Question

summarize what characteristics would be required to qualify a practice of Islam as "authentic." If there are characteristics that seem to be conflicted, they should be identified as such. Your discussion should show a deepening understanding of "real" Islam and what is a revision or even a false representation.

Answer 1

The fundamentals of Islam -- if you mean by that, the "five pillars of Islam," they are the shahada, which is an affirmation that there is no deity except Allah and that Muhammad is his prophet, his messenger. That constitutes the first pillar, or fundamental.The second is prayer, salat, and then the fasting, according to some, which is sawm, or the fast of Ramadan; and the payment of what I call a social tax, which is called zakat. Others call it charity; I call it a social tax. It is 2.5 percent of what one has had, what one has owned of certain kinds of wealth for a period of one year.The fifth is the pilgrimage, the hajj. The pilgrimage to the Kaaba -- not to Mecca per se -- but to the Kaaba, which is in Mecca. Those are the five pillars or the five fundamentals.hey are: belief in Allah; belief in the prophets [of] scriptures; belief in the last day, that there's a judgment, there's a hereafter and an afterlife; belief in angels, et cetera. Some scholars say there are four, some say five, some say six. Those are pretty much agreed upon. I would say the beliefs are not really that much emphasized in Muslim societies, particularly Arabic Muslim societies; not that much. The main thing is the main set of principles are those that we just talked about .If we look at the five principles of Islam, or the five pillars or the five fundamentals, belief practically ends with the first pillar of Islam. In other words, that affirmation that Allah is the only deity and that Muhammad is his messenger. After that, everything is action, is practice. The other four, i.e., praying, fasting, paying the zakat -- what I call a social tax -- and the hajj, involve action. Muslims are very action-oriented.According to widely accepted authoritative hadiths, or sayings of the prophets, Islam is built on five pillars. It's those five pillars we just mentioned. Once one accepts those five principles, one is considered a Muslim. In fact, upon pronouncing the shahada, which is only the first of those principles, a person is considered a Muslim. So it's easy to become a Muslim. It's easier than joining the Republican or Democratic Party. It's very easy to become a Muslim.