Islam Is Built On Five

Tafsir by Imam Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali

Jami’ al-‘Ulum wa’l-Hikam by Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali Commentary on the Fourth Hadith of Imam Nawawi’s “Forty”

From Abu ‘Abd ar-Rahman ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab that he said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah say, ‘Islam is built on five: witnessing that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, establishment of the prayer, payment of zakah, Hajj of the House, and the fest of Ramadan’.” Al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated it.

They narrated this hadith in the two Sahih books in the version of’ Ikrimah ibn Khalid from Ibn ‘Umar. Muslim narrated it in two other ways from Ibn ‘Umar, and he has other versions from him. This hadith has been narrated from Jarir ibn ‘Abdullah al-Bajali from the Prophet which Imam Ahmad narrated. In the previous hadith we have already looked at Islam.

What is meant by this hadith is that Islam is built on these five which are thus like the sides or Comers and the supports of its building. Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazi narrated it in the Kitab as-salah “Book of Prayer” with the wording, “Islam is built on five supports…”  What is meant is to strike the similitude of Islam as a building whose supports are these five, such that the building will not stand firm without them. The rest of the attributes of Islam are things by the addition of which the building is made complete, but if any of them are missing the building will stand although lacking, but will not fall into ruin because of that shortcoming, as opposed to if it lacks any one of these five supports, because Islam will disappear if all of them are missing without any doubt Similarly, in the absence of the two shahadah’s, because what is meant by the two shahadah’s is belief in Allah and His Messenger. Al-Bukhari narrated a version as a ta’liq, “Islam is built on five: belief in Allah and His Messenger…” In a version of Muslim’s, “.. .on five: that Allah is unified… ” and in another version of his, “…on that Allah is worshipped and whatever is a part from Him is rejected…”

From this it is known that iman in Allah and His Messenger is included under Islam as we established in the previous hadith. As for the prayer, there are many hadith which show that whoever abandons it has gone out of Islam. In Sahih Muslim there is from Jabir that the Prophet said, “Between a man and kuffi and shirk is the prayer.” Similar things are narrated in hadith of Buraydah, Thawban, Anas and others.

Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazi narrated the hadith of ‘Ubadah ibn as- samit that the Prophet said, “Do not abandon the prayer deliberately, for whoever abandons Islam deliberately has gone out of the din.”

In the hadith of Mu‘adh there is that the Prophet said, ‘The main part of the matter is Islam, and its tent-pole is the prayer,” and so he regarded the prayer as the central tent-pole of a great tent, without which the tent cannot stand or last, and if the central tent-pole were to fall the tent would fall, and it would not last without it ‘Umar said, ‘There is no portion in Islam for whoever abandons the prayer.” Sa‘d and ‘All ibn Abi Talib said, “Whoever gives it up has become a kafir”.

‘Abdullah ibn Shaqiq said, “The Companions of the Messenger of Allah did not regard the abandonment of any of the actions as kufr except for the prayer.”-

Abu Ayyub as-Sakhtiyani said, “Abandoning the prayer is kufr and there is no disagreement about it.”

A whole body of the right-acting first generations and of the later generations took this position, and it is the position of Ibn al-Mubarak, Ahmad and Ishaq, and Ishaq said that it is the consensus of the people of knowledge. Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazi said, “It is the position of the majority of the people of hadith.” A party of them took the position that whoever deliberately abandons any one of the five pillars of Islam is thus a kafir, which is narrated of Said ibn Jubayr, Nafi‘, al-Hakam, and it is one narration from Imam Ahmad which a group of his companions chose, and it is also the position of Ibn Habib of the Maliki’s.

Ad-Daraqutni and others narrate the hadith of Abu Hurayrah that he said, “Someone asked, ‘Messenger of Allah, is the Hajj every year?’ He said, ‘If I said yes, it would become obligatory on you, and if it was obligatory on you, you would not be able to do it, and if you were to abandon it you would become kafirun.’”

Al-Lalka’i narrated by way of Mu’ammal that he said, “Hammad ibn Zayd told us from ‘Amr ibn Malik an-Nukri from Abu’ljawza’ from Ibn ‘Abbas, and lam sure that he ascribed it directly [to the Prophet], ‘There are three fastenings or handholds of Islam and pillars of the din upon which Islam is founded: the witnessing that there is no god but Allah, the prayer and the fast of Ramadan, and whoever abandons any one of them is by that a kafir whose blood may lawfully be shed. You might find him to be extremely wealthy but he has not performed the Hajj yet he does not become separated as a kafir and his blood may not lawfully be shed. You may find him to be extremely wealthy but without having paid the zakah, yet he does not become separated as a kafir and his blood may not lawfully be shed.” Qutaybah ibn Sa‘id narrated it from Hammad ibn Zayd in an abridged form which stopped short at him. Sa‘id ibn Zayd the brother of Hammad narrated it from ‘Amr ibn Malik with this chain of transmission ascribing it directly [to the Prophet], in which he said, “Whoever abandons any one of them is a disbeliever (kafir) in Allah, from whom no clever artifices or substitutes will be accepted, and his blood may lawfully be shed and his property seized,” but without mentioning anything after that [of the other version].

It has been narrated that ‘Umar + imposed the jizyah’3 on those [of the People of the Book who accepted Islam but] who did not perform the Hajj, and he said, They are not Muslims.” It is narrated of Ibn Mas’ud that the one who abandons zakak is not a Muslim, and also from Imam Ahmad in one version that the one who abandons the prayer and the zakah in particular is a kafir, apart from [abandoning] the fast and Hajj.”

Ibn ‘Uyaynah said, “[The group named] Al-Murji’ah called the act of abandoning the obligations ‘a wrong action’ as if it were of the same status as doing an act which is forbidden, whereas they are not equal, because intentionally doing something forbidden without declaring that it is permitted is an act of disobedience, while abandoning an obligatory act – riot out of ignorance or without a valid excuse – is kufr. The explanation of that lies in the affair of Iblis and the learned Jews who verbally affirmed the description of the Prophet but did not act according to his Shaft ah.”

Ahmad and Ishaq derived a proof that abandoning the prayer is kufr, because it was kufr on the part of Iblis to refuse to prostrate to Adam, and abandoning prostration to Allah is more serious.

In Sahih Muslim there is from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet said, “When the son of Adam recites [an ayah of] prostration and then prostrates, Iblis moves away weeping and saying, ‘Woe is me! The descendant of Adam was ordered to prostrate and so he prostrated and therefore the Garden is his. I was told to prostrate and I refused, and so the Fire is for me.’”

Know that these five supports are tied to each other, and it has been narrated that some of them are not accepted without the others, as in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad that Ziyad ibn Nu’aym al-Hadrami said, ‘The Messenger of Allah ft said, ‘There are four things which Allah has made obligatory in Islam, so that whoever produces three of them, they [the three] will not benefit him at all until he produces them all: the prayer, zakah, fasting Ramadan and Hajj of the House.’” This is a mursal [hadith without the name of the Companion who transmitted it] but it has [also] been narrated from Ziyad from ‘Ammarah ibn Hazm from the Prophet.’

It has also been narrated from ‘Uthman ibn ‘Ata’ al-Khurasani from his father that Ibn ‘Umar said, ‘The Messenger of Allah said, ‘The din is five [things], of which Allah will not accept any one without the others: the shahadah that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, iman in Allah, His angels, His Books and His Messengers, and in the Garden and the Fire, and life after death, all of these are one; and the five prayers are the central tent-pole of the din, Allah does not accept iman unless accompanied by the prayer; and zakah is purification from wrong actions and Allah does not accept iman, nor the prayer unless accompanied by zakah; whoever does all of these and then when Ramadan comes deliberately leaves out fasting, then Allah will not accept iman, prayer or zakah from him; whoever does all of these four and then Hajj becomes possible for him and he does not perform the Hajj or leave a bequest for someone to perform the Hajj on his behalf and none of his family perform the Hajj on his behalf, then Allah will not accept the other four from him.’” Ibn Abi Hatim mentioned it and said, “I asked my father about it and he said, ‘This hadith is ignored,’8 and it is possible that it is the words of ‘Ata’ al-Khurasani.’” I say it is apparently his commentary on the hadith of Ibn ‘Umar. ‘Ata’ was one of the great Syrian men of knowledge.

Ibn Masud said, “Whoever does not pay the zakah has no prayer. ” The denial of the acceptability [of the prayer] is not a denial of its soundness, and it is not obligatory for him to repeat [the prayer] because of his leaving [out the zakah]. What is really meant by that is that Allah is not pleased with him, nor is he praised for it in the Highest Assembly, nor is he boasted of to the angels, whereas whoever undertakes these pillars correctly receives acceptance in the above sense, but whoever does some of them without others does not receive that [acceptance] even though he is not punished for those things he did do with the same punishment as one who abandons them. On the contrary, he has discharged his responsibility [in respect of the obligation of prayer] and may even be rewarded for it.

From this it is known that doing some of those things which are forbidden and because of which iman decreases prevents acceptance [by Allah] of some of the actions of obedience and even some of the pillars of Islam in the sense that we have mentioned, as the Prophet ft said, “Whoever drinks wine, Allah will not accept his prayer for forty days,” and he said, “If a slave flees from his owners, his prayer is not accepted.”

The hadith of Ibn ‘Umar is used to show that when a term is used for a number of different things it does not necessarily fall out of use because some of the [things which the term covers] fall out of use. This disproves the position of those who say that if you include actions under the term iman it would have to disappear with the disappearance of one of the actions which are comprised under it, because the Prophet ft made these five the supports of Islam and its structures, and he explained Islam as being composed of them in the hadith of Jibril, and in the hadith Of Talhah ibn ‘Abdullah in which a desert Arab asked the Prophet ft about Islam and he explained it to him as these five.

Along with that, those who disagree about iman say that even if one or [even ] four of the characteristics of Islam disappear, leaving only the two shahddah’s, that person does not go out of Islam because of that Some of them narrate that Jibril asked the Prophet ft about the ‘rules’ of Islam and not about Islam, but this wording is not thought to be authentic by the leading scholars and critics of hadith, among whom are Abu Zur‘ah ar-Razi, Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, Abu Ja‘far al-Uqayli and others.

The people of knowledge strike the simile of iman as a tree which has a trunk, boughs and branches, all of which are comprised under the term ‘ tree’. Even if any of its boughs or branches fall away it still remains a ‘tree’, but one says only that it is a tree with a defect or that other trees are more complete than it Allah strikes the same simile for iman, in His words, exalted is He:

“Do you do not see how Allah makes a metaphor of a good word: a good tree whose roots are firm and whose branches are in heaven? It bears fruit regularly by its Lord’s permission.”

What is meant by ‘word’ is the word of tawhid, and by its root is meant the tawhid which is firmly established in the hearts, and its fruits are the right actions which spring from it.

The Prophet ft likened the mu’min and the muslim to the date palm. Even if some of the date-palm’s boughs or its fruits are missing it does not entirely lose the name ‘date-palm’ even though lacking some of its branches and fruits.

Jihad is not mentioned in this hadith of Ibn ‘Umar even though jihad is the best of actions. In another version there is that Ibn ‘Umar was asked, “What about jihad?” He said, ‘Jihad is good, but this is what the Messenger of Allah told us.” It was narrated by Imam Ahmad.

In the hadith of Mu’adh ibn Jabal, ‘Truly the main part of the matter is Islam, and its central tent-pole is the prayer, and the summit of its hump is jihad.” The ‘summit of its hump’ is the highest thing in it but it is not one of its supports or its sides on which it is built. That is for two reasons: first, that jihad is [ordinarily] fard kifayah according to the majority of the people of knowledge, and it is not fard ayn as opposed to these pillars.

Second, that jihad does not continue right until the end of time. On the contrary, when ‘Isa arrives and there is no longer any other religious community than that of Islam at that time, then war will lay down its burdens and there will be no need of jihad, in contradistinction to these pillars which are obligatory upon the mu’minun until Allah’s command comes and they are still in that state, and Allah knows best.