Living the muslim life

• The 10 obligatory acts of shi'a islam-

  1. salah - daily prayers
  2. zakah - charity
  3. sawm - fasting during ramadan 4. Pilgrimage to Makkah (Hajj)​

  5. 20% charitable tax (Khums)​

  6. Struggling for Allah (Jihad)​

  7. Encouraging Good

  (Amr bil Maroof)​

  8. Forbidding what is Evil

  (Nahy Anil Munkar)​

  9. Expressing love towards good and loving those who love Allah

  (Tawalla)

  10. Keeping away from evil and from those who disrespect Allah

  (Tabarra)​
• The ten obigatory acts are for shi'a islam
• The purpose of the ten obligatory acts is to help shi'a muslims practice islam and express their beliefs
• Source of wisdom and authority for the 10 acts of shi'a -

  "The enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and establish prayer and give Zakah and obey Allah is messenger."
• The shahadah is the declaration of faith
• Shahadah is a statement that highoights two key beliefs of islam, Tawhid (oness of allah) and Risalah (Prophethood)
• Source of wisdom and authority for shadaha -

  "There is no god except allah and muhammad is his messanger" (that is the shahadah)
• The shahadah is considered the first of the five pillars of sunni islam since all the other pillars come from this.
• Salah is seen as the main way Muslims worship allah. It is something muslims are expected to learn from a young age.
• For sunni muslims there are five prayers that are performed daily at 5 different times -

  Fajr - morning prayer

  Zuhr - midday prayer

  Asr - later afternoon prayer

  Maghrib - sunset prayer

  Isha - night prayer
• Muslims have to do wudu in preparation for the 5 prayers, wudu is a ritual where muslims was their face, arms, head and feet
• Every friday afternoon, a special prayer called the Jummah prayer takes place, usually in a mosque. This must be performed in congregation and involves the imam (leader of prayer, not shi'a leader) giving a ceremony before the prayer is performed
• Sawm ( fasting) during ramadan involves staying away from food, drink and sexual relations from sunrise until sunset.
• The role of fasting is to mark ramadan, which is considered the holiest month.
• Sawm is in the five pillars of sunni islam as well as ten obligatory acts of shi'a islam
• Laylat al-qadr ( the night of power) is considered to be the holiest night for most muslims as it is believe this was the night the qu'ran was revealed to the prophet muhammad.
• Zakah and Khums are both forms of charitable giving. They involve muslims who have a certain amount of wealth to give a portion to those in need
• Zakah is traditionally required to be around 2.5% of a muslims savings.
• Khums is required to give 20% of their yearly savings to those in need (shi'a)
• Hajj is a pilgramage, a sacred journey that takes place once a year on specific days during the final month of the islamic callender
• Hajj has several rituals that must be performed, each of which has certain rules to be followed.

  Ihram - men wear two white cloths to cover their body. Women cover their body apart from the face

  Tawaf- The Ka'ba is circled seven times anti clockwise

  Sa'y - Pilgrims walk between mounts safa and marwa seven times

  Wuquf - pilgrims spend the day at mount arafah, seeking forgiveness from Allah.

  Jamarat - pilgrims throw stones at three large pillars that represent shaytan

  Id-ul-adha - pilgrims have an animal sacrificed
• Jihad means 'struggle' it can be a physical struggle or a spiritual struggle.
• Greater jihad - The spiritual struggle of muslims

  Lesser jihad - The physical struggle against injustice.
• The conditions to declare lesser jihad include:

  it must be last resort, it must be for self-defence, it must be authorised by a legitimate muslims leader, its aim must to be to restore peace
• Id-ul-Adha literally means 'festival of sacrifice'. it is a celebration that remebres the sacrifice of prophet ibrahim when allah commanded him to sacrifice his son.
• Id ul fitr means ' festival of breaking the fast' and takes place the day after ramadan ends.
• Id ul ghadeer is celebrated by shi'a muslims that commemorates when prophet muhammad officially announced allahs decision that ali should be his successor.
• Ashura is a commemoration done mainly by shi'a muslims. It remebers the killing of prophet muhammads grandson hussain, the third imam, in the battle of karbala .