throughout the year. Muslims are encouraged to fast
six days in Shawwal, the month following Ramadan, Mondays and Thursdays, and the
ninth and tenth, or tenth and eleventh of Muharram, the first month of the year.
The tenth day, called Ashurah, is also a fast day for the Jews (Yom Kippur), and
Allah commanded the Muslims to fast two days to distinguish themselves from the
People of the Book.
While fasting per se is encouraged, constant fasting, as well as monasticism,
celibacy, and otherwise retreating from the real world, are condemned in Islam.
Fasting on the two festival days, 'Id al-Fitr and 'Id al-Adha, the feast of the
Hajj, is strictly forbidden.
ZakaT.
The
third pillar of Islam is the alms-tax (Zakah). It is a tax on wealth, payable on
various categories of property, notably savings and investments, produce,
inventory of goods, salable crops and cattle, and precious metals, and is to be
used for the various categories of distribution specified by Islamic law. It is
also an act of purification through sharing what one has with others.
The
rationale behind this is that Muslims believe that everything belongs to God,
and wealth is held by man as a trust. This trust must be discharged, moreover,
as instructed by God, as that portion of our wealth legally belongs to other
people and must be given to them. If we refuse and hoard this wealth, it is
considered impure and unclean. If, for example one were to use that wealth for
charity or to finance one's pilgrimage to Makkah, those acts would also be
impure, invalid, and of course unrewarded. Allah says:
"Of their wealth, take alms so
you may purify and sanctify them." [9:103]
The
word Zakah means purification and growth. Our possessions are purified by
setting aside that portion of it for those in need. Each Muslim calculates his
or her own Zakah individually.
For
most purposes this involves the payment each year of 2.5% of one's capital,
provided that this capital reaches a certain minimum amount that which is not
consumed by its owner. A generous person can pay more than this amount, though
it is treated and rewarded as voluntary charity (Sadaqah). This amount of money
is provided to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, and can be used in
many useful projects for the welfare of the community.
Historically the pillar of Zakah became mandatory on Muslims form the second
year after the Hijrah, 622 C.E. It is mentioned more than thirty times in the
Qur'an, usually in the same breath as Salah. So important is this pillar that
one is not considered a part of the Islamic brotherhood if one ignores this
obligation.
Hajj.
The
fifth pillar of Islam is to make a pilgrimage (Hajj) to Makkah, in Saudi Arabia,
at least once in one's lifetime. This pillar is obligatory for every Muslim,
male or female, provided that he/she is physically and financially able to do
so. Prerequisites for performing the Hajj are to be a Muslim, to be free, to be
an adult or mature enough, to be of sound mind, and to have the ability to
afford the journey and maintain one's dependents back home for the duration. The
reward for the Hajj is nothing less than Paradise.
The
Hajj is the ultimate form of worship, as it involves the spirit of all the other
rituals and demands of the believer great sacrifice. On this unique occasion,
nearly two million Muslims from all over the globe meet one another in a given
year. Regardless of the season, pilgrims wear special clothes (Ihram) - two,
very simple, unsewn white garments - which strips away all distinctions of
wealth, status, class and culture; all stand together and equal before Allah
(God).
The
rites of Hajj, which go back to the time of Prophet Abraham who built the Ka'bah,
are observed over five or six days, beginning on the eighth day of the last
month of the year, named Dhul-Hijjah (pilgrimage). These rites include
circumambulating the Ka'bah (Tawwaf), and going between the mountains of Safa
and Marwah, as Hazrat Bibi Hajjarah (Hazrat Ibraham's wife) did during her
search for water for her son Hazrat Isma'il. Then the pilgrims stand together on
the wide plain of Arafah and join in prayers for God's forgiveness, in what is
often thought of as a preview of the Last Judgment. The pilgrims also cast
stones at a stone pillar which represents Satan. The pilgrimage ends with a
festival, called 'Eid al-Azha’, which is celebrated with prayers, the sacrifice
of an animal, and the exchange of greetings and gifts in Muslim communities
everywhere.
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fikreraza.net
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FREEDOM IS A
RIGHT IN TODAY'S MODERN WORLD.
WHEN MUSLIMS
WANT TO GET FREEDOM FROM THE CRUEL NON-MUSLIMS
IT IS CALLED
"TERRORISM"
WHILE THE
NON-MUSLIMS WANT FREEDOM THROUGH TERRORISM FROM MUSLIMS
IT IS CALLED
"THEY WANT FREEDOM"
WHEN THE
MUSLIMS OF KASHMIR, PALESTINE, PHILIPPINES, BURMA(MYNARMAR), CHECHNYA, BOSNIA, AFGHANISTAN,
IRAQ ETC AND MANY MORE COUNTRIES
WANT FREEDOM
FROM THE CRUELISM, THEY ARE CALLED TERRORISTS
WHILE THE
non-Muslims OF EASTERN TIMOR WANT TO GET FREEDOM THROUGH
TERRORISM
THEY ARE
CALLED FREEDOM FIGHTERS
is this
a justice?
remember! Allah is the greatest and he sees each and every
un-justified aspect
this
world is mortal while only the Allah is immortal.
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