Welcome to Ahmadiyyat, The True Islam — Page 81
− The and the foremost pillar of Islam is called first Kalima − Shahadah, the declaration of Islamic faith, i. e. , − − ÆA fÈq A Ë É» ¹Íjq Ü ÊfY Ë É¼»A ÜA É»A Ü ÆA fÈq A ( ( ì ä å ä æ ä ä ä ä æ ê ä ä ä æ ä å Õ ì ê ä Ð ê ì æ ä å ä æ ä É»Ìmi Ë ÊfJ§ AfÀZ¿ ( ( å æ å ä ä å æ ä í ì ä å ash hadu alla ilaha illallahu wahdahu la sharikalahu wa ash − − − ± − − − − hadu anna muhammadan ‘abduhu wa rasuluh ± − − I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah. He is − One and has no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His ± Servant and Messenger. The belief in the Oneness of God is the basic requirement of believing in Islam. − The pillar is called , i. e. to perform Prayer in a second Salat ± − prescribed form. Prayer is the basic and most important means by which man communicates with Allah and draws himself near to Him. − The pillar is called , i. e. , to keep fast in the month of third Saum ± Ramadan. By fasting, a Muslim can purify himself spiritually, elevate his ± − soul and obtain nearness to Allah. To fast is to abstain from food, drink, − smoking and conjugal relations from dawn to dusk. It was the month during which revelation of the Holy Qur’an to the Holy Prophet began. sa − The Holy Qur’an allows exemption from fasting to the elderly, the − chronically sick and children. However, they are required to feed or pay to feed the poor for the whole month of in order to make up for Ramadan ± − fasts they could not keep. Temporary exemption is permitted to those traveling, the sick, pregnant and nursing or menstruating women. They are expected to make up the fasts at a later time before the start of the next month of fasting. 81