The ‘Five Pillars’ of Islam

روي أنه قال رسول الله صلى الله

عليه وسلم:

بني الإسلام على خمس شهادة أن

لا إله إلا الله وأن محمدا رسول الله وإقام الصلاة وإيتاء الزكاة وصوم رمضان وحج

البيت.

فقال رجل (لإبن عمر) الحج وصيام

رمضان؟ قال (ابن عمر): لا، صيام رمضان والحج هكذا سمعته من رسول الله صلى الله

عليه وسلم. فقال له رجل والجهاد في سبيل الله؟ قال ابن عمر: الجهاد حسن. هكذا

جدثنا رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم.

It is narrated that the Prophet (pbuh) said: ‘Islam is based on five things¹:

declaring that there is no god, except the One God and that Muhammad is a

messenger of God; establishing regular Sala’h; paying Zaka’h;

Fasting during [the month of] Ramadan and performing Hajj of the

Bayet Allah².’

 

A person asked Ibn Omar: ‘Is it Hajj and Fasting during the month of

Ramadan?’ Ibn Omar replied: ‘No. It is fasting during Ramadan and

then Hajj. This is how I heard it from the Prophet (pbuh)³.’

A person asked him: ‘What do say about Jihad in the way of God?⁴‘

Ibn Omar replied: ‘Jihad is a good deed [but not a pillar of Islam],

this is how the Prophet (pbuh) explained to us.’

***************

General Notes:

1. These ‘five things’ are generally known as

   the ‘Five Pillars’ of Islam. These ‘five pillars’ are the observable

   distinctive features of the followers of the Islamic faith from those of all

   the other creeds. The first among these pillars relates to the declaration of

   one’s faith, as prescribed by Islam, in the One God and His prophet, while the

   remaining four relate to the purely religious or worship rituals of Islam.

2. i.e. the Ka`bah.

3. These words clearly imply the importance

   given by the narrator to the stated sequence in the ‘Five Pillars’. However,

   it should be noted that there are other narratives in which the sequence of

   these ‘Five Pillars’ has been altered with Hajj being placed before

   Fasting.

4. This question clearly implies that the

   person considered Jihad to be among the essential absolute directives

   of Islam, which deserved to be placed with the Five essential pillars of

   Islam.

Notes on the Text of the Narrative:

This narrative or a part of it, with minor variations, has

been reported in Bukhariy (narrative no. 8 and 4243), Muslim

(narrative no. 16), Tirmidhi (narrative no. 2609), Nasaiy

(narrative no. 5001), Ahmad ibn Hanbal (narrative no. 4798, 5672, 6015,

6301, 19240 and 19246), Ibn Khuzaymah (narrative no. 308, 309, 1880, 1881

and 2505), Ibn Hibban (narrative no. 158 and 1446), Bayhaqiy

(narrative no. 1561, 7013 and 7680), Ibn Abi Shaybah (narrative no. 19563

and 30311), Abd al-Razzaq (narrative no. 5011, 9279, 9280), Al-Humaidiy

(narrative no. 703) Nasaiy’s Sunan Al-Kubraa (narrative no. 11732), Abu

Ya`laa (narrative no. 5788, 7502 and 7507). Except where otherwise specified,

the preferred text of the narrative is the one reported in Tirmidhi,

narrative no. 2609.

In one of the variations of the narrative, as reported in

Musannaf Abd al-Razzaq, narrative no. 5011, the sentence

“بني الإسلام على خمس“

(i.e., ‘Islam is based on Five things) is reported as

“بني الإسلام على ثمانية أسهم“

(i.e., ‘Islam is based on eight divisions’). Subsequently, in that narrative,

there is an addition of the phrase

المنكر“ (i.e., ‘to promote the doing of good and the

refraining from evil’), after the reference to Hajj and then the

narrative ends with the words:

“وقد خاب من لا سهم له“

(i.e., ‘Any person, who has none of these divisions in his account shall be

among the losers’)

In some narratives, as for instance, in Muslim

(narrative no. 16), the phrase

محمدا رسول الله“ (i.e., ‘to bear witness that there is no

god, except the One God and that Muhammad is a messenger of God’) has been

replaced by

“أن يوحد الله“

(i.e., ‘that he declares the oneness of God’) while in Muslim, narrative

no. 16, this phrase has been replaced by

“أن يعبد الله ويكفر بما دونه“

(i.e., ‘that you worship only the one God and reject [the  worship of] all else

besides Him’).

The narrative has been reported in an interesting background

in Bukhariy, narrative no. 4243 as follows:

روي

أنه جاء إلى عبد الله بن عمر رجلان في فتنة بن الزبير فقالا إن الناس ضيعوا وأنت

بن عمر وصاحب النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فما يمنعك أن تخرج فقال يمنعني أن الله

حرم دم أخي فقالا ألم يقل الله ﴿وقاتلوهم حتى لا تكون فتنة﴾ فقال قاتلنا حتى لم

تكن فتنة وكان الدين لله وأنتم تريدون أن تقاتلوا حتى تكون فتنة ويكون الدين لغير

الله وزاد عثمان بن صالح عن بن وهب قال أخبرني فلان وحيوة بن شريح عن بكر بن عمرو

المعافري أن بكير بن عبد الله حدثه عن نافع أن رجلا أتى بن عمر فقال يا أبا عبد

الرحمن ما حملك على أن تحج عاما وتعتمر عاما وتترك الجهاد في سبيل الله عز وجل قد

علمت ما رغب الله فيه قال يا بن أخي بني الإسلام على

خمس إيمان بالله ورسوله والصلاة الخمس وصيام رمضان وأداء الزكاة وحج البيت

قال يا أبا عبد الرحمن ألا تسمع ما ذكر الله في كتابه ﴿وإن طائفتان من

المؤمنين اقتتلوا فأصلحوا بينهما فإن بغت إحداهما على الأخرى فقاتلوا التي تبغي

حتى تفيء إلى أمر الله﴾ ﴿قاتلوهم حتى لا تكون فتنة﴾ قال فعلنا على عهد رسول الله

صلى الله عليه وسلم وكان الإسلام قليلا فكان الرجل يفتن في دينه إما قتلوه وإما

يعذبونه حتى كثر الإسلام فلم تكن فتنة قال فما قولك في علي وعثمان قال أما عثمان

فكأن الله عفا عنه وأما أنتم فكرهتم أن تعفوا عنه وأما علي فابن عم رسول الله صلى

الله عليه وسلم وختنه وأشار بيده فقال هذا بيته حيث ترون.

It is narrated that once two men visited Abd

Allah ibn Omar (ra), during the turmoil of Abd Allah ibn Zubair. They said:

‘People are being wasted [around you], while you – the son of Omar (ra) and a

companion of the Prophet (pbuh) – remain aloof of the situation. What is it

that hinders you from going out [and participating in the situation]?’ He

said: ‘What hinders me is that God has prohibited upon me the blood of my

brother’. They asked: ‘Has God not ordained: “Fight them, till persecution

ends”?’ He said: ‘We fought till the end of persecution [with the Prophet] and

till the religion of God reigned supreme, while you desire to fight to create

disorder [and persecution] to render supreme the religion of other than God.’

Another narrator has reported this incident thus: A person visited Ibn Omar

and said: ‘Abu Abd al-Rahman, what promotes you to undertake Hajj

during one year and Umrah during another and ignore to undertake

Jihad, in the way of Allah, even though you are well aware of how much God

has promoted it?’ He replied: ‘My dear nephew, Islam is based on five things:

Belief in the One God and His prophet; five prayers, fasting during [the month

of] Ramadan; payment of Zaka’h and performing Hajj of the

Bayet Allah.’ He said: ‘Abu Abd al-Rahman, have you not heard what God

has said in His Book: “If two groups from among the Muslims fight each other,

then make peace between them. After this, if one of the groups transgresses

against the other [disregarding the agreement of truce], then fight the

transgressor, till it returns to submission to God’s commandments” and “Fight

them till the end of persecution”.’ Ibn Omar said: ‘We did this during the

times of the Prophet (pbuh). At that time, Islam was an insignificant force

and man was persecuted because of his [choice of God’s] religion – they would

either kill him or severely torment him. Then Islam gained force and,

subsequently, all persecution ceased.’ The man said: ‘What is your opinion

about Uthman and Ali?’ Ibn Omar (ra) said: ‘As for Uthman, it is as if God has

already pardoned him [for his mistake]. However, you are not willing to

forgive him [for his mistakes]. While as for Ali, he was the cousin and the

son-in-law of the Prophet (pbuh), this is his house, where you see it [next to

the Prophet’s house].’

In Musannaf Abd al-Razzaq, narrative no. 9280, there

is an addition of the phrase

المنكر“ (i.e., ‘to promote the doing of good and the

refraining from evil’), after the reference to Hajj.

The portion

الله صلى الله عليه وسلم” is reported in Muslim, narrative

no. 16. It may, however, be noted that in a few other narratives, as  for

instance in Muslim’s narrative no. 16, the sequence of these “five pillars” is

slightly changed, with Hajj being mentioned before the Fasting during the

month of Ramadan.

In Abd al-Razzaq, narrative no. 9279, the sentence

“والجهاد حسن” (i.e., ‘Jihad is

a good deed’) is replaced by

“وإن الجهاد والصدقة من العمل الحسن”

(i.e. ‘Indeed Jihad and charity are among good deeds [but not among the

five pillars of Islam]’).

The portion

الله عليه وسلم” is reported in Ahmad ibn Hanbal, narrative

no. 4798.

(This write-up is prepared by the Hadith Cell of

Javed Ahmad Ghamidi)