I am not sure what exactly you mean by this, and it is not something I have thought about (ir maybe I have but I misunderstand your question), but here goes.

If you mean the five pillars, they are

1. Faith (Basically believing in Islam. Got to be the main thing obviously.)
2. Salah (Prayer)
3. Zakaah (giving alms to the poor [This is considered a necessity, not charity. Charity is what you give after the minimum amount.])
4. Fasting in the Month of Ramadan.
5. Hajj (Must be done atleast once in a lifetime if the person has had the opportunity to do so.)

Thisa is probably gonna sound very embarrassing, but for my last post I had to google for the five pillars.

I had forgotten fasting. totally left my mind! :shock:

[b][color=indigo]It happens. [/color][/b]

Lol.

It's why I come on here. It's nice to know there are other ppl out there like me, lol. When I first came on here a lot of you inspired or motivated me. I only joined coz I thought I had something in common with some of you. I just realised you probably see that as an insult, lol.

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if i may ask, would someone be willing to explain to me what rites and sacrements there are in islam? in Catholicism there are seven... (baptism, confirmation, eucharist, reconciliation, anointing of the sick, holy orders, matrimony)

If your experiences are from Catholicism, you'll be very surprised by the simplicity and beauty of Islam.

To become a Muslim you don't have to go through a complex baptism or other ceremony. All you have do is utter the phrase (while believing what you are saying): 'ashadu ala ilaha ilAllah wa ashadu anna Muhammadah Rasulullah' either infront of two Muslim witnesses if they are available, otherwise on your own is fine. the phrase means 'I testify that there is nothing worthy of worship except God, and i testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of God'.

You don't have to change your name unless it is something that goes against this testimony. for example if you have the name 'Abdul-Ya'qub' ('Slave of Ya'qub') then you'd have to change it to something more appropriate e.g. 'Abdullah' ('Slave of God'). Another (more common) forbidden name would be 'Christopher' ('bearing Christ in his heart'). Becuase Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him) is a noble Prophet in Islam, but is not worshipped.

All acts in Islam are secondary to this testimony. While Prayer is extremely important, it has no value unless it is dedicated to God alone. the same goes for all the remaining 'Pillars of Islam'.

There is a saying of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) that if a person were to go to God on the Day of Judgement, and their sins amounted to all that is in the Heavens and the Earth, and the one good deed they had was believing in 'la ilaha ilAllah' (that the is nothing worthy of worship except God), then God would reply that the person would not be wronged, and after cleansing the person of their sins, He would admit them to Paradise!

SubhanAllah! (God is free from all faults!)

Maybe you could learn this; from a well-known hadith:

[i]Buniyal Islamu ala khamsin: shahadati an la ilaha illAllah wa anna Muhammadar RasulAllah, wa iqaimus salati, wa ita'iz zakati, wa hajjil bayti, wa sawmi Ramadan [/i]

Literally it means: Islam is built on five things: declaring that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and establishing prayer, and paying zakat, and pilgrimage to the house (hajj), and fasting in Ramadan

i always remember this when it comes to the 5 pillars :--)

p.s. br Yaqub, very elequently put mashaAllah :--)

Ya'qub, no need to put down one faith to big up another.

If that was not your intention then my apologies.

Otherwise I am certain we would not like it if to support another faith, people thought it was a good idea to ridicule Islam.

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Ya'qub, no need to put down one faith to big up another.

my intention certainly wasn't to ridicule any belief. I don't know any Catholic who would disagree that there are complex aspects to their faith, especially when it comes to religious rites etc. I never said whether the complexity of Catholicism was a positive or negative feature.

I also don't know any Muslims who would disagree with the simplicity and beauty of Islam.

I think there is a big difference between comparing and contrasting beliefs, or even criticizing them, and actually ridiculing them for cheap one-upmanship. I hope I havn't done the latter, if I have then I apologize for any offence caused.