Humanities

HUM 102; Week 5 Assignment

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HUM 102; Week 5 Assignment

        According to Yong (2016), Islam is the second major religious conviction in the world, after Christianity, with approximately 1.6 billion followers, or 23 percent of the world’s total population. To demonstrate submission to God, Muslims believe that they have to fulfill four major principles which include Prayer (salaat), fasting (saum), and journey to Mecca (hajj).

Prayer (Salaat)

        This is the tenet that every Muslim must observe. It involves show submission to God, Allah, by observing the mandatory worship prayers that are done five times in a day. The five prayers have their names as highlighted below.

• Subah Prayer; the prayer that is normally done at the start of the twilight
• Zuhur Prayer; this prayer is done when the shadow starts indicating slight movement from the point of no shadow.  Zuhur prayer stops when the shadow becomes two times the size of the person.
• Asar Prayer; This prayer begins when the sun moves from its Zenith. At this time, the shadow has slightly moved from the locus of no shadow (Kidwai, 2013).
• Maghrib Prayer; the time for this prayer begins when the sun is setting and ends when the red color in the sky vanishes.
• Isha Namaz prayer; this prayer begins when the red color on the sky completely disappears after sunset and ends during twilight because Isha time extends to the time when the twilight starts.

Fasting (saum)

        This is the second tenet of the Islamic religion. Every Muslim is obligated to participate in Ramadan, one sacred month of fasting, every year.  During this time, Muslims abstain from food each day from dawn to sunset. The Ramadan fasting is aimed at cultivating a greater sense of spirituality and closeness to Allah.

Pilgrimage to Makka (hajj)

        This is the third tenet that every Muslim should observe. Every devoted Muslim must undertake a hajj to Makkah in Saudi Arabia one time in life, in what is commonly known as hajj. Hajj commences each year in the month Dul Hejja. In Islamic calendar, Dul Hejja is the twelfth month of the year. During Hajj, the pilgrim overlooks all worldly pleasures and commits all his attention to Allah only