The Five Pillars of Islam
My name is Faisal Bachani.
And my name is Jabarah Bachani.
We live in Beckenham. We're both 16 years old, and we're twins. Me, Jabarah, um, I'm older.
We live in Beckenham. We're both 16 years old,
and we're twins. Me, Jabarah, um, I'm older.
Well, Jabarah is older by one minute, but I'm still taller. We are both Muslims. My family is all Muslim.
We're quite religious. We practice a lot, especially my dad. At the moment we are in the sacred month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic year. Sacred because Prophet Muhammad received the first word of the Qur'an, the sacred book for Muslims. During Ramadan, Muslims are meant to fast. We're not meant to eat or drink from when the sun comes up to when the sun comes down. The first meal of the day before sunrise is called sehri. The Muslim year is shorter than the western year, and this means that Ramadan becomes earlier by ten days each year. At this present time, Ramadan is in the summer. Um, the days are quite long.
The most important things as Muslims we have to do are called the five Pillars of Islam. A pillar is a column that basically holds up a building. They support the whole faith, so without them it wouldn't be Islam. So the first pillar of Islam is the Shahadah. We have to say the shahadah. (Says Shahadah in Arabic) There is only one God and the Prophet Muhammad is his messenger.
The second pillar of Islam is Salat, which is a prayer. Muslims are expected to pray five times a day. Wudu is a way to cleanse yourself before prayer. You have to wash your face, wash your hands, wash your arms, wash your legs. The call to prayer is done just at the beginning of Fajr, which is the first prayer of the day.
My father usually leads the prayer. My grandpa usually prays with us as well. My mom and my grandma usually pray with the group, but because the camera people were here today, they prayed in a separate room. Muslims pray in the direction of the Ka'bah, a big cube shaped building which is in Makkah, because Muslims believe that the Ka'bah is the house of God. During prayer, you have to recite passages of the Qur'an and then you have to prostrate to Allah. It's when you bow to God. It symbolises that he is the one Lord. He created all of us and he alone deserves praise and we are his servants.
It is quite hard to concentrate in lessons. When you're fasting, you feel the urge to eat, your tummy constantly hurts and your mouth is quite dry all the time. I think you're exaggerating a little bit. If it's on the first day, yeah, it's going to be hard, but the other days you get used to it. Sometimes it's bad, but like, it depends on the day, really.
In school at lunchtime, we pray the Zuhr, the second Zuhr. We usually pray in the chapel, sometimes with friends or sometimes alone.
The third pillar of Islam is called Zakat, and it is where Muslims give charity to the poor. Instead of using my lunch money for lunch for Ramadan, I would save the money for charity. When we start earning, we will give Zakat, which is a 40th of our money left over when we've paid for our homes and food. Sadaqah is voluntary act of giving to charity because we don't earn yet we give to Sadaqah. We regularly go to a charity shop on the high street. I do ironing, I iron some clothes, we label clothes, we help out the reception area. It's better to go out and help others rather than sitting at home.
The third prayer of the day is called Asr.
The fourth pillar of Islam is sawm, or fasting, on the holy month of Ramadan. Muslims are meant to feel what it's like to feel poor. It's meant to make us grateful for what we have rather than wanting more. It's also meant to cleanse us because it is a holy month.
My mom and my grandma usually don't wear a headscarf in the house, but Muslim women usually cover their hair in the presence of strangers. When the sun goes down, we are free to eat. Usually we first of all have a date and a glass of water and then we pray Maghrib Salat, which is the fourth salat. And then after that we have a big feast. We, um, have our favourite food. My mom cooks a lot of food. That meal is called iftar. It feels great. You know, it feels great to, um, to eat again, you know, you feel, you feel for those who don't have enough food for for a day or for a year.
The fifth pillar of Islam is Hajj. It's a sacred pilgrimage to Makkah. You have to do a lot of rituals, and you have to also visit a lot of places where the prophets visited. The most important part of the Hajj is visiting the Ka'bah, which is the house of God. The hajj happens in a specific month, Dhu al-Hijjah, we ourselves haven't actually been to Hajj, but we've been to a minor one called Umrah. We didn't do it in that specific month, but we saw the Ka'bah. It's a lot different from the pictures, you feel in awe of it. Our dad wants us to go on the Hajj in two years time. He wants us to become a bit more mature first, you know.
Usually we pray Isha, which is the fifth prayer in the day, at home with our family, but because it's Ramadan, we pray Isha at the mosque. You see a lot of your friends, a lot of your relatives, you know, it's very happy sight in the mosque. Your, your mind is focussed on praying so you feel closer to God. Ramadan is quite an important part of Islam. It's quite special to me because I do a lot of different stuff in Ramadan. It brings our family together. It makes us all kind of come together and eat together. I think it's special because in Ramadan I feel closer to God. The five pillars are special to me because they are the most important part of Islam, without which you can't really call yourself a Muslim.