The essentials of Islam

In one minute

Islam is an Arabic word meaning surrender or submission: giving yourself, willingly and wholeheartedly, to God. It shares a root with salam, peace. A Muslim is "one who surrenders" to God.

Muslims believe there is one God, Allah, the Creator of everything, who has sent guidance to humanity through a long line of prophets, from Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus to the last of them, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon them all). That guidance is gathered in the Qur'an, which Muslims believe is God's own word.

Everything essential fits into two lists that every Muslim child learns:

• The Five Pillars of Islam — what a Muslim does: bear witness, pray, give, fast, and make the pilgrimage.
• The Six Articles of Faith (Iman) — what a Muslim believes: in God, His angels, His revealed books, His messengers, the Last Day, and His decree.

And one quality ties them together: Ihsan, doing everything beautifully, as if you could see God.

About 1.9 to 2 billion people, roughly one in four people on earth, are Muslim. In England and Wales the 2021 Census counted almost 3.9 million Muslims (6.5% of the population).

The frame: a stranger in white

Muslims learn the essentials of their faith through a single remembered moment, known as the Hadith of Jibril (the Hadith of Gabriel).

The Prophet's companion Umar ibn al-Khattab described it. The companions were sitting with the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him) when a man walked in wearing brilliant white clothes, with very black hair. There was no sign of travel on him, yet nobody knew him. He sat knee to knee with the Prophet and asked him a series of questions:

• What is Islam? The Prophet answered with the five pillars: to bear witness that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is His messenger, to establish the prayer, to give zakah, to fast in Ramadan, and to make the pilgrimage to the House if you are able.
• What is Iman (faith)? To believe in God, His angels, His books, His messengers and the Last Day, and to believe in the divine decree, its good and its bad.
• What is Ihsan (excellence)? To worship God as though you see Him; and if you do not see Him, know that He sees you.
• When is the Hour? The one asked, the Prophet replied, knows no more about it than the one asking.

Then the stranger left. The Prophet told his companions: that was Jibril (the angel Gabriel), who came to teach you your religion.

(Paraphrased. Sahih Muslim 8, narrated by Umar; a shorter version narrated by Abu Hurayrah is in Sahih al-Bukhari 50.)

So Muslim scholars describe the religion in three layers, like rings around a centre:

The Prophet also put it simply on another occasion: Islam is built on five things, then naming the five pillars (paraphrased; Sahih al-Bukhari 8, Sahih Muslim 16).

A verse that holds both lists

The Qur'an joins belief and action in one breath. Note that it begins by saying that righteousness is not about which direction you face:

"It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces to the East and the West; but righteous is he who believeth in Allah and the Last Day and the angels and the Scripture and the prophets; and giveth wealth, for love of Him, to kinsfolk and to orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and to those who ask, and to set slaves free; and observeth proper worship and payeth the poor-due." (Qur'an 2:177, Pickthall)

Arabic (opening of 2:177):

لَّيْسَ ٱلْبِرَّ أَن تُوَلُّوا۟ وُجُوهَكُمْ قِبَلَ ٱلْمَشْرِقِ وَٱلْمَغْرِبِ وَلَٰكِنَّ ٱلْبِرَّ مَنْ ءَامَنَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْءَاخِرِ وَٱلْمَلَٰٓئِكَةِ وَٱلْكِتَٰبِ وَٱلنَّبِيِّۦنَ

"Each one believeth in Allah and His angels and His scriptures and His messengers - We make no distinction between any of His messengers - and they say: We hear, and we obey." (Qur'an 2:285, Pickthall)

Two doors

Door one: the Five Pillars (what Muslims do)

1. Shahadah — bearing witness: "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God." → Shahadah
2. Salah — the five daily prayers. → Salah
3. Zakah — giving 2.5% of savings each year to people in need. → Zakah
4. Sawm — fasting from dawn to sunset through the month of Ramadan. → Sawm
5. Hajj — the pilgrimage to Makkah, once in a lifetime for those able. → Hajj

Door two: the Six Articles of Faith (what Muslims believe)

1. God — one, unique, merciful, without partner. → Belief in Allah
2. Angels — unseen servants of God. → Angels
3. Revealed books — the scrolls of Abraham, the Torah, the Psalms, the Gospel and the Qur'an. → The revealed books
4. Messengers — prophets sent to every people. → Prophets and messengers
5. The Last Day — resurrection, judgement and the life to come. → The Last Day
6. Divine decree (Qadar) — that nothing happens outside God's knowledge and will. → Qadar

And at the heart: Ihsan. → Ihsan

Pillars and articles: how they fit

A pillar holds up a building; faith is what the building is for. Muslim teachers often say the five pillars are the body of the religion and the six articles its soul. Action without belief is empty; belief that never becomes action is incomplete. Ihsan is the light inside.

Sunni and Shia: the same essentials, framed differently

Everything on these pages follows the mainstream Sunni presentation, the one most Muslims in Britain grew up with.

Shia Muslims, around 10 to 15% of Muslims worldwide, hold the same core beliefs and practices but organise them differently. They speak of:

• Usul al-Din (the roots of religion): five principles of belief. These are Tawhid (God's oneness), 'Adl (God's justice), Nubuwwah (prophethood), Imamah (leadership of the twelve Imams from the Prophet's family), and Ma'ad (the resurrection).
• Furu' al-Din (the branches of religion): ten practices. They include prayer, fasting, zakah and Hajj. They also include khums (a one-fifth levy on yearly surplus income), striving in God's way, enjoining good, forbidding wrong, and love for the Prophet's family together with distancing from their enemies.

Belief in angels, revealed books and divine decree is held within these roots. Each page notes where the Shia framing differs.

How Jews and Christians might recognise this

Each tradition speaks for itself, and none of these are claims that the faiths are the same. But neighbours will find much that is familiar:

• Judaism begins with the Shema, the declaration that the LORD is one (Deuteronomy 6:4). Jews pray at set times each day (Shacharit, Mincha, Ma'ariv), give tzedakah (righteous giving, traditionally a tenth), fast on Yom Kippur, and once went up to Jerusalem on the three pilgrimage festivals of Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot.
• Christianity has its creeds: the Nicene Creed begins "I believe in one God". Christians pray, including the Lord's Prayer Jesus taught, and give to those in need. Many fast or give something up during Lent. Many make pilgrimages, to Jerusalem, Rome, Lourdes or Walsingham.

The word Allah is simply Arabic for "God"; Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews use it too.

Reflection

If someone asked you, as the stranger asked, "What is your faith?", what would you put in your first five answers?

Next

• Read one pillar a day: start with the Shahadah.
• Print the one-page summary for schools.

Watch

A Muslim telling

▶The Five Pillars Of Islam · TrueTube

A Muslim telling

▶The Mosque · BBC Bitesize for TeachersPlays on “Salah — the daily prayer” →