These days the Muslims unfortunately, have begun saying that I am Muslim, and they believe that is enough. We seem to believe that because we claim to have faith, that this is enough. But the reality, that we all need to understand is very simple. This is the fact that if we really believe in something, our belief will cause us to uphold certain actions and make certain statements.
A perfect example of this is the fact that if one were to truly believe that their home was on fire and they were upstairs, their natural reaction would be to make their way outside. This belief would cause action. They would call out for help. Here their belief would cause certain statements. Very similar to this is our belief in Allah and Islam. True belief causes action and statements.
There are certain things that the whole of our religion is built upon. They are the foundation of our religion. We can not build upon a foundation that does not exist. Therefore, as Muslims, we must work on not only building our foundation, but also keeping it strong. This way the reality of our religion does not topple in the long run, may Allah protect us from this… Allahuma ameen. These things are known as the pillars of Islam. These are issues that uphold the rest of the religion, and we need to make sure that as individuals, we are doing our best to uphold them. Our belief, that we are always talking about will cause us to both want and need to uphold them. These things are;
The Pillars of Islam;
- The Shahaadatain – Declaration of Faith
- The Salaat – Prayer
- The Zakaat – Charity
- The Sawm – Fasting
- The Hajj – Pilgrimage
Now, I want you all to remember though, that we are not responsible for using what is said here to gauge the Islam of another person. We do not take this information and accuse someone of not being Muslim because of certain actions nor the lack of the actions or statements. Rather we use this information to get better and increase the reality of the relationship we have with Allah. We all have many areas which which we need to be busying ourselves. If we focus on bettering these things, we will find ourselves too busy to have the time to actually involve ourselves in the business of others, especially when we understand that we are not responsible for these people to begin with. Let’s agree to begin working harder on bettering ourselves, and leaving the people alone. What do you think about that?
