Religious Duties — The Overview

The religious duties are the five daily Contact Prayers, the obligatory charity (Zakat), the fast of Ramadan, and the pilgrimage for those who can afford it. All four are for God alone. God sums up the heart of it in 98:5, and calls it “the perfect religion” [98:5]. Fasting is decreed in the same way: “O you who believe, fasting is decreed for you, as it was decreed for those before you, that you may attain salvation.” [2:183] And the pilgrimage is owed to God by those who can afford it [3:97]. Each one has its own page on this site, with the steps set out simply.

From Abraham. The practices were given through him and were already being done when the Quran came down. Abraham and Ismail prayed: “Teach us the rites of our religion” [2:128]. And God tells us He taught Abraham, Lot, Isaac and Jacob “how to observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) and the obligatory charity (Zakat)” [21:73]. Muhammad was then told to follow Abraham's religion [16:123]. The translation's Appendix 9 adds that there is no dispute about the number of units in the five prayers. It says this universal agreement shows that God preserved them. Where people had changed something, the Quran puts it right. The ablution is one clear case: God gives it in four simple steps [5:6].

The obligatory charity (Zakat) is a fixed duty: 2.5% of our net income, given on the day we receive it. Voluntary charity is anything we give beyond that, with no fixed amount. God ties the Zakat to the day income arrives: “give the due alms on the day of harvest” [6:141]. The footnote there gives the share, 2.5% of net income. Appendix 15 names who receives it, in order, from 2:215: parents, relatives, orphans, the poor, and the traveling alien. As we read it, 2:219 speaks of voluntary charity. When people asked what to give, God told His messenger to answer: “The excess.” [2:219] The righteous do both. God describes them giving “the money, cheerfully” to people in need, and also giving “the obligatory charity (Zakat)” [2:177]. As we read it, one never takes the place of the other.

Yes. God asks the same practices of men and women, and promises both the same reward. He names them side by side: “the reverent men, the reverent women, the charitable men, the charitable women, the fasting men, the fasting women” and more, and then says: “GOD has prepared for them forgiveness and a great recompense.” [33:35] The translation's Appendix 15 says the same of the Friday prayer: it is a duty ‘upon every Submitting man and woman’. So a woman's worship counts exactly as a man's does, with the same reward.

God does not give one reason in a single verse, but we read it this way: they complete each other. Prayer keeps us close to God, and the obligatory charity (Zakat) puts that closeness into action for other people. God joins them many times: “You shall observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) and give the obligatory charity (Zakat). Any good you send forth on behalf of your souls, you will find it at GOD.” [2:110] And He describes the whole religion with the same pair [98:5]. When they come apart, things go wrong. Sura 107 describes people who pray to show off, “And they forbid charity.” [107:7] So when we pray, we also give the Zakat. And when we give, we give for God.

No. God asks for all of them, each in its own time, as far as we are able. God names the practices together, as one religion: “worship GOD, devoting the religion absolutely to Him alone, observe the contact prayers (Salat), and give the obligatory charity (Zakat). Such is the perfect religion.” [98:5] One is not offered as a swap for another. But God never asks more than we can do: “GOD never burdens a soul beyond its means” [2:286]. Someone who cannot afford the pilgrimage, for example, is not asked to go [3:97].

Some of them, yes. Most of our prayers can be done at home, but God also asks us to gather. The Friday prayer is congregational: “when the Congregational Prayer (Salat Al-Jumu'ah) is announced on Friday, you shall hasten to the commemoration of GOD, and drop all business.” [62:9] The pilgrimage, too, brings people together. God told Abraham to proclaim it, and that “They will come from the farthest locations.” [22:27] So we keep a private practice every day, and we join other believers when God asks us to.

So that God is never far from our mind for long. The prayers come at dawn, at noon, in the afternoon, at sunset and at night, and they keep bringing us back. God gives the times in several verses. For example: “You shall observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) at both ends of the day, and during the night.” [11:114] And: “the Contact Prayers (Salat) are decreed for the believers at specific times.” [4:103] The same verse tells us to remember God after the prayer, “while standing, sitting, or lying down” [4:103]. The footnote there says: ‘Your god is whoever or whatever occupies your mind most of the day.’ Five short visits a day keep that place for God.

Yes. The Friday Congregational Prayer at noon is a duty for every believing man and woman. God commands it: “O you who believe, when the Congregational Prayer (Salat Al-Jumu'ah) is announced on Friday, you shall hasten to the commemoration of GOD, and drop all business. This is better for you, if you only knew.” [62:9] The translation's Appendix 15 calls it an obligatory duty for every believing man and woman. It explains that on Friday the noon prayer is two sermons and two units. And once it is over, we can go back to our work, while still remembering God: “Once the prayer is completed, you may spread through the land to seek GOD's bounties, and continue to remember GOD frequently, that you may succeed.” [62:10]

No, but it is not limited to a few days either. The footnote to 2:197 says it can be done at any time during the four Sacred Months. God says: “Hajj shall be observed in the specified months.” [2:197] The footnote names them: Zul-Hijjah, Muharram, Safar and Rabi I. The Pilgrimage page has the full steps.