# The Five Pillars of Islam

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Diane Robinson Kerr, The Five Pillars of Islam, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
> 
> The First Pillar:
> 
> The Shahadah is the act of testifying to one’s belief in God, recognition
> 
> and acceptance of His prophet, Muhammad. This is the pillar upon which all
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> other pillars are supported and it is the core of Islamic life.
> 
> In every dispensation, this is the challenge facing humanity; the
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> recognition of the prophet sent from God to deliver the Divine teachings
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> necessary for the advancement of civilization and the progress of the human
> 
> soul. Some people never question it: they are born into it and accept it because
> 
> their father and their grandfather before them belonged to that faith and so there
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> is no question: it is an automatic decision. For others, a search is involved that
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> may take a whole lifetime or a blink of an eye. However one comes to this
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> choice, the choice must be made. "I bear witness that there is no God but God
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> and Muhammad is the Messenger of God" is a statement of faith that sets the
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> rest of the practice in motion. It is the commencement of the journey toward
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> nearness to God.
> 
> Before hearing about the Baha’i Faith, I knew I believed in Jesus, Buddha,
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> Muhammad, the White Buffalo Calf Woman and so on. I somehow knew they
> 
> were all part of a giant light. I couldn’t join any church or religion because I could
> 
> not find anyone else that accepted them all until I found Baha’i. I was fascinated
> 
> by prophecy: I had researched many faiths that left me wondering how all of
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> these faiths could have a messenger or prophet coming back? Would they all
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> arrive at once or is there really only one? Or maybe it was all hogwash! I prayed
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> to God about it a lot. It was the most intense time of prayer I have every
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> experienced. I believed the time of the ‘return’ was at hand but where? Who?
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> One morning, I awoke with what sounded and felt like God was
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> speaking to me. I had not an inclination of doubt as to the authority of that voice.
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> He told me that I was about to receive what I had been looking for and I must not
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> allow my ego to stand in the way. As the voice spoke, I saw my dear friend
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> Russell downstairs with friends I had never met. Someone was knocking at the
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> door. I ran down and there was Russell who I had not seen in three years. He
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> was standing there with the friends I saw earlier in my vision. That was the day I
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> learned about Baha’u’llah.
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> It took me over a year of serious study and scrutinizing Baha’u’llah’s claim
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> before I accepted Him. I was looking for the worm in the apple but the more I
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> researched, the more my certitude grew. Because of the Writings of Baha’u’llah, I
> 
> also fell in love with Islam which was one Faith I knew little about other than I
> 
> believed Muhammad was a prophet from God. It is so sad that there is such a
> misunderstanding about progressive revelation that produces such hostility
> 
> toward Islam and the beauty it brings. I pray it will someday change.
> 
> The process of accepting Baha’u’llah is very similar to that of the
> 
> acceptance of Muhammad. Essentially, it is a process of the heart. It is the
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> entering into a Covenant with God. An agreement and acceptance of His laws
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> and a promise from God to not abandon us. I struggle with my Faith at times, I
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> don’t always agree with every last detail but nowhere does Baha’u’llah ask for
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> blind obedience. I believe it is an ongoing process that takes commitment
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> because of the love we have for God and the desire to enter into a closer
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> relationship with Him.
> 
> The Second Pillar:
> 
> Revealed prayer is a new concept for many North Americans, as it was for
> 
> me. As Muslims do, we too have the duty to pray daily. We have the choice of
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> three obligatory prayers: the short one, said between noon and sunset, the
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> medium one, said three times a day, and the long one which is said at any time
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> during the 24 hours.
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> The medium and long obligatory prayers also have positions or
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> genuflections the body must perform. After ablutions, the prayer takes you from
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> standing, a position of the forehead on the ground, standing with hands
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> upraised, bowing with hands on knees, and finally to sitting. One of the biggest
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> differences is that Baha’u’llah instructed us to pray these particular prayers in
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> private. All of the other prayers can be said in community but not these ones.
> 
> The Third Pillar:
> 
> Zakat is very similar to how Baha’is give to the Baha’i Fund which is
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> considered the ‘life blood’ of the Cause. It is considered an honor and a privilege
> 
> to give and it is one of the only activities reserved for Baha’is only. In other
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> words, when money is donated to the Baha’i Fund from a non-Baha’i, that money
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> cannot be kept and it is given to another charity. Also, how much a person gives
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> is completely confidential and although we are apprised of the needs of the
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> community, no individual is approached for money. You give after you have paid
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> off your debts and you give sacrificially. At the same time that Baha’u’llah exhorts
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> His followers strongly to support those in need, He also prohibits begging.
> 
> The Fourth Pillar:
> 
> Fasting is very similar although not as long. The Baha’i solar calendar is
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> made up of 19 months of 19 days. Each day and month is named after an
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> attribute of God. This leaves four or 5 days at the end of the year called Ayyam-i-
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> Ha. This is a time of gift giving and service after which time, the fast commences.
> 
> The fast lasts for 19 days and ends on the spring equinox: Naw-Ruz.
> 
> “Praised be Thou, O my God, that Thou hast ordained Naw-Ruz as a festival
> unto those who have observed the fast for love of Thee and abstained from all
> that is abhorrent unto Thee. Grant, O my Lord, that the fire of Thy love and the
> heat produced by the fast enjoined by Thee may inflame them in Thy Cause, and
> make them to be occupied with Thy praise and with remembrance of Thee.”
> ― Baha'u'llah1
> 
> The Fifth Pillar:
> 
> (Baha'u'llah); ( Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 67)
> Pilgrimage is also a requirement with many similarities. When Baha’u’llah
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> was exiled from Persia to Turkey, to Andrianople and Constanstiople, he was
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> eventually put on a small boat and sent to Akka prison, across the bay from
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> Haifa. When I went on pilgrimage in 1984, I visited that fortress prison and was
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> amazed that anyone could survive there. The whole town was a prison city and
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> to this day, these is not a blade of grass to be found! Eventually, Baha’u’llah
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> was put under house arrest in Baji which is a few miles from Haifa. This is where
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> His burial shrine is. The Baha’i world center is on Mount Carmel where
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> Baha’u’llah, although still a prisoner, pitched his tent and revealed the Tablet of
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> Carmel. (see last page)
> 
> Summary:
> 
> There is so much and so little space! Islam is the mother faith that my faith
> 
> sprang out of, and although Baha’i is an independent religion, the similarities and
> 
> differences are fascinating. It is distressing that the western viewpoint about
> 
> Islam is so distorted. Thankfully, Baha’is revere Muhammad and in fact, one
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> cannot be considered a Baha’i without accepting Muhammad. So much of my
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> education spiritually, was missing because I knew so little of the Muslim Faith. It
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> is as though God sent many chapters to His holy book and I missed a major
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> chapter! That is the situation with so many people who have no understanding of
> 
> the majesty of Islam.
> 
> As of late, my own personal path is taking me more and more, where I am
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> having to reach for God within. For many years, I guess I would be considered a
> 
> pillar of the community, but in the last seven years, I have dropped out
> somewhat: Not because of any other reason except I have felt such a calling to
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> stand alone. I don’t expect this to last forever but it has been a necessary step for
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> me. What I am learning about Islam, especially Sufism, is giving me a larger
> 
> perspective of where I came from and where I may be going. It is as if I may have
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> found a bird’s eye view of the terrain. I look forward to where it leads me. In the
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> end, it comes back to love and the blossoms of compassion and kindness one
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> cultivates in the heart.
> 
> LAWH-I-KARMIL
> 
> (Tablet of Carmel)
> 
> ALL glory be to this Day, the Day in which the fragrances of mercy have been wafted over all
> created things, a Day so blest that past ages and centuries can never hope to rival it, a Day in
> which the countenance of the Ancient of Days hath turned towards His holy seat. Thereupon the
> voices of all created things, and beyond them those of the Concourse on High, were heard calling
> aloud: 'Haste thee, O Carmel, for lo, the light of the countenance of God, the Ruler of the
> Kingdom of Names and Fashioner of the heavens, hath been lifted upon thee.'
> 
> Seized with transports of joy, and raising high her voice, she thus exclaimed: 'May my life be a
> sacrifice to Thee, inasmuch as Thou hast fixed Thy gaze upon me, hast bestowed upon me Thy
> bounty, and hast directed towards me Thy steps. Separation from Thee, O Thou Source of
> everlasting life, hath well nigh consumed me, and my remoteness from Thy presence hath burned
> away my soul. All praise be to Thee for having enabled me to hearken to Thy call, for having
> honoured me with Thy footsteps, and for having quickened my soul through the vitalizing
> fragrance of Thy Day and the shrilling voice of Thy Pen, a voice Thou didst ordain as Thy
> trumpet-call amidst Thy people. And when the hour at which Thy resistless Faith was to be made
> manifest did strike, Thou didst breathe a breath of Thy spirit into Thy Pen, and lo, the entire
> creation shook to its very foundations, unveiling to mankind 4 such mysteries as lay hidden
> within the treasuries of Him Who is the Possessor of all created things.'
> 
> No sooner had her voice reached that most exalted Spot than We made reply: 'Render thanks
> unto thy Lord, O Carmel. The fire of thy separation from Me was fast consuming thee, when the
> ocean of My presence surged before thy face, cheering thine eyes and those of all creation, and
> filling with delight all things visible and invisible. Rejoice, for God hath in this Day established
> upon thee His throne, hath made thee the dawning-place of His signs and the dayspring of the
> evidences of His Revelation. Well is it with him that circleth around thee, that proclaimeth the
> revelation of thy glory, and recounteth that which the bounty of the Lord thy God hath showered
> upon thee. Seize thou the Chalice of Immortality in the name of thy Lord, the All-Glorious, and
> give thanks unto Him, inasmuch as He, in token of His mercy unto thee, hath turned thy sorrow
> into gladness, and transmuted thy grief into blissful joy. He, verily, loveth the spot which hath
> been made the seat of His throne, which His footsteps have trodden, which hath been honoured
> by His presence, from which He raised His call, and upon which He shed His tears.
> 
> 'Call out to Zion, O Carmel, and announce the joyful tidings: He that was hidden from mortal eyes
> is come! His all-conquering sovereignty is manifest; His all-encompassing splendour is revealed.
> Beware lest thou hesitate or halt. Hasten forth and circumambulate the City of God that hath
> descended from heaven, the celestial Kaaba round which have circled in adoration the favoured
> of God, the pure in heart, and the company of the most exalted angels. Oh, how I long to
> announce unto every spot on the surface of the earth, and to carry to each one of its cities, the
> glad-tidings 5 of this Revelation -- a Revelation to which the heart of Sinai hath been attracted,
> and in whose name the Burning Bush is calling: "Unto God, the Lord of Lords, belong the
> kingdoms of earth and heaven." Verily this is the Day in which both land and sea rejoice at this
> announcement, the Day for which have been laid up those things which God, through a bounty
> beyond the ken of mortal mind or heart, hath destined for revelation. Ere long will God sail His Ark
> upon thee, and will manifest the people of Baha who have been mentioned in the Book of
> Names.'
> 
> Sanctified be the Lord of all mankind, at the mention of Whose name all the atoms of the earth
> have been made to vibrate, and the Tongue of Grandeur hath been moved to disclose that which
> had been wrapt in His knowledge and lay concealed within the treasury of His might. He, verily,
> through the potency of His name, the Mighty, the All-Powerful, the Most High, is the ruler of all
> that is in the heavens and all that is on earth                                   ―Baha'u'llah2
> 
> (Baha'u'llah); ( Tablets of Baha’u’llah, p. 67)
>
> — *The Five Pillars of Islam (Used by permission of the curator)*