The five pillars are five ways that guide Muslims to living a good life and being good people. They are enforced in households and children learn them by going to mosques with their families. The first pillar is Shahadah, which is that there is only one God Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of God. The next pillar is Salah which means ritual prayer. Muslims pray five times a day and they are spread out from morning until night. The third pillar is sawm which is fasting and Muslims fast every year during Ramadan. The fourth pillar is zakah the charity tax, which means that Muslims need to give some of their money to the needy. The last pillar is Hajj which is the great pilgrimage to Mecca and every Muslim wants to go there at least once but it is very expensive so not many can go. After reading about the five pillars I realized that they are somewhat similar to the ten commandments in Christianity. Other rituals or requirements of Muslims are also similar to those of Christians. Muslims fast and give up food and drinks to show their faith in God. Christians do something similar called lent where you give up something until easter in order to show your faith in God. They also give to Charity similar to people who are considered “good Christians”. Whether we give time or money to charity, giving back to the community is something similar that both religions value.
Muslims however do celebrate death differently than Christians. We have large funerals where family and friends can mourn the person who passed and there is often a gathering where the person’s life is celebrated. Many people attend and it is a very emotional event. Whereas Muslims have very simple gatherings where men mainly attend. They do not believe in morning or gatherings when someone dies. They have a celebration that i would consider similar to what we do on Christmas. It is called Eid al-Fitr which is the last day of Ramadan when the fasting is over. They celebrate for four days, during which they clean their houses and decorate, invite family and friends over, and children receive gifts. Similar to how we go to church Christmas morning their day of celebration also start off by visiting the mosque.