Muhammad's message rests on Five Pillars

National Catholic Reporter, Oct 5, 2001 by Terry Muck

* Human rights: Islam has often been called a communitarian religion, not an individualistic one. This means that when it comes to balancing individual rights with community responsibilities as defined by religious teaching, the community responsibilities usually win out. This puts many Islamic moral and ethical emphases at odds with Western individualism.

On the other hand, Muslims find themselves in agreement with many features of United States culture:

* Human rights: Despite their communitarian emphases and drive to extend the sway of Quranic teaching, Muslims are not against human rights. They believe all humans are created by Allah and as such deserve respect. This is particularly true of the disadvantaged of society.

* Anti-drugs: Observant Muslims do not use any mood-altering drugs, including alcohol.

* Pro-family: Muslims have very high ethical ideals particularly where they relate to family members. One of the difficulties immigrant Muslims in the United States have, for example, is the relaxed mixing of the sexes in schools and the unchaperoned dating common to most teenagers.

* Monotheism: Thinking of God in the singular is natural to Muslims. This is a point of contact with Americans, many of whom are strongly influenced by the Judeo-Christian tradition of monotheism.

Holidays

Muslims follow the lunar calendar. As a result, Muslim holidays rotate throughout the solar calendar year. Muslims celebrate two major holidays: Eid ul-fitr is the celebration at the end of Ramadan, the month of daylight fasting. It lasts three days. Eid ul-adha is the celebration at the end of the Great Pilgrimage to Mecca. Those who do not go on the pilgrimage celebrate at home with a four-day feast. Both of these major feasts are times of joy and praise of Allah.

Dress

Perhaps no feature of modern Islam is more publicly evident than the way some Muslim women dress.

What is not required in Islam is the full-length chador and face veil. These actually have their roots in Persian culture. They are worn in some Muslim cultures, for example Saudi Arabia and Iran.

What is required in Islam are two general principles: modesty and cleanliness. For women these principles mean that covering the hair in public is required. It also means the neck to knees should be covered, thus the hemlines of dresses should fall below the knees.

Food

In Islam there are two kinds of food: halal, or allowable foods, and haram, or prohibited foods.

Haram foods fall into two categories: The first category prohibits foods based on the way they were killed. Animals killed by any means other than the single approved way of killing are not allowed, nor are animals that kill. The second category prohibits foods by what they are. The two main groups here are pork and the blood of any animal.

Allowable animals are killed by a single knife stroke across the jugular while saying a prayer. The carcass is then left upside down to be drained completely of blood. Muslim halal killing is the same as Jewish kosher killing; Muslims may buy meat from a kosher shop. All fish, fruits, vegetables, gains, and root crops are allowable.