Obligations to God - A Summary of Our Religious Obligations

A Summary of Our Religious Obligations

 Let us not be overwhelmed or distracted by the increasing number of the terms in our discussion.  Our attempt has been to present the message in as simple, concise and plain a manner as possible.  

To recap, our first and the foremost religious obligation is that we practice faith ourselves.  
The second is that we should preach and spread the message to others, and 
the third is that we strive to establish the teachings of this message as a collective reality and politico-socio-economic system.  These are the three Islamic duties that are binding on us.

Let us now visualize these obligations in the form of a three-storied building.  The creedal statement (to testify oneness of God and Muhammad (SAW) as His messenger) is like the visible part of the foundation, above ground , while Prayer, Zakah, Hajj and Fasting are four pillars upon which the actual structure of the building rests.  The building has three floors represented by each one of the three duties defined above.  A pictorial representation of the building summarizing our religious duties is shown on the inside cover of this booklet.   
                                                  

If one appreciates this concept of our duties, his understanding of Islam is sound and clear. Contrarily, if one thinks of duties in the traditional narrow and restricted sense of Prayers, Zakah, Hajj and Fasting only , he/she is concerned only with the pillars, having no idea that these are merely the supports upon which the essence of Islam stands.  These are means, not ends in themselves.  

Furthermore, let us not miss the obvious point that a structure having only pillars can at best be regarded as ruins of a bygone era.  One important point here is that the foundation has two parts, a visible part and an invisible part.  The visible part is the testification with the tongue, whereas the invisible part goes deep into the ground.  Without a deep foundation, the building will be unstable and a minor earthquake or wind will be able to knock it down.  The invisible part of the foundation is conviction of the heart.

 

As for the floors, the first floor is that of personal submission.  Unless one personally submits to God and His Messenger (SAW), how can he be expected to preach God’s message to others?  After personal submission, one can rise to the second floor of taking the message of Islam to others.  Finally, when enough people are convinced of the just system of Islam, they can join together to strive to establish its teachings at the collective level of human life, which is the third and the final floor of the building of Islam.  Let us now turn towards some prerequisites to fulfilling these religious obligations.

Source: Obligations to God (Book by Dr Israr Ahmad)