From the time I was first began to study Islam, I found the visual image of the five pillars of faith in Islam unsettling—that Shahadah (testifying there is no god but Allah and Mohammad is His Messenger), Salat ( 5 daily prayers), Ramadan (fasting), Zakat (charity) and Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca)—were somehow holding my iman, my faith suspended in midair.
I have come to understand that the reason the image is unsettling is because it so accurate. Our Islam is indeed suspended above us as a shelter against the trials of this life, and it is only as stable and secure as our obedience to those five pillars makes it. Whenever our adherence to any of the pillars falters, our Islam shudders.
It is not enough to rely on “being a good person” to sustain us in our faith or help us gain Allah’s mercy in the grave and on the Day of Judgment. In fact, if we busy ourselves with the task of “being a good person” while ignoring or faltering in our responsibility to maintain these pillars of faith, we risk falling into the trap of becoming disobedient and arrogant.
It is perhaps easier to recognize the disobedience—either we pray, fast, pay Zakat and make hajj if we are able to do so—or we do not. Obedience or disobedience. To think that philanthropy or a nice personality is really going to withstand Allah’s scrutiny in the place of those required actions is unwise.
Less likely to come mind is the idea the “being a good person” as a replacement for adhering to the pillars of Islam is a consummate act of arrogance, but it is. The underlying assumption that any of us can justify the failure to adhere to the five pillars is that “doing what makes me feel good as a person” somehow has more authority than Allah’s commands. The same applies to the notion that if “Allah knows my heart”, then I am entitled to exempt myself from His authority.
In either case, the assumption reveals an attitude of arrogance: I am the arbiter of my own judgment; I choose which deeds will have weight with Allah, and they will not be the five pillars, which I have not consistently fulfilled. The attitude of arrogance is, moreover, in direct opposition to the attitude of humility: I am a creation of Allah, dependent upon Him for His Mercy. I do what Allah has ordered me to do.
Only if we learn to recognize arrogance and refrain from allowing our judgment to supersede His Commands can we be among those who obey Allah. Only if we recognize that we have to obey Allah can we succeed in adhering to the five pillars. We may pray that, as our dependence on excuses and feel-good justifications diminish, our submission and humility will increase.
I am now beginning to understand why the visual image of Islam balanced atop these five pillars was always so unsettling. The structural integrity of our faith is precarious indeed if all of the pillars are not firmly established and diligently maintained.
He is Allah, the Creator, the Shaper out of naught, the Fashioner. His are the most beautiful names. All that is in the heavens and the earth glorifieth Him, and He is the Mighty, the Wise. (Quran 59:24)
