgrimage

  • Witnessing (Shahadah) states that “There is no God but (Allah), and Muhammad is the messenger of God”

  • Person becomes Muslim by reciting this sentence with sincere belief in the presence of witnesses

  • Recited as daily prayer And outside the mosque, it captures the essential Islamic belief in one absolute God

    • Muhammad was God’s messenger

  • Ritual (salat) is basic activity in daily life

    • Before dawn, midday, mid-afternoon, at sunset and night

    • Call to prayer is made by a muezzin

    • Person who calls from the top of the tower is called a minaret

    • Muezzin’s call is an art form

      • “Allahu Akbar”

      • “I bear witness that there is no god but God; I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God; hasten to prayer; hasten to success; establishing the communal ritual of prayer”

      • Played over loud speakers

Rituals

  • Expected to perform a ritual ablution, cleansing both mind and body

  • If water is available, the hands, arms, face, neck, and feet are washed

  • Prayers are performed facing in the direction of Mecca

    • Generally pray wherever, inside, outside, etc

  • Men attend the mosque for the Friday noon prayer

    • Special time set aside for communal prayer

Zakat

  • Setting aside a portion of one’s personal wealth for the poor

  • Purifies one’s wealth

  • Islam discourages begging, and zakat allows poor people to find help without feeling disgraced

  • Prompts us to confront our all-too-human tendencies toward greed, selfishness, and materialism

  • Need to donate 2.5% of their net gain annually

    • Includes value of livestock, produce, jewelry, real estate and investments (e.g., stocks and bonds)

    • Originally done with tax and by the state

    • With the political system, it became an individual practice, typically seen in Pakistan and Sudan

    • Donate to mosques, schools, libraries, and hospitals

  • Lunar calendar

  • Muhammad first received the revelations from God

  • Muslims commemorate this central event by fasting during Ramadan (sawm) and by prayer rituals that cleanse the soul and unify the community

  • Devout Muslims abstain from food, liquid (even water), tobacco and sex from dawn till dusk

  • Self-denial is believed to focus the devout on God’s presence and increase their sense of the abundance of God’s blessing

  • Travellers, the elderly, pregnant women and the sick are exempted but are expected to make up the days of fasting at some other time or to feed the poor

Eid al-Fitr

  • Festival of parties, concludes with the celebrating of the end of fasting

  • Lasts up to three days

  • Visit the graves of ancestors

  • Islamic calendar follows a lunar cycle, has 354 days in 12 months as opposed to the 365

Hajj

  • The pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca

  • All adult Muslims (men and women), are expected to perform the Hajj at least once during their lifetime unless they are sick or cannot afford the journey

  • Hajj falls during the month of Dhu al-Hijjah, which is the last month of the Islamic calendar

  • Perform special rites that are intended to commemorate important events in the life of Abraham, the founding patriarch of Islam

  • Pilgrims typically arrive in Mecca by the seventh of the month

    • Arrived in Mecca by the seventh month

    • Past came by boat and caravan in trips that would take months or even years, modernly, it is now air travel

    • Jiddah, a port city on the west coast of Saudi Arabia

  • Those who return home from the pilgrimage enjoy great prestige, earning the honorific title of hajji (male pilgrim), or hajja (female pilgrim)