Five Piller of Islam

The unifying characteristics of Islam are the Five Pillars of Islam. The five pillars are the most important obligations of a Muslim under Sharia law and which conservative Muslims perform3 faithfully. They are the foundation of traditional Muslim life and have been described in this way:

• Shahadah: The testimony that there is none worthy of worship except God and that Muhammad is his messenger.
• Salah: Establishing of the five daily prayers
• Zakat: The giving of charity which is one fortieth (2.5%) of the net worth of possessions kept for more than a year, with few exemptions, for every Muslim whose wealth exceeds the nisab, and 10% or 20% of the produce from agriculture. This money or produce is distributed among the poor.
• Ramadhan: Fasting from dawn to dusk in the month of Ramadan.
• Hajj: The pilgrimage to Mecca during the month of Dhul Hijjah, which is compulsory once in a lifetime for one who has the ability to do it.

The one on which we are focusing is Zakat since it is the pillar most closely related to the principles of humanism. Zakat is the practice of charitable giving based on accumulated wealth. It is obligatory for all Muslims who are able to do so and is the personal responsibility of each Muslim to ease the economic hardship of others and strive toward eliminating inequality. Zakat consists of spending a portion of one’s resources for the benefit of the poor or needy. A Muslim also may donate more as an act of voluntary charity rather than to achieve divine reward. Among the principles that are followed when giving the Zakat, payment may be in kind, that is, if one is wealthy, he or she needs to pay a portion of their income. But persons who are not wealthy should compensate for it in different ways such as by performing good deeds toward others. However, Zakat, as we shall see, is not the only key principle of Islam. There are many Islamic moral values which closely align with humanist moral values.