What are the five pillars of Islam?
Shahādah, ṣalāh, zakāt, ṣawm, ḥajj — the five foundations of the religion. The classical scholars wrote about each one not as a duty to complete, but as a door.
10 passages from 5 books in the library
The five pillars are the shahādah, ṣalāh, zakāt, ṣawm, and ḥajj. The classical scholars treated each as a door rather than a mere duty. Al-Ghazali names pilgrimage as one of the pillars and foundations of Islam, an act of worship, and describes zakāt as a binding obligation from God whose purity grows with the joy of giving. He notes zakāt falls into categories such as livestock, gold and silver, trade, minerals, and produce, and that Ḥajj centers on Arafah — "Hajj is Arafah" — with contentment in its hardships a sign of acceptance.
Drawn from the classical sources below — in the scholars' own words.
The classical approach.
These passages are drawn from 5 books by Imam al-Ghazali and Ibn Battuta — part of the classical Sunni tradition that carries over a thousand years of reflection on the Qurʾān, the authentic Sunnah, and the consensus of the early community. Nothing below is a paraphrase. The words are the scholars' own, translated from the original Arabic manuscripts.
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"Zakat is categorized into six types, zakat on livestock, zakat on gold and silver, zakat"
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"on trade, zakat on buried wealth and minerals, zakat on agricultural produce, and zakat"
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"If all the poor left zakat, they would sin, as zakat is a due obligation from God Almighty"
14th century · Tangier, Morocco
The Riḥlah — a 30-year, 75,000-mile journey across three continents, and the most important travel account of the pre-modern world.
More on Ibn Battuta →
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"Hajj Ahmad Tabrizi, Hajj Ibrahim Kanawi, Hajj Hussain Khorasani, and the two Hajjas"
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"This contentment is a sign of the acceptance of one's hajj. Adversity on the path of hajj holds"
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"To proceed, among the pillars and foundations of Islam, the pilgrimage, or Hajj, is a worship"
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"must precede Hajj. Thirdly, Umrah should occur during the months of Hajj. Fourthly, one must"
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"The Hajj acts suffice, and Umrah is incorporated into Hajj. If one performs Tawaf and Sa'i"
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"performing hajj might perform hajj while deluded, whereas they should prioritize their parents'"
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"The Hadith about Hajj states, Hajj is Arafah, understood to mean its chief part is Arafah."
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