TRANSACTIONS & WORSHIP

Prayer is the second pillar of Islam. “...so let the first thing to which you will invite them be the Oneness of God. If they learn that, tell them that God has enjoined on them, five prayers to be offered in one day and one night.”[1] After a person testifies to or...

Friday is a very important day for Muslims. It is more significant and more beneficial than any other day of the week. It is the day that Muslims gather together to pray in congregation. Directly before the prayer they listen to a lecture designed to empower them with...

In the glossary of The Noble Quran[1] the term Zakat is defined as follows, “A certain fixed proportion of the wealth and of every property liable to Zakat of a Muslim to be paid yearly for the benefit of the poor in the Muslim community. The payment of Zakat is...

When many Jews and Christians view Islam from the outside, they find parallels to their own faiths that usually inspire a great deal of curiosity. These parallels are often doctrinal, sometimes regarding the biographies of Prophets shared between the three Abrahamic...

Worship and Prayer Ibadah (worship) is an Arabic word derived from abd (a slave) and it means submission. It portrays that God is your Master and you are His slave, and whatever a slave does in obedience to and for the pleasure of his Master is Ibadah. The Islamic...

Salah is the daily ritual prayer enjoined upon all Muslims as one of the five Pillars of Islam. It is performed five times a day by all Muslims. Salah is a precise worship, different from praying on the inspiration of the moment. Muslims pray or, perhaps more...

Every sound structure must have a solid foundation in order to remain strong. Islam’s foundation is the five pillars it was built upon, forming the basis of Islamic teaching as taught by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), wherein he said: Islam is built upon five...

(part 1 of 2): The Day of Arafah and its Preparation The hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, a central duty of Islam whose origins date back to the Prophet Abraham, brings together Muslims of all races and tongues for one of life’s most moving spiritual experiences. For 14...

(part 1 of 3): The Meaning of Worship The concept and purpose of worship in Islam is unparallel to any other religion in existence. It combines the mundane with the spiritual, the individual with the society, and the internal soul with the external body. Worship has a...

(part 1 of 2): Fasting Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, can be 29 or 30 days long. An Islamic month begins with the sighting of the new crescent in the western horizon, immediately after sunset. Muslims look toward the western horizon for the...

Hajj literally means ‘to set out for a place’. Islamicly, however, it refers to the annual pilgrimage that Muslims make to Makkah with the intention of performing certain religious rites in accordance with the method prescribed by the Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy...

Every year Muslims from all over the world and from all ethnic and economic backgrounds begin fasting from dawn to sunset every day during a most blessed month in the Islamic tradition, known as Ramadan. But what makes Ramadan a blessed month? Why do Muslims fast...