Our Islam

WAT IS ISLAM ? (2)

Deuxiéme partie

 

1) Prayer

 It is an act of adoration, submission, appeal to Allah that we seek the grace and intimacy.In its effort to create the atmosphere of the reign of God on earth, Islam has prescribed five daily prayers in common to five different times, thus offering the opportunity to be faithful always and everywhere in the presence of its creator: at dawn, when the sun leaves the zenith and decline, by mid-afternoon, dusk and early night.The feeling of divine presence, at any moment, is an excellent support for consciousness.

 Spiritual benefits of prayer

Through prayer, we become scrupulous, one acquires the strength to resist temptations and firmness in what one does.The soul is proud and feels worse than before the revulsion and disgust.

It is in this sense that the Quran, says:

"In truth, prayer preserves of vice and evil"

Prayer is essentially three elements: first, the feeling of humility before the majestic presence of God, then, recognition of the divine superiority and the adoption for its body and all organs of the posture of compliance required.

Material benefits of prayer

Such is the spiritual aspect of prayer.Its uses are many, even in material terms: he meets five times a day the inhabitants of a city, gives the possibility of relaxing a few minutes and brings together top figures as the most humble, in perfect equality.

The prayers outside the five daily prayers

Apart from these five daily prayers, Friday, when the sun declines from the zenith is completed with a prayer that has a sense of community and it has the character of a solemn service.There is also the prayer of the two canonical festivals marking the one breaking the fast of Ramadan and the other the sacrifice of pilgrimage.

A side of the prayers, there are those called on the remains and those optional.
  

2) Fasting

The third religious duty of a Muslim is fasting for one month each year.This requirement begins at the sight of the crescent of the new moon of Ramadan (9th month) and ends at the sight of the following month.Month and includes 29 or 30 days.

It is incumbent upon every Muslim man or woman, endowed with reason, legally capable and physically fit to perform it.In prepubertal children are taught, and unbalanced.May defer their accomplishment at a date at their convenience, patients, women in childbirth or having their menses, those who are pregnant or nursing women and travelers.

The fast begins before dawn and ends at sunset.It excludes all food, all beverages, tobacco, etc..

The faithful normally done after fasting must, at dusk, taking break something light (tradition suggest some dates) before performing the dusk prayer and then dinner.

Matiériels benefits of fasting

Fasting, spiritual discipline, must be accomplished in a spirit of obedience to God and gratitude to Him.But they've also derives material benefits on hygiene, military training, development of will.

It's a myth to say that fasting in the Islamic sense of deprivation of food and drink, is contrary to the needs of human health.Biological observations show that wild animals do not find anything to eat when it snows.Then they start hibernating, or spend time in fasting and that the younger the approach of spring.It is the same tree: in winter they lose their leaves and sleep.And they are not even watered.After several months of fasting, they are rejuvenated in the spring and become more rigorous than before.

Even minerals require fasting motors and machinery must stop after a few hours of walking, and the rest gives them their strength.Indeed, like all animal organs, digestive system also needs rest.Fasting is the only conceivable way for this.

In recent times, appeared in the West, a new therapy that addresses chronic disease especially by fasting for short or long term depending on the needs of each patient.There is also a kind of cure against obesity, stomach or gastric disorders.
  

3) The obligatory alms

It is an obligation for every Muslim who has a taxable level.In Islam, alms that appears both as an act of worship, charity, social contribution, a gesture of charity and duty of solidarity.

The aim of the charity is:

1.Purify the soul of avarice, greed and lust;

2.Help the poor and provide for the needy and the underprivileged;

3.Create works of public utility.

The property subject to alms

The property subject to mandatory alms are gold, silver, bank notes, the savings, the commercial capital, agricultural products, cattle.

So, a Muslim who owns the taxable amount of these assets should pay alms to the rate of 2.5% annually.

Alongside this alms, alms there breaking the fast.It must be paid annually to the poor at the end of Ramadan.

Islam therefore recognizes that material goods are the basis and essential means of subsistence of mankind and society.That's why he raised this alms to the rank of the four basic practices.
  

4) The pilgrimage

It is the fifth religious duty of Muslims.It is obligatory on every adult, man or woman, to visit once in a lifetime to Mecca to perform all the rites of pilgrimage.Those who do not have the material means of travel are exempted, but what Muslim gradually gathers no money to be able one day to visit the center of his religion, the Ka'bah, Allah's house?

The Ka'bah is the oldest house dedicated to Allah

The Quran, not exaggerating when he says that the Ka'bah is the oldest house dedicated to Allah, the monotheistic worship.Even if we do not traced to Ibrahim (peace be upon him) (who according to Islamic tradition, was the restorer of the edifice built by Adam (peace be upon him), that would be a more ancient templeas Jerusalem, built by Suleiman (PBUH).

There is no known place of worship still in office, older than the Ka'bah in Mecca.

Commemoration events of the patriarch Ibrahim

By performing the pilgrimage, it is an act of obedience to Allah, fidelity to the Tradition of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and it commemorates a great memory: the memory of an event which was submitted to the patriarch Ibrahim(PBUH), his triumph with the purity of his faith, the weakness of his heart and the temptations of any seducer.

The social aspect of the pilgrimage

As for the social aspect of the pilgrimage, it is no less striking: the world brotherhood of Muslims is manifested in a striking manner: the believers, without distinction of race or language, or regions, or even class, must go there, mingle in the most perfect equality and brotherhood are doing their religious duty in common.

Quran, Hadith and: basic sources of the Act

In short, Islam is based on the universal relationship between Allah and man:

Allah is the Absolute, and man, in his deepest nature.Islam seeks to build a balance in life by channeling with the aid of divine law, all needs and all the natural inclinations of man, all his desires and all its appetites such as food, protect themselves, childbearing, ...because he has received from Allah and they are necessary for its life.This divine law is entirely contained in the Quran, which is the word of Allah.What is in the Quran, however, that the principle of all law.

These principles have been developed and explained in the Hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is the second basic source of legislation.

The law is for Islam, the way that allows the integration of human society.It is, for humans, the ability to give meaning to his religious life.Time doing any act in accordance with the law is transformed into a religious act.

The law makes the act of earning his daily bread a religious act that a Muslim must perform, knowing that He does is pleasing to Allah and binding as well as specifically religious duties.

Finally, the Quran, is for all mankind, without distinction of race, or regions, or even eras, moreover, it seeks to guide man in all spheres of life, spiritual, temporal, individual, collective.It mainly aims at developing the individual's personality.Each will be personally responsible to his creator.
 
  

 Mr. Ishmael Mamode.
Director of the Madrasa of St. Louis Reunion