THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM

The Five Pillars of Islam ~ 111 ~ the individual’s readiness to put Islamic precepts into practice in his everyday life. Individual acts of Islamic worship may be similarly defined, but the scale on which they take place during Hajj and their close combination produces an intensification of their overall effect. Individual pilgrims then have a sense of belonging to a unified whole. The ideal of all men living on earth as God’s servants, and therefore as equals, is expressed in the wearing of ihram (a very simple form of clothing) by all pilgrims, irrespective of their nationality. In this way, all artificial, discriminatory barriers are broken down between people from all walks of life. It is also the earnest wish of Islam that people’s lives should revolve around the Almighty, and a symbolic demonstration of this takes place during the pilgrimage in the circumambulation of the House of God. Another ritual involving physical exertion is sa’i, which entails a fast-paced walk between the hills of Safa and Marwah. This gives pilgrims a taste of the intensity with which one must press ever onwards along the path of Islam. Devotees who hear the call of God are exhorted to