The Five Pillars of Islam

Shahada - Testimony of faith - There is no God worthy of worship except Allah, alone, without any partners.
Muhammed is the Messenger of Allah

Salah - 5 Ritual Daily Prayers - At fixed times requiring purification by abulution in water (Wudhu) or with clean earth if no clean water is available (Tayammum)

Sawm - To fast from food, drink and sexual relations from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramadan.

Zakat- Purification of Wealth - 2.5% to be paid on your savings or excess per year

Hajj - Pilgrimmage to Mecca - To be undertaken at least once in your life if you have the means.

For more about Islam please contact either the Islamic Foundation of Ireland or the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland. (Google them for contact details)

Islam is action. Faith is an inner state of mind – belief in God, His angels, all His revealed books, all His messengers, the Last Day and predestination

The 5 pillars of Islam are
1. To witness there is no god but Allah (the Creator) and that Muhammad is his servant & messenger
2. Prayer (5 times a day)
3. Fasting in the lunar month of Ramadan (once a year)
4. Paying obligatory charity ie. Zakat (once a year)
5. Performing pilgrimmage if able (once a life)


Prophet Muhammad was sent to ALL humans not just Arabs, whereas previous prophets were sent to specific people eg. Jesus was sent to the Jews.

Everyone is born a muslim
Islam ie. Submission to God is the natural inclination of every human being. It is his family who make him a Christian, or Jew for example.

Islam does not allow Muslims to declare war against a peaceful non-Muslim neighbour.
Islam prohibits aggression by Muslims, but at the same time urges Muslims to fight aggressors. Muslims must fight in self-defence when they are attacked by others, and if they are driven out of their homeland they must fight to restore their land.

Prophet Muhammad was illiterate
Unable to read or write - he just spoke the truth from God. The Qur’an is the book revealed by God to Prophet Muhammad through the Angel Gabriel. He is the last prophet – the Seal of the prophets. Even the sayings of Muhammad are God’s revelation in meaning.


It is wrong to call Islam Muhammadism because
1.God calls the religion Islam and calls its followers Muslims.
2. There is no valid argument for calling it and them otherwise.
3. Islam is not made by Muhammad – he is just a prophet. To call Islam Muhammadanism is to falsely claim that Muhammad is the founder of Islam, which is false. Adam was the first muslim, Abraham was muslim and so were all the prophets including Jesus.

Suicide is not allowed in Islam

There is a difference between Islam and Muslims
Muslims are individuals who have accepted Islam as their religion. These Muslims vary as to the degree of abiding by Islam. Some of them are merely Muslims in name, some are poor in their degree Islam, some are good and some are excellent. Not all Muslims abide by Islam thoroughly in their daily practice and behaviour, which has always been the case with all the followers of prophets. There has always been hippocrites. You should not blame Islam for what some Muslims do.

Islam is a perfect ideal code of life and the duty of every Muslim is to abide by Islam to the best of his capability.