Q1 What is the first obligation in Islam?

Q2 How is prayer performed?

Q3 What is the benefit of prayer?

Q4 What is the second important obligation in Islam?

Q5 What are the advantages of fasting?

Q6 What are the implications of not fasting?

Q7 What is the third obligation in Islam?

Q8 What is the relationship between zakah and worship?

Q9 What are the general benefits of zakah for society?

Q10 What is the fourth obligation in Islam?

Q11 What is the pilgrimage?

Q12 What is the significance of Islam?

Q13 What are the benefits of Hajj?

Q14 How can Muslims defend Islam?

Q15 Is this what is known as Jihad?

Q1 What is the first obligation in Islam?
Salah is the most fundamental and the most important of obligations in Islam. Salah is the prescribed daily prayer that consists of repeating and refreshing the beliefs in which you repose your faith five times a day. The various poses that you assume during your prayers are the very embodiment of the spirit of submission; the various recitals remind you of your commitment to God. You seek His guidance and ask Him again and again to enable you to avoid His Wrath and follow His Chosen path. You read out from the book of the Lord and express witness to the truth of the Prophets. You also refresh your belief in the Day of Judgment and enliven your memory by remembering the fact that you have to appear before your Lord and give an account of your entire life.

Q2 How is prayer performed?
Before performing Salah you perform ablution (ritual washing) in the way prescribed by the Holy Prophet (blessing of Allah and peace be upon him). You say your prayers according to the instructions of the Prophet. Why do you do so? Simply because you believe in the prophethood of Muhammad (blessing of Allah and peace be upon him) and deem it your bounden duty to follow him ungrudgingly. In prayers you recite many things quietly. If you do not recite them or make any deviation from the prescribed manner there is no one to check you. But you never do so intentionally. Why? Because you believe that God is ever watchful, is listening to all that you recite and is aware of all things - both open and hidden. What makes you say your prayers at places where there is no one to ask you to offer them or even to see you offering them? Is it not because of your belief that God is always looking at you? What makes you leave some important business and hurry towards the mosque for prayers? What makes you break your sweet sleep in the early hours of the morning, come to the mosque in the heat of noon and leave your evening entertainment for the sake of prayers? Is it anything other than your sense of duty - your realization that you must fulfill your responsibility to the Lord, come what may? And why are you afraid of any mistake in your prayer? Because your heart is filled with the fear of God and you know that you have to appear before Him on the Day of Judgement and give an account of your entire life.

Q3 What is the benefit of prayer?
Now look! Can there be a better course of moral and spiritual training than prayers? It is this training which makes a man a perfect Muslim. It reminds him of his covenant with God, refreshes his faith in Him and keeps his belief in the Day of Judgement alive and ever present in his mind. It makes him follow the Prophet and trains him in the observance of his duties. This is a strict training for matching one's practice to one's ideals.

Q4 What is the second obligation in Islam?
What prayers seek to do five times a day, fasting in the month of Ramadan (the ninth month of the lunar year) does once a year. During this period we eat not a grain of food, nor drink a drop of water from dawn to dusk, no matter how delicious the dish or how hungry or thirsty we feel. What is it that makes us voluntarily undergo such rigours? It is nothing but faith in God and the fear of Him and the Day of judgement. Each and every moment during our fast we suppress our passions and desires, and by doing so proclaim the supremacy of the Law of God. This consciousness of duty and spirit of patience that incessant fasting for a whole month inculcates in us helps to strengthen our faith. Rigour and discipline during this month bring us face to face with the realities of life and help us lead a life of true subservience to His Will during the rest of the year.

Q5 What are the advantages of fasting?
Fasting has an immense impact on society. All Muslims, irrespective of their status, must fast during the same month. This emphasizes the essential equality of men and thus goes a long way towards creating in them sentiments of love and brotherhood. During Ramadan evil conceals itself while good comes to the fore and the whole atmosphere is filled with piety and purity.

Q6 What are the implications of not fasting?
Fasting has been imposed on us for our own advantage. Those who do not fulfill this primary duty cannot be relied on to discharge other duties. Some of the worst people are those who do not hesitate to eat or drink in public during this month. They show by their conduct that they care naught for the commands of Allah - Allah in whom they profess belief as their Creator and Sustainer. Not only this, they also show that they are not loyal members of the Muslim community - rather, they have nothing to do with it. Only the worst can be expected of such hypocrisy.

Q7 What is the third obligation in Islam?
The third obligation is Zakah. Every Muslim whose finances are above a certain specified minimum must pay 21 per cent of his cash balance annually to a deserving fellow being, a new convert to Islam, a traveler, or a person under debt. This is the minimum. The more you pay, the greater the reward that Allah will bestow on you. The money that you pay as Zakah is not something Allah needs or receives - He is above any want and desire. He, in His benign mercy, promises us manifold rewards if we help our brethren. But there is one basic condition for being rewarded: when we pay in the name of Allah we shall neither expect nor demand any worldly gains from the beneficiaries nor aim at becoming known as philanthropists.

Q8 What is the relationship between zakah and worship?
Zakah is as basic to Islam as all other forms of worship (ibadah): salah (prayer) and saum (fasting). Its fundamental importance lies in the fact that it fosters the quality of sacrifice in us, and rids us of selfishness and plutolatry. Islam accepts within its fold only those who are ready to willingly give away some of their hard-earned wealth in God's way without any temporal or personal gain. It has nothing to do with misers. A true Muslim will, when the call comes, sacrifice all his belongings in the way of Allah, for zakah has already trained him to do so.

Q9 What are the general benefits of zakah for society?
Muslim society has much to gain from the institution of Zakah. It is the bounden duty of every well-to-do Muslim to help his lowly-placed, poor brethren. His wealth is not to be spent solely for his own comfort and luxury - there are rightful claimants on his wealth and they are the nation's widows, orphans, the poor, invalids, those who have the ability but lack the means to get useful employment, and those who have the talent but not the money to acquire knowledge and become useful members of the community . He who does not recognise the call on his wealth of such members of his own community is indeed cruel. For there could be no greater cruelty than to fill one's own coffers while others die of hunger or suffer the agonies of unemployment. Islam is a sworn enemy of selfishness, greed and acquisitiveness.

Q10 What is the fourth obligation in Islam? Hajj, or the Pilgrimage to Makkah, is the fourth obligation in Islam.

Q11 What is the pilgrimage?
Makkah stands at the site of a small house that the Prophet Abraham (God's blessing be upon him) built for the worship of Allah. Allah rewarded him by calling it His own House and by making it the centre towards which all must face when saying prayers. He also made it obligatory on those who can afford it to visit this place at least once in a lifetime. This visit is not merely a courtesy call. This pilgrimage has its rites and conditions that must be fulfilled and which also inculcate in us piety and goodness. When we undertake the pilgrimage, we are required to suppress or passions, refrain from bloodshed and be pure in word and deed. God promises rewards for our sincerity and submissiveness.

Q12 What is the significance of Islam?
The pilgrimage is, in a way, the biggest of all 'Ibadah' - i.e. worship. For unless a man really loves God he never undertakes such a long journey leaving all his near and dear ones behind him. And this pilgrimage is unlike any other journey. Here his thoughts are concentrated on Allah, his very being vibrates with the spirit of intense devotion. When he reaches the holy place, he finds the atmosphere filled with piety and godliness; he visits places which bear witness to the glory of Islam, and all this leaves an indelible impression on his mind, which he carries to his last breath.

Q13 What are the benefits of Hajj?
As in other forms of worship, there are many benefits that Muslims can derive from the pilgrimage. Makkah is the centre towards which Muslims must converge once a year, meet and discuss topics of common interest, and in general create and refresh in themselves the fact that all Muslims are equal and deserve the love and sympathy of others irrespective of their geographical or cultural origin. Thus the pilgrimage unites the Muslims of the world into one international fraternity.

Q14 How can Muslims defend Islam?
Although the defence of Islam is not a fundamental tenent, it's need and importance have been repeatedly emphasized in the Qur'an and the Hadith. It is in essence a test of our sincerity and truthfulness as believers in Islam. If we do not defend one whom we call our friend against intrigues or open assaults from his foes, or are drawn towards our friends enemy solely by selfishness, then we are indeed false friends. Similarly, if we profess belief in Islam, we must jealously guard and uphold the prestige of Islam. The sole guide in our conduct must be the interest of Muslims at large and the service of Islam, in the face of which all our personal considerations must take a back seat.

Q15 Is this what is known as Jihad?
Jihad is part of the overall defence of Islam. Jihad means to struggle to the utmost of one's capacity. A man who exerts himself physically or mentally or spends his wealth in the way of Allah is indeed engaged in Jihad. But in the language of the Shari'ah this word is used particularly for a war that is waged solely in the name of Allah against those who practice oppression as enemies of Islam.