بُنِيَ الْإِسْلَامُ عَلَى خَمْسٍ
On the authority of Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿAbd Allāh, the son of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (raḍ. ʿanhumā), who said: I heard the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ say:
عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عُمَرَ بْنِ الْخَطَّابِ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ يَقُولُ: «بُنِيَ الْإِسْلَامُ عَلَى خَمْسٍ: شَهَادَةِ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ، وَإِقَامِ الصَّلَاةِ، وَإِيتَاءِ الزَّكَاةِ، وَحَجِّ الْبَيْتِ، وَصَوْمِ رَمَضَانَ». رَوَاهُ الْبُخَارِيُّ وَمُسْلِمٌ.
A man becomes a true Muslim when he perfects these five pillars. As far as the outward ruling is concerned, however, anyone who testifies that there is no god but Allāh ﷻ and that Muḥammad ﷺ is His Messenger is counted a Muslim from the moment those words are uttered: it then becomes obligatory upon him to fulfil the remaining four pillars in his actions. Anyone who omits the testimony of faith is not counted a Muslim, and the remaining four pillars do not become obligatory upon him.
The opening ḥadīth of Imām al-Nawawī's Forty: actions are judged by their intentions, and a person has of an act only what they intended by it.
The ḥadīth of Jibrīl, in which the angel questions the Prophet ﷺ about Islām, Īmān, Iḥsān, and the signs of the Hour, with phrase-by-phrase commentary.
Nawawī's thirtieth ḥadīth: Allāh has set obligations, limits, and prohibitions, and has remained silent about other matters out of mercy.
Muʿādh ibn Jabal asks the Prophet ﷺ for an act that grants Paradise; the answer covers the pillars, the gates of good, and the tongue.
