Alms Giving

The third Pillar of Islam is Zakat, alms giving. Zakat literally means purification. It is both an act of self-purification and a social obligation. It purifies not only a person’s soul, but also what is given or distributed to people. It reminds Muslims that their wealth is a gift from God. They have an obligation to share that wealth with others.

Zakat and Salah are often mentioned in the same Quranic verse, reinforcing its significance. Indeed, an early Muslim proverb says “Prayer carries us half-way to God, fast brings us to the door of his palace, and alms procure for us admission”.

The Zakat is constituted of a 2.5 % tax on an individual’s total wealth and assets, not merely on annual income. Today, modern forms of wealth; banks accounts, real states, stocks, etc; are included. Zakat is not viewed as voluntary. It is not simply a voluntary charity, it is an obligation. All those who received from God have an obligation to give back. It is a way of taking care of those who are poor, those who travel, those who are on pilgrimage and those who seek religious knowledge. Zakat functions as an informal social security system. It is a way in which the poor in society can receive help from those who are in a better situation.

In early Islamic times, the Zakat was collected by the government, held by central treasury, and used to help schools, hospitals, hostels and other expenses. In modern times, Zakat has been left to the conscience of individuals. Many people give it to poor members of the family and those in their surrounding areas. However, some governments in recent decades, like in Pakistan, have attempted to reintroduce the State collection and distribution of Zakat. Many people worry about how the government would actually use their taxes. Those who do not wish to pay all that they should be paying worry about the government going right into their bank accounts and taking the money.

Muslim Prayer

The Second Pillar of Islam is prayer or worship, Salah. Muslims worship five times a day. In this way, the entire day is sanctified. One experiences the presence of God through the day. In many Muslim countries, calls to prayer echo across the rooftops. Modern technologies developed novel ways of handling this. From audio and visual reminders to wrist watches, clocks and computer programs.

Salah consists of recitation from the Quran in Arabic. It is accompanied by standing, bowing, kneeling, touching the ground with one’s forehead and sitting. Muslims could pray in any clean environment. They can pray alone or together. In a mosque or at home. At work or on the road. Indoors and outside. It is still not uncommon when traveling Muslim countries to see people stop up on the street to pray, or even on a business meeting. Or to see, as I have, people praying on an airplane.

Wherever a Muslim prays, although not required, it is considered preferable and more meritorious to pray with others. This demonstrates and reinforces the sense of belonging to a common brotherhood.

When they pray, Muslims face Mecca. They face the holy city of Mecca that houses the Kaaba, the house of God, believed to have been built by Abraham and his son Ismael. Originally, Muslims faced Jerusalem. Muhammad had expected that the Jews would in time accept the message of Islam. When it became clear that that wasn’t the case, Muhammad received the revelation directing the change of the direction of prayer from Jerusalem to Mecca.

Communal Prayer

In addition to praying five times a day, once each week on Friday, Muslims have a congregational prayer, the Jumu'ah prayer. On Fridays, they go to mosques or Islamic centers to pray. This does not mean that one ceases work on Friday. This varies from country to country. What is held in common is this obligation to the common congregational prayer of Friday. This takes place every week in a mosque.

A mosque literally means a place of prostration. It is a building with a flat open space for Muslims to assemble to pray. Mosques, like churches and synagogues, can be small and simple or they can be cathedral-like structures. On one of the walls is a niche, or Mihrab, that indicates the direction of Mecca. Nearby, there is a pulpit or minbar, from which the sermon at the Friday congregational prayer is given.

In the garden, there would be a place for the faithful to perform their ritual purification before prayer. Shoes are removed before entering the mosque. At the end of formal ritual prayer, individuals are free then to offer personal prayers. These are prayers of petition or thanks giving to God.

The Muslim Confession of Faith

The first pillar of Islam is the declaration or confession of faith: “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah”. This declaration, called the Shahada, would be pronounced and heard some 14 times each day by Muslims who pray 5 times a day. In fact, it would be pronounced in many other times and occasions during a Muslim’s life.

Allah is the Arabic word for God. Who is this God? Allah is a God of mighty majesty, compassion and judgement. He is the creator, preserver, sustainer and law-giver of the universe. The reveler and just judge. As the Quran says: “He is Allah, there is no God but He”. He is the knower of the invisible and the visible. He is the merciful and the compassionate. He is sovereign, the holy the peaceable, the keeper of faith, the preserver, the mighty, the sublime.

To become a Muslim, one need only make this brief and simple confession of faith. For those of us who are used to Christian creeds and going to Christian services, one can appreciate the difference between what seems to be this simple but profound sentence and the rather lengthy varieties of Christian creeds.

The proclamation of this declaration affirms Islam’s absolute monotheism, its uncompromising belief in the oneness of God, and the idea that associating anything with God is idolatry. To associate not only other Gods but to associate other people and values. This is an unforgivable sin for those who do not repent. Thus, Islamic religious art tends to rely upon the abstract. You would not see a representation of God or Muhammad. Indeed, the human form tends to be marginalized, although there are exceptions.

The Prophet of God

The second part of the confession of faith asserts that Muhammad is not only a prophet, but also a messenger of God. It may take some of us a second to realize this distinction. In Islam, you have both prophets and messengers. Muhammad is not only coming as a prophet, but he is a messenger, somebody who brings revelation. For Muslims, Muhammad is the final prophet. He brings the final and complete revelation of the Quran.

Like Jesus Christ in Christianity, Muhammad serves as the preeminent role-model through his life and example. Unlike Jesus, Muhammad is only a human being. Muslims believe that he was a perfect follower of God. So, the believers’ effort is to follow Muhammad’s example. He is the model. The practices and sayings of the Prophet came to be collected in a corpus of traditions, called the Hadith.

Beliefs of Islam

Like Hebrew, Arabic has a consonant base root system. The Arabic root “slm”, from which the word Islam is derived, means submission and peace. It yields three important terms among many: Islam, Muslim and Salam. The word Islam literally means “submission to God”.

A Muslim is one who submits. One who seeks to realize God’s will in history, both as an individual and as a member of a worldwide community. The word Salam is the common greeting that Muslims engage in.

Muslims believe that God has given the Earth as a trust to humankind. Thus, they see themselves as God’s representatives, with the divinely mandated vocation to establish and spread God’s religion on Earth. It is on the basis of how one realizes God’s will in history that a person would be rewarded or punished. Muslims see their religion as a transnational community of believers, which should seek to spread the faith and the institutionalized Islamic order.

Children of Abraham

Islam belongs to the family of great monotheistic faiths, the children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Sarah, the wife of Abraham, grown old and childless, told Abraham to have a child with Hagar, her servant. Abraham and Hagar had a son, Ismael. Subsequently, to their astonishment, Sarah became pregnant and gave birth to Isaac.

Sarah thought her son Isaac would be overshadowed by Ismael, who was the firstborn son. Ismael would receive the inheritance as the senior male in the family. Sarah convinced Abraham to send Hagar and Ismael away. Thus, Hagar and Ismael made their way to Arabia.

Jews and Christians trace their genealogy to Abraham, through Sarah and her son Isaac. Muslims represent the other branch of the Abrahamic family. The family which descends from Abraham’s son, Ismael.

While significant differences exist, all the children of Abraham share a profound monotheism. A belief in the one transcending God. Creator, sustainor and ruler of the universe. This belief provides answers to the ultimate existential questions. Who am I? Why am I here? What should I be doing? Why does it matter if I am moral or immoral?

All three faiths traditionally affirm a belief in angels, Satan, prophets, revelation, moral accountability, divine judgement, reward and punishment, heaven and hell. Thus, for Muslims, Islam is the fulfilment and completion of God’s earlier revelations to the biblical prophets of Judaism and Christianity. Indeed, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mary are central in Muslim scripture and popular piety.

A Global Community

From the creation of the first Muslim community in 7th century Arabia to contemporary times, Muslims had debated and sought to implement God’s will in the personal as well as in public life. In their families as well as in States and societies. Thus, to be a Muslim was not simply to belong to a faith community or church, but to live in an Islamic community-State, governed by Islamic law. Many Muslims see their religion as much more than a personal faith.

Religious doctrines, laws and practices result not only from sacred texts, but also from limited human interpreters, who’s conclusions reflect their intelligence, political and social context and customs. In Islam, as in Judaism and Christianity, the word of God has been mediated through the words of human beings. Religious traditions, beliefs, laws and practices are the product of sacred texts and human interpreters.

While all Muslims believe in God, the Quran and the teachings of Muhammad; there is a rich diversity of interpretation and cultural practice. Islamic doctrines and laws developed in response to political and social questions and issues. The development of theology and politics is closely intertwined in Islam.

Islam, The Misunderstood Religion

Despite the size, global presence and significance of the Islamic community; negative images, myths, stereotypes and misinformation about Muslims continue to abound. Islam is the misunderstood religion. What I want to achieve with this site is to facilitate a better understanding of Islam’s role as a religion and as a way of life for more than 1.2 billion followers.

The study of Islam today is motivated by the terrorism of radical Islam. It is easy for many of us to forget that significant interest and awareness of Islam in recent decades was not driven by recognition that Islam was the second largest and perhaps fastest growing of the world’s religions. Its study was motivated by the challenge and threat of the Iranian Revolution, and the impact of what is called political Islam, or more popularly, Islamic fundamentalism.

Too often we see Islam through the lenses of terrorism. The actions of a deadly minority. We don’t do that with other faiths. Thus, appreciation of the faith of the vast majority of Muslims had often been obscured by the tendency to view Islam and equate it with radical or revolutionary movements.

We don’t do this when we encounter acts of violence and terrorism committed by Christians or Jews. The majority of us had been raised in a Judeo-Christian culture, and we are or know many Jews and Christians. We immediately and instinctively contextualize these acts as the acts of extremists, not representative of the mainstream.

We do not have a similar knowledge and experience of Islam and Muslims. It is hard for most of us to remember that until the late 1970’s, with the Iranian Revolution, Islam and Muslims were invisible to us. They were neither a part of our cognitive nor geographical landscape.

If one Italian moves to your neighborhood and he seems emotional, and he is the only Italian you know, you would think that all Italians are emotional. For many, the few Muslims and their actions that they see, are representatives of all Muslims.

Some time ago I was chatting online on a Muslim site. There were Muslims from all over the world. Someone from the United States appeared and said publicly “why are you in this conversation with all these terrorists?”.

You may have seen statements like these in the media by some religious (or non-religious) leaders. “Islam is Evil”. Not extremism is evil. Not drawing the line between extremism and mainstream. The very same line should be drawn when it comes to Christianity.

Facts About Islam

Here are some general and interesting facts about Islam:

1. Islam has more than 1.2 billion followers.


2. Islam is the second largest world religion, only after Christianity.


3. It is among the fastest growing ones. Some would argue that it is the fastest growing one.


4. Its more than 1.2 billion followers can be found in 56 Muslim countries, extending from North Africa to South East Asia. Also in minority communities, from Europe and America to China, Thailand and the southern Philippines.


5. Only a little more than 12% of the world’s Muslims are Arabs (yet most people equate Islam with the Arabs).


6. The majority of Muslims live in Asia and Africa.


7. The largest Muslim communities are in Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Nigeria (not one Arab country).
8. Islam has a visible presence in the West as the second largest religion in Europe. In particular France, Germany and England.


9. It probably will become the second largest in America. It is currently the third largest, after Christianity and Judaism.