The Five Pillars are:

1. SHAHADAH (declaration of faith)
2. SALAH/SALAT (five compulsory daily prayers)
3. ZAKAH/ZAKAT (welfare contribution)
4. SAWM (fasting during Ramadan)
5. HAJJ (pilgrimage to Makkah/Mecca)

Islam is a complete way of life which provides "Divine" Guidance in every field of activity. Every Muslim who submits to God also submits to God's law. The command to do this is implicit in every revelation from God. In such a highly systematized faith which rests on Divine authority, the belief is that the whole universe is ordered according to the law of God but that human beings have a choice about whether they order their lives according to that law. No Muslim is left uninformed as to what he is required to believe. The several articles of faith (iman) are carefully tabulated and believers are systematically instructed regarding them. The same is true of the practical duties of the Muslim, these are summed up under the term dim (religion) and are a necessary corollary of iman (faith).

Despite the rich diversity in Islamic practice, a social and ideological programme exists, which in the early days of Islam provided the basis for a high degree of co-operation and a new field of loyalty between different social groups of the old tribal system, the root of Arabia's problems, barring the road to future development. This transition from tribalism to a more individualized society without, however, exposing the individual to a feeling of utter helplessness was made easier by a new solidarity provided by Islam, the Umma (nation of Islam).

The Umma, a super-tribal entity, whose loyalty was to Allah, the super-tribal deity. All other allegiances were either abolished or so some subsumes within the new allegiance to the Prophets community that in due course they could be expected to "wither away". Naturally, none of these changes came about spontaneously. They occurred as a result of the carefully worked out programme, mentioned above.

This programme came under five heads, known to Islam as the "Five Pillars" of the faith, these remain the core and the common denominator of belief and practice common to all Muslims.