More than a billion people around the world are Muslims—plus me, this month. So what is Islam really all about?
The Muslim holy book, the Qur’an (or Koran), outlines the five main obligations that every devout Muslim must follow. They’re known as the Five Pillars of Islam.
Pillar #1: Muslims must confess their faith in God and the Prophet Muhammad.
This one is pretty straightforward. All you have to do is acknowledge the following simple statement: “There is no god but God; Muhammad is the Prophet of God.”
For this month at least, I think I can go along with that.
Pillar #2: Muslims pray five times a day.
This one is harder. A lot harder. I had enough trouble remembering to say my once-a-day obligatory prayer for the Baha’i faith. Now I’m supposed to remember to pray five times a day? That’s rough.
And it’s not just a quick, easy prayer, either. There’s a whole series of movements and bowing and recitations that go along with the prayer itself (we’ll talk more about Muslim prayer later this week). Suffice it to say, it’s pretty demanding. Maybe it gets easier once you get the hang of it. I certainly hope so.
The five times for prayer are predetermined:
1. You pray before sunrise (which is always rough for me, although I’m thinking it might be easier to get up early now that I can’t have any wine in the evening).
2. You pray at midday, a little after noon (my obsession with lunch seems to be making me forget about this one, but I’m working on it).
3. You pray in the mid-afternoon. (Now, I’m not sure exactly when that is. To me, “afternoon” lasts from noon until 4:00 p.m., at which point it becomes “evening,” which lasts from 4:00 until 7:00. After that, it's "night." But my sense of timing may have been thrown off by years of working from 7:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., so I’m doing my afternoon prayer sometime around 3:30 or 4:00, to better coincide with what the average person’s idea of time is probably like.)
4. You pray just after sunset.
5. You pray at night, after it’s fully dark.
These last two prayers are kind of tough to regulate in the summer—the daylight can last until almost 9:00 p.m., and since I know I have to get up super early to do the sunrise prayer, I want to be in bed early, so it’s like I’m scrambling to do the post-sunset and nighttime prayers really, really close together. It feels a little harried to me, but what can you do?
Now, in places where Islam is the dominant faith, Muslims get the benefit of having a muezzin—someone whose job is to call the people to prayer, letting them know when the right time has come. Me? I’m on my own, with just my lack of attention span and flaky memory. But I’m trying.
Pillar #3: Muslims give alms to the poor.
A lot of religions suggest that believers should give money to the poor. Catholics, for example, are supposed to “tithe”—or give a percentage of their income to the Church.
But Muslims aren’t just encouraged to give money to those who are less fortunate. They are expected to pay a zakat, or “purification tax,” that goes to benefit the poor. Usually, it comes to around 2½ percent of a person’s total wealth, but some Muslims give even more.
Now, my question is: What if I’m poor, even if it’s only temporarily (I hope)? I mean, at the moment, things aren’t exactly going well, and I’d estimate that 2½ percent of my total wealth would amount to . . . oh . . . about 50 cents. If my 2½ percent isn’t enough to buy a homeless guy a cup of coffee, do I still have to pay?
I assume that I’m supposed to pay the zakat even if I’m not all that well off myself, so in honor of my month as a Muslim, I’ll be calculating the real 2½ percent of my wealth (which I sincerely hope is enough for a cup of coffee, but it’ll be close) and donating it to charity. I’ll keep you posted.
Pillar #4: Muslims fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
During the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, known as Ramadan, Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset. That means no eating, no drinking (not even water), no smoking, and no sex. It’s all about controlling your urges and making sacrifices to become closer to God. And since I’m a poor planner, Ramadan happens to fall this month.
Because I’m a wimp (and, I admit, a bit of a glutton), I’ll only be observing Ramadan for the second half of the month.
Before you say I’m copping out, look at it in perspective. If Ramadan is supposed to be one month out of the whole year, you have to look at my month as a Muslim as my whole year, which makes 2 weeks of fasting well over the appropriate amount of time.
So cut me a little slack. It’s going to be hard enough. I’ll be surprised if I don’t turn into a nocturnal creature, just so I can eat all night long and sleep all day. Ugh. I just remembered that I’ll still have to get up five times a day to pray. There’s always a catch when I think I’ve found an easy way out.
Pillar #5: Muslims are expected to make a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca at least once in their lifetime, if they can afford it and can handle the physical strain of the journey.
Obviously (well, at least, I hope it’s obvious), I won’t be carrying out the fifth pillar of Islam this month. Not only can I not afford it financially, but the pilgrimage is supposed to be made at a particular time of year, and this isn’t it.
I have to admit, I’m glad for that. Even if I could afford a vacation, I’d kind of rather go someplace a little less balmy than the Middle East. If Texas was too hot for me, I’m guessing Mecca isn’t exactly my dream destination.
So far, Islam is looking like the most demanding of the religions I’ve tried on. And I’m not sure I’m enjoying it. Truth be told, I don't like it at all. I don’t like all these rules and obligations and that so many things are forbidden. And I really, really miss having a glass of wine now and then. Huh. Am I talking about wine too much? I thought all the prayer and the covering my hair and stuff would be the worst part of being Muslim. But no. It’s the lack of wine. Strange.
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