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in the name of Allah (God) the most Benevolent, the most Merciful.
"Ashaduan la ilaha illa Allah wa ashaduanna Muhammadan Rasool Allah"
( I bear witness that there is no deity except Allah (God) and
I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah (God).
Masha Allah
Yah Allah Maddad
Peace & Unity through islamic study.
islam is No.1 Religion for the World.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Five Pillars of islam:
1-Declaration of Faith (Kalmah)
2-Prayer (Namaz)
3- Poor-Due (Zakat)
4-Fasting (Roza)
5-Pilgrimage (Haj) 1- Declaration of Faith (Kalmah)
La ilaha illa Allah Muhammadu Rasool Allah
There is no God (No one is worthy of worship and obedience) save
one God, and Muhammad is his apostle. Brothers, -this confession is the gateway to Islaaam, the arch- stone of the faith, By affirming it and reciting it with sincerity and conviction even a life-long heathen or a polytheist can become a Muslim, a man of faith, and earn his title to salvation. The condition, however, is that he should have accepted conscientiously and with full understanding the declaration of the Oneness of God and the Apostle ship of Prophet Muhammad contained in it. Thus, any one who repeats the confession mechanically, without understanding it and without knowing what the concepts of Divine Unity and Apostle ship and Prophecy mean, will not gain recognition in the sight of God as a Muslim. It is, therefore, necessary to study its meaning and implications carefully.
The confession consists of two parts. The first part the Kalmah The first part La ilaha illa Allah contains the affirmation of the Oneness of God. It means that no one except the Almighty is worthy of worship and obedience. Worship and obedience should be offered to Him alone because He and no one else is our Lord and Creator, Nourisher and Sustainer and the Dispenser of Life and Death. Sickness and health, poverty and riches, in short, all manner of good and evil, gain or loss, lies solely in His control. Apart from Him, whatever living things exist on the earth, or in the heavens, be they men or angels, are all His creatures and slaves. He is partnered by no one, no one has a share in His Divinity nor can any one amend or alter His Will, or interfere with His affairs. Hence, He and He alone is worthy of devotion and worship. He alone is the Supreme Being, the Almighty, to whom all our prayers and supplications should be addressed. He alone is the real Owner of the heavens and the earth, the Monarch of all monarchs, the Lord Sovereign. It is, therefore, necessary that all His commands and injunctions are strictly obeyed and faithfully carried out. As against His commands the commands of no one should be heeded to no matter whether they are of our parents or rulers or of the head of the community or a dear friend, or the bid dings of our own heart. In a nutshell, when once we have realized and confessed the truth that God alone, and no one besides Him, is worthy of worship and obedience our conduct should also be in conformity with it, so much so that any one who sees us should know by our behaviour that we are the devoted servants of the Lord who carry out His commands dutifully and live and die for His sake alone.
Brothers, -this Laa ilaha illa Allah is the keystone of Islam and the first and foremost item in the teachings of all the Prophets. It commands the highest, the most important place in the religious scheme of things. A famous Tradition of the Prophet reads:
''There are more than seventy departments of the faith and among them the most superior and exalted is belief in the kalmah of La ilaha illa Allah .
For this reason, among the prayer formulas also it is the best. States the Prophet:
''Of all the prayer formulas the best and most excellent is that of La ilaha illa Allah .
In another Tradition it is related that once God gave this reply to a question put to Him by Prophet Moses:
"O Moses, if the seven heavens and the seven earths and all that is contained in them are placed on one side of the balance and La ilaha illa Allah on the other, the side on which La ilaha illa Allah placed will turn out to be heavier."
Brothers, -this unique virtue and excellence of iss due solely to the fact that it contains the solemn affirmation of Divine Unity, the assertion, the pledge and the declaration that we shall worship Him alone and offer our homage and obeisance to no one apart from Him, and shall make Him the sole pivot of our existence. It indeed, is the life breath of Islam.
That is why, the holy Prophet has advised Muslims to refresh and to reinvigorate their faith by repeating the kalmah frequently.
It is narrated that the Prophet once said, "O men ! keep on refreshing your faith". Upon this the Companions enquired, "O Prophet of God ! How are we to do so?" The Prophet replied, "By reciting the Kalmah frequently."
The Kalmah of La ilaha illa Allah holds the power to restore and revitalise the faith for the simple reason that it embodies the affirmation of Divine Unity and the covenant to worship Him alone, to do allegiance to no besides Him and to hold Him dearer and nearer to the heart than anything or anybody else in the world. As we have said earlier, it is the essence, the sustaining principle of Islam. So, the more we will utter it attentively, concentrating duly on what it stands for, the more will our faith gain in vitality and our covenant in strength, and our whole life will, Insha Allah,
get cast in the mould of La ilaha illa Allah. The Second Part of the kalmah The Second part of the kalmah consists of Muhammadu Rasool Allah . In it the affirmation is made of the Divine Apostle ship of Prophet Muhammad. That Prophet Muhammad is the Apostle of God means that he was raised up by the Almighty for the guidance of the world and whatever he taught, preached or revealed like the Divinity of the origin of the Quran, the existence of the angels, the certainty of the Last Day, the Resurrection, the Judgment, the award of heaven and hell according to one's deeds on the earth was hundred per cent true and authentic. Indeed, the Apostle ship of the holy Prophet denotes nothing more and nothing less than this that all the things he taught to the world, all the truths he revealed to mankind, were based on Divine inspiration, that they were based on special and authoritative knowledge vouschafed to him by God. and so they were absolutely correct and beyond dispute. There is not the least excuse, the slightest reason, for doubting or questioning his word. The guidance he gave to men, the laws he laid down, were Divine guidance and divine laws which had been inspired to him by the Almighty. You would have realized that the acceptance of any one as a Divine Apostle automatically implies that each and every precept and command of his should be whole heartedly believed in and obeyed for God raised up His Apostles in the world solely to convey through them to mankind the commands and precepts He wants it to follows. Says the Quran:
We sent not an Apostle, but to be obeyed in accordance with the Will of God. (IX:64)
To believe in anyone as an Apostle and to accept him as such, thus, means simply to hold every word of his as true, to regard his teachings and guidance to be the teachings and guidance of God, and to decide, once for all, to lead one's life according to the precepts he taught. So, if a person recites the Kalmah but does not, as a logical consequence of it, resolve firmly to hold all the teaching of the Prophet to be wholly true and all that may run counter to them to be wholly false, and to abide by his Shariat (holy law) and his commands faithfully, he, of course is not a man of faith and a Muslim. He, probably, has not even understood what it means to be a Muslim.
It is obvious that once we have recited the kalmah and accepted the Prophet as the true Apostle of God. it becomes obligatory for us to believe in his guidance, to adhere to his commands and to observe faithfully the shariat he brought.
A Covenant
From the meaning and interpretation of the holy Kalmah given above, you will have realised that it is a covenant. It embodies the pledge and the vow that we believe in Allah as the One and Only Lord Sovereign. Master and Creator, and regard everything that exists in this world and the Hereafter to be exclusively in His control, and that, since we do so, we will worship Him alone and carry out His commands the way a servant and a slave carries out the commands of his master, and love Him and adore Him above all else, and, further, that we accept Prophet Muhammad as the true Apostle of God, and will abide by his guidance as a loyal follower, and fashion our lives according to the holy law laid down by him. In fact, faith denotes nothing except this pledge and covenant and this is precisely what the affirmation of Divine Unity and Apostle ship means.
A Muslim should, therefore, hold himself bound by this covenant and try his level best to shape his conduct in its light so that he may earn recognition in the eyes of God as a genuine man of faith and attain his salvation and place in the paradise.
Those who are blessed enough to bear faith honestly in both the parts of the holy kalmah and to give proof of it by word as well as by deed are the reproduced below:
It is related by Hazrat Anas that the Prophet once said to Hazrat Ma`ad, "God has declared as forbidden the fire of the Hell for him who affirms the Kalmah
of La ilaha illa Allah Muhammadu Rasool Allah with a true heart."
Brother, -affirm >La ilaha illa Allah Muhammadu Rasool Allah with a true heart and with a full knowledge and awareness of its implications and importance and resolve now and forever to lead your lives according to it in order that your attestation may not turn out to be false. On this very attestation depends your faith and your salvation. 2- Prayer (Namaz) The first and most important duty in Islam after one has brought faith in God and in Prophet Muhammad and borne witness to divine oneness and the Apostle ship of the holy Prophet is Nam. It is a most special act of Divine worship which a Muslim is called upon to perform five times a day. There are numerous verses of the Quran and the Traditions of the Prophet enjoining the Namaz on us. It has been described as the pillar and the foundation of the faith.
Namaz, if it is offered with a sincere heart and proper devotion and mental concentration, is particularly vested with the property of cleansing the heart and reforming one's life and ridding it of sins and impurities. It generates love for piety and truth and promotes fear of God in man. Thus it is that Islam has laid greater emphasis on it than on all other religious obligations. When anyone came to the Prophet to embrace Islam, the first promise the sacred Prophet took from him, after instructing him in Divine Oneness, was that he will offer the Namaz regularly. In fine, after the Kalmah, Namaz is the bedrock of Islam.
Traditions
We know from the Traditions that the holy Prophet used to equate neglect of the Namaz with infidelity. He denounced it as the way of the unbelievers. He would say that those who did not offer the Namaz had no share in the faith.
A Tradition of the Prophet reads, "What separates a believer from infidelity is simply the Namaz".
This Tradition clearly warns that if a Muslim will give up the Namaz he will get associated with infidelity; his conduct will become the conduct of an infidel. In another Tradition the Prophet has said, "He has no share in Islam who does not offer the Namaz."
And here is another Tradition from which we can imagine what a great act of virtue and felicity is it to offer the Namaz regularly and how utterly fatal and ruinous is it to neglect it. Once while urging upon the Muslims to be most particular about the Namaz the sacred Prophet is reported to have observed:
"Whoever will offer the Namaz properly and regularly it will be for him on the Last Day a source of light. a proof of his faith and a means to salvation. (On the other hand) whoever will not offer it carefully and regularly it will be for him neither a source of light. nor a proof of faith, nor a means to salvation, and the end of such a person will be with karun 1 Fir`aun 2, Haman 3 and Ubai-bin-khalaf 4".
Brothers, -let us now imagine what our end is goiiing to be if we failed to cultivate the habit of offering the Namaz correctly and regularly.
THE IGNOMINY AND DISGRACE OF THE
DEFAULTERS ON THE LAST DAY
The ignominy and disgrace the defaulters of Nam will have to suffer at the very outset on the Day of Judgment has been spoken of in these words in the Quern:-
The day that the shin shall be laid bare, and they shall be summoned to bow in adoration, but they shall not be able, their eyes will be cast down, -ignominy will cover them, seeing that tthey had been summoned aforetime to bow in adoration while they were whole (and had refused). (XI:42)
The verse tells that on the Last Day when the hour of Judgment will arrive (when all mystery will vanish and reality will be fully manifest) and every man and woman born into the world from the first day to the last will be raised up again and gathered together, God will reveal Himself to them in full glory and splendour. Everyone will then be called upon to bow in adoration before Allah. The fortunate and the faithful among them who had been regular in their Namaz in the world and were, thus accustomed to kneeling down before God will, at once, bow down in adoration, but those who in spite of being healthy and strong had not observed the Namaz in their lifetime will find that their backs had suddenly grown stiff like a board and they will remain standing with the infidels, unable to bend down and carry out the prostration. They will be covered with ignominy, their eyes will be downcast, they will not be able even to look up. Before the chastisement of hell, they will have to bear this chastisement of humiliation and disgrace. May Allah, by His Grace, save us all from it !
In truth, a habitual defaulter of the Namaz is a sort of a rebel against God and deserves all the humiliation and punishment that may be meted out to him. According to some legists of Islam, a Muslim who rejects the Namaz is liable to be punished with death like an apostate.
brothers must realise it thoroughly and well that without the Namaz the claim to Islam is altogether meaningless. Namaz alone is the Islamic act that joins us with God and makes us deserving of His grace.
Blessings of Namaz
When a person stands before the Almighty with his arms folded, five times a day, and celebrates His praises and kneels down before Him and touches the ground with his forehead and makes earnest supplications to Him, be becomes worthy of His love and beneficence, his sins are forgiven with every Namaz he offers, his heart attains enlightenment and his life becomes pure. The Prophet once gave an excellent example to illustrate this truth. He asked his companions, "Tell me, if a stream flows at the door of anyone of you and he takes a dip in it five times a day will there be left any grime on his body?". The Companions replied, "No, Sir. No grime will be left on his body". The Prophet said, "It is exactly the same with the five daily prayers. God removes all impurities and sins because of their auspiciousness."
Superiority of Congregation
It appears from the Prophet`s Traditions that Namaz should be offered in congregation if one wants to derive full benefit from it. The Prophet was so very particular about it that it that once while condemning the conduct of those who avoided coming to the mosque to say their prayers in congregation due to laziness or indifference he observed with anger that he felt like burning down their homes.
This one Tradition is enough to show how repugnant it is to God and the Prophet that anyone should not offer his prayers in congregation. Another Tradition says:-
"The reward on saying the Namaz in congregation is twenty time as mush as on saying it along."
Apart from the reward in the Hereafter, there are many other advantages in offering up the Namaz in congregation. For instance, one acquires the habit of punctuality by attending the mosque regularly to say his prayers in congregation, it enables Muslim brethren of the locality to assemble at one place five times every day and this can be turned to great benefit, the practice of saying the Namaz regularly in the mosque congregation ally makes a man thoroughly regular in his prayers for it has been seen that those who offer their prayers individually at home are often inclined to be neglectful. Yet another notable advantage in saying the prayers in congregation is that the Nam of each participant becomes a part of the Namaz of the whole congregation in which, along with others, there are also generally present some venerable and virtuous servants of God whose Namaz is of a very high order. Their Namaz finds acceptance with Allah and the expectation from His benevolent Grace is that when He will grant acceptance to the prayers of some members of the congregation He will, along with them, accept the prayers of the rest of the congregation too.
Now, imagine what rich rewards and blessings do we deprive ourselves of when we do not go to the mosque to offer our prayers in congregation without a valid excuse.
Meekness and Humility
The offering up of the Namaz with meekness and humility means that, believing God to be Omni present and All Seeing, the Namaz should be offered in such a way that the heart is filled with his love and stricken with awe by the thought of his greatness and Magnificence as if a criminal was standing in front of a great judge or a mighty ruler. As a devotee stands up for Namaz he should visualise that he is standing in the presence of the Almighty that he is standing out of reverence to Him. When he bows his head in Ruku or kneels down to perform the sajda he should imagine that it was all being carried out in front of Allah and in expression of his own utter worthlessness and humility. Better still, whatever is recited during Namaz, whether while standing or in Ruku or Sajda, should be done with a proper understanding of its meaning, The real joy and beauty of Namaz is experienced only when it is offered with an intelligent appreciation of its contents. It is not, at all difficult to learn the meaning of the Suras that are generally recited in Namaz.
The devotion of the heart and the sentiments of awe and humility, indeed, are the very soul of the Namaz. The ultimate success and deliverance of believers who offer up such a kind of Namaz is assured. Declares the Quran:-
The believers must (eventually) win through those who humble themselves in their prayers. (XXIII-1)
Says the Prophet, "God has made the five daily prayers obligatory. Whoever did the Wazu Properly and offered them up at the right time and carried out the Ruku and Sajda as they ought to be, humbly and reverentially, for him the promise of God is that he will be pardoned; and whoever did not do so (i.e., did not say his prayers in this manner), for him there is no such promise. God will pardon or punish him as he will please." 3-Poor-Due (Zakat) Among the fundamental tenets of Islam Zakat occupies a place next in importance only to belief and Namaz. As one would say, it is the third pillar of Islam.
Zakat means that a Muslim who is in possession of a certain amount of wealth, or more, is required by his religion to spend one- fortieth of it at the end of every twelve months on the door, the needy and the wayfarer, and on such other items of charity and good-doing as are prescribed for it by God and the Prophet.
IMPORTANCE
At several places in the Quran Zakat has been enjoined on Muslims side by side with Namaz. While reading the Quran you would have come across a number of times the command: "Be steadfast in prayer; practise regular Charity. "On several occasions it has been spoken of by the Quran as a characteristic feature of Muslims that, "They establish prayer and practise regular Charity. " These two verses go to show em-phatically that those who do not offer Namaz and fail to pay the Zakat are, in fact, not Muslims for the two basic attributes and distinguishing features of a genuine Muslim are not present in them.
Anyway, habitual neglect of Namaz and failure to practise the Zakat are, according to the Quran, not the qualities of a Muslim but of an atheist or a polytheist. About the Namaz we have a verse in Sura-i-Rum of the Quran which reads:
Establish regular Prayer and be not ye among those who join gods with God: (XXXII:31)
And about the evasion of Zakat being the at-tribute of polytheists and infidels we have it in Sura-i-Fussilat:
And woe to those who join gods with God, -those who practise not regular Charity, and who even deny the Hereafter. (XLI:76-77)
Dreadful Chastisement
The fate that awaits those who do not pay the Zakat and the punishment that is going to be handed out to them in the Hereafter is so dreadful that the mere thought of it is enough to make one's hair stand on end. For instance, it is stated in Sura-i-Tauba:
And there are those who bury gold and silver and spend it not in the way God; announce unto them a most grievous penalty-On the Day when heat will be produced out of that (wealth) in the Fire of Hell, and with it will be branded their foreheads, their flanks and their backs. 'This is the (treasure) which ye buried for yourselves. Taste -ye the (treasures) ye buried." (IX:34-35)
In one of his Traditions, the Prophet has explained in a little more detail the purport of this Sura.The Tradition when translated into English reads:
"He who possesses gold or silver (i.e., wealth) but does not fulfil the obligations that are attached to the possession of wealth (i.e., does not pay the Zakat etc.,) plates of fire will be prepared for him on the Day of Judgment. These plates will be heated further in the fire of hell and then his forehead and sides and back will be branded with them. The plates will be heated up again and again to brand him and this will continue throughout the Day of Judgment which will be equal to fifty thousand years in this world."
Besides it, other horrible kinds of punishment are also mentioned in the Traditions. May Allah save us all from them!
UNJUST AND UNGRATEFUL
People who have been blessed by God with wealth and prosperity are, indeed, a most unjust and ungrateful lot if they do not pay the Zakat and shirk from spending their riches in His way as desired by Him. They richly deserve the punishment that is going to be meted out to them on the Day of Recompense.
Again, what is generally not realised is that it is our own poor and indigent brothers we serve when we pay the Zakat or spend our money on other acts of charity. By evading the Zakat we, as such, do a great wrong to our needy and helpless brethren and play foul with their rights.
To thinks over it from another angle, whatever we have by way of property or wealth has, after all, been granted to us by God and we are His creatures and slaves. He commands full control and authority over our possessions as He does over our lives. Were He to demand from us every bit of our property or our life itself our duty, even then, would lie in placing everything before Him quietly and without demur. It is merely His kindness and benevolence that He has called on us to give away in Zakat only one-fortieth of the wealth He has bestowed on us.
REWARD
Another extra-ordinary fovour of the Lord is that He has placed an enormous reward on Zakat and other deeds of charity though whatever we give away is only out of the possession and the wealth He has been pleased to bestow on us. It would have been perfectly reasonable and justified if there had been no promise of a reward from Him on these things. If he is pleased with our conduct when we spend, from the resources he has favoured us with, in Zakat and in other charitable activities, as ordained by him, and has given the assurance of a rich premium on such deeds of ours, it is solely due to His Infinite Kindness and Mercy. States the Quran:-
The parable of those who spend their substance in the way of God is that of a grain of corn: it groweth seven ears and each ear hath a hundred grains. God giveth manifold increase to whom He pleaseth: for God careth for all and He knoweth all things. Those who spend their substance in the Cause of God, and follow not up their gifts with reminders of their generosity or with injury, -their reward is with their Lord: on them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve. (II-261-62)
In the above verse, three promises have been made on behalf of God to those who practise Zakat and spend their money in His way through other means:
One, God will repay them hundred-fold in this world for what they spend;
Two, they will be rewarded bounteously in the Hereafter;
Three, there will be for them neither fear nor grief on the Day of Judgment.
The holy companions had the fullest faith in these promises. When verses extolling the spiritual merit of expending in the path of God and denoting what stupendous Divine reward there was on it were revealed to the Prophet and the Companions came to know of them from him they were so deeply stirred that such of them as were poor and did not have the means to give away something in charity left their homes and went out in search of work and carried heavy loads on their backs so that could earn some money to spend for the sake of God.
We will reproduce here just one Tradition of the holy Prophet revealing the significance and the out standing worth and merit of Zakat.
States the Prophet: "There are three things, whoever acquires the real joy of faith: Firstly, to worship Allah and no one besides Him; secondly, to believe sincerely in and, lastly, to pay the Zakat cheerfully on one's possessions every year."
WORLDLY ADVANTAGES:
Apart from the reward and recompense in the Hereafter, numerous worldly advantages also accrue from practicing the Zakat regularly and spending in other Divinely prescribed branches of charity. For example, a Muslim who discharges these obligations property experiences a rare feeling of satisfaction and tranquillity in his heart, the poor do not feel jealous of his wealth-on the other hands, they wish him well, pray for his welfare and look towards him with love and admiration-the world holds him in high seteem everyone likes him and feels drawn towards him sym-pathetically-and, God bestows prosperity on him and multiplies his wealth.
A Tradition of the holy Prophet reads:
"The mandate of God is: 'O Son of Adam!
Go on spending the wealth I have given thee (on the poor, the needy and the destitute): I shall give thee more."
And, another:
"I can swear no one will become poor because of expending in the way of God."
May Allah endow us all with staunchest faith in the sayings of the Prophet and grant us the great good fortune to act on them ! 4-Fasting (Roza) After belief, Namaz and Zakat, the most important duty in Islam is Roza (or fasting). The Quran says:
Oh ye who believe ! fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you that ye may (learn) self-restraint. (II:183)
Fasting is obligatory for Muslims in the month of Ramzan. Failure to observe the fast on any day, without a valid reason, during this month is a great sin. We have it on the authority of the Prophet that, "Anyone who does not. without illness or any other valid excuse, keep fast on a single day during Ramzan will not succeed in making amends for it even if he were to keep fast daily throughout his life in atonement."
RECOMPENSE
During the fast, a Muslim abstains from eating and drinking and denies himself the pleasures of legitimate carnal satisfaction solely as a measure of worship, and sacrifices his legitimate biological needs and urges exclusively for the sake of God.
God, too, therefore, has placed a most unique reward on it. The Prophet is reported to have said: "There is a fixed principle for rewarding all the good deeds of men, and every good deed will be rewarded in accordance with it. But the fast is an exception to this general principle. The standing will and pleasure of God is that since a man forgoes food and drink and crushes down his passions utterly for His sake. He will recompense him directly for it.
"All the previous sins of a person are forgiven who undertakes the fasts of the month of Ramzan with full faith and with the object of propitiating God and earning His reward.
"There are two moments of special joy for a person who fasts one is when he breaks the fast and this he experiences here in his earthly existence, the other will come in the Hereafter when he will be presented before the Lord.
"Roza is a shield against the fire of hell and a strong fortress (which will protect the believer from infernal chastisement).
"The fast itself will plead with God for him who does fasting that he had gone without the day's meals and shunned the cravings of the flesh for its sake (so he may be forgiven and rewarded to the full). God will accept the intercession.
"The bad odour emanating from the mouth of a person who is fasting (which is sometimes produced because of the empty stomach) is more pleasant in the judgment of God than the sweet smell of musk.
Another outstanding feature of Roza, besides those given in the traditions quoted above, is that it lifts man above the level of beasts. To eat and to drink at will and to copulate whenever the urge comes, this is the way of the animals. On the other extreme, to be immune from hunger and thirst and the impulsions of sex, to stay away permanently from food and drink and cohabitation is the quality of angels. When a person fasts he rises above the animal existence and forges an affinity with angels.
SPECIAL BENEFIT
Moreover, Roza, promotes piety and righteousness in man. It produces in him the ability to control his physical desires. It teaches him how to subordinate his carnal appetites and longings of the heart to the will of God. It is thus most effective in the discipline and evolution of the soul.
But these benefits can be derived only when a person conscientiously strives for them and pays due respect, while he is fasting, to the instructions laid down by the Prophet in this connection. It is most necessary to leave strictly alone not only food and drink but also all the major and minor sins. He must neither quarrel nor utter a lie nor engage himself in slander and back-biting. In brief. he should scrupulously avoid all sinful deeds, apparent as well as hidden, as is demanded of him in the Traditions. Some ot the relevant Traditions are: "When any of you keeps a fast he should not speak an indecent or filthy word on engage in noisy scene, and were anyone to quarrel with him and call him names he should simply say, I am keeping fast (therefore, I can not pay you back in the same coin).
"God has no need for him to go without food and drink who cannot shun evil and falsehood even during a fast.
"Many are there among you who fast and yet gain nothing from it except hunger and thirst.
In sum, fasts can lead to the promotion ot the virtues of piety and righteousness and impart the moral strength needed to control and discipline the sensual appetites when, together with abstention from food and drink, all the major and minor transgressions of the law of God are also zealously avoided while fasting, more specially the use of foul and filthy language, falsehood, slander and backbiting. If fasts are observed in the right spirit and with proper care and solicitude, the benefits indicated above can un-doubtedly, be obtained from them. 5-Pilgrimage (Haj) The last of the fundamental duties in Islam is the Haj. Laying it down as an essential religious obligation of Muslims, the Quran says:
Pilgrimage thereto is a duty men owe God, those who can afford the journey, but if any deny faith God stands not in need of any of his creatures. (III:97)
In this verse while the Haj has been declared obligatory it has been made clear that it is appliable only to those who possess the means and material resources to undertake it. But care has been taken, in the last part of it, to warn that if Muslims whom God has blessed with the necessary material means to perform the pilgrimage still fail to carry out the duty through sheer ingratitude (as is common among the wealthy classes these days) them God does not stand in need of their pilgrimage. The Almighty, definitely, is not going to lose any thing by their not performing the Haj. the loss will entirely to theirs. They will forfeit his good graces, they will deprive themselves of his benevolence, and God-forbid, a most lament able fate will be waiting for them in the hereafter. The Prophet is reported to have gone as for as to say.
"A person whom God has given enough to perform the Haj, if he still fails to do so then it does not matter at all whether he dies a jew or a Christian,"
Brother, if there is any regard in our hearts for islam, if we can boast of the least attachment to God and the Prophet, none of us who can afford to make the journey should remain without performing the Haj after we have known this Tradition.
SPIRITUAL MERIT
The importance of the Haj and the spiritual meritoriousness of those who perform it have been emphasised in a number of Traditions. We will reproduce a few of them here.
"Those who make the pilgrimage for the Haj or the Umra they are the guests of God: their petitions, if they make any to God, will be granted, and if they seek deliverance from sins, their sins will be forgiven."
"He who performs the Haj and commits no wicked or sinful deed during it and does not disobey God, he will return from it as pure and guiltless as he was at the time of his birth."
"The reward for a pure and untainted Haj is paradise itself and nothing short of it."
IMMEDIATE GAINS
The remission of sins and the enjoyment of the supreme bliss fulness of paradise as a result of the spiritual suspiciousness of the haj will, Insha Allah, surely be granted to the faithful in full measure, in life to come, but the exquisite thrill and the sublime joy one experiences, the soul-stirring sensation of delight and wonderment one feels, on seeing that choicest seat of Divine splendour- the House of Ka`aba and on visiting those special places in Mecca where the memories of Prophet Abraham and of our own Prophet (peace be upon whom) are still alive, are also things of the celestial world on the earth Then the pilgrimage to the Prophet`s mausoleum at Medina, the offering up of Namaz in his own mosque, the addressing of the salutation and the benediction to him directly, the aimless wanderings in the streets and the wilderness ot that blessed city, the breathing in of its air and the fragrance which always seems to be filling its atmosphere, the ethereal joy of the remembrance bursting upon one sometimes in laughter and sometimes in tears-all these things provided of course, that one is blessed enough to feel them are the immediate rewards a pilgrime gets when he betakes himself to the holy cities of Mecca and Madina.
FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
The five fundamental teachings of Islam we have discussed so far the Kalmah, Namaz, Zakat, Roza and Haj are known as the Five Pillars of the Faith.
A well-known Tradition of the holy Prophet tells us that, "The foundation of islam rests on these five things:
1- Declaration of Faith (Kalmah) 2- Prayer (Namaz)
3- Poor-Due (Zakat) 4- Fasting (Roza) 5- Pilgrimage (Haj)
When these five items are spoken of as the Pillars of islam it means that these are the fundamental duties of the faith, If carried out properly these duties are capable of producing in us the ability to fulfill our other religious obligations as well. Here we have dwelt only on their importance and the intrinsic spiritual virtue that underlies them. Detailed rules and principles governing them can be learnt from reliable books on islamic jurisprudence or directly from a Muslim theologian.

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