Islam Section A

Question 1

The Five Pillars

Answer 1

1) Shahada
2) Salat
3) Zakat
4) Ramadan
5) Hajj

Question 2

Shahada

Answer 2

• First pillar of Islam
• Islam’s fundamental doctrinal belief that must be uttered at least once in a Muslim’s lifetime
• “Testimony” of faith: “I testify that there is no god but God and Muhammad is his messenger”
• All Islamic activity depends on this statement
• Only necessary to say it once, but in practice Muslims recite it frequently in daily prayer

Question 3

Salat

Answer 3

• Second pillar of Islam
• Ritual prayers performed five times a day everyday
• Includes ritual purity (washing of body–major and minor) and congregational prayer (two or more people praying together)
• Koran commands salat more than any other activity

Question 4

Zakat

Answer 4

• Third pillar of Islam
• Commonly translated as “Alms tax”
• Percentage of one’s profit for the year that is paid to the needy
• 8 categories of who should be given zakat: needy, poor, those who collect zakat, those whose hearts are to be reconciled to Islam, captives, those in debt, those fighting God’s path, and travellers.

Question 5

Hajj

Answer 5

• Fifth pillar of Islam
• To make the pilgrimage to the house of God in Mecca, where Adam built a sanctuary, if you are able.
• Set of rituals performed in and around Mecca every year
• ->Much easier to accomplish nowadays

Question 6

Ramadan

Answer 6

• Fourth pillar of islam
• Abstention from food, drink, and sexual intercourse from dawn until sunset during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar

Question 7

What do some authorities hold to be the sixth pillar of Islam?

Answer 7

• Jihad
• Literally “holy war”, which is a misleading and inaccurate translation
• Basic meaning means “struggle in the path of God”
• It is simply the complement to Islam–salat, zakat, and Ramadan, and Hajj are all struggles in the path of God

Question 8

How is the Arabic form of the Koran in many ways more important than the text’s meaning?

Answer 8

• Only the Arabic Koran is the Koran, translations are simply interpretations
• The Arabic form of Koran is often more important than the text meaning because it can be interpreted in so many different ways
• Each word has a richness having to do with the special genius of the Arabic language
• Many Arabic words/verses do not have direct translations to other languages

Question 9

Tanzih

Answer 9

• Literally to “declare something pure and free of something else”
• God is pure and free of all imperfections of the creatures
• He cannot be compared to any created thing, including concepts, since all our ideas are created
• “Nothing is like him”
• God is one and God alone is Real
• Names of Majesty and Wrath are more closely related to Tanzih because they assert is tremendousness

Question 10

Tashbih

Answer 10

• Means “to declare something similar to something else”
• God must have some similarity to his creatures
• All divine names suggest some sort of tashbih because for ex. calling God Compassionate, we are thinking of our own understanding of compassion
• Declares that God’s oneness is such that his reality embraces all creatures
• Beautiful and merciful names stress tashbih more than tanzih

Question 11

How and to what extent is the Islamic principle that God is one (tawhid) related to the injunction that worship should be reserved for God alone?

Answer 11

• Tawhid is the encompassing of the two complementary factors of tashbih and tanzih
• It expresses the oneness of God who is the only true reality
• God is without partners who share his divinity
• Allah is the only one who Muslims should worship–all other objects of worship are false
• To serve anything else is to be guilty of shirk– the only unforgivable sin
• Explains the nature of God and how the various creatures, including angels, are connected to God

Question 12

How and to what extent is the Islamic principle that God is one (tawhid) related to the injunction that worship should be reserved for God alone?

Answer 12

• Tawhid is the encompassing of the two complementary factors of tashbih and tanzih
• It expresses the oneness of God who is the only true reality
• God is without partners who share his divinity
• Allah is the only one who Muslims should worship–all other objects of worship are false
• To serve anything else is to be guilty of shirk– the only unforgivable sin