CAN THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM LEAD THE MUSLIMS TO PARADISE?

In the very first place, I believe the underlying truth is in the fact that Faiths/Religions have different beliefs, teachings and perceptions of many issues. This is because each Faith/Religion is built around a person or a spiritual power of its own kind. 

The Christian Faith is all about Jesus the CHRIST, the Islamic religion is all about Muhammad, etc. The Muslims therefore have a different perception of what heaven is. The requirements for a Muslim faithful to get to heaven are rather far incomparable with those of a Christian faithful.

The Muslim god could be able to lead them to a certain type of “heaven” should they keep those pillars. Such is not the case when it comes to God who also is YAHWEH (Exodus 6:2-3). And this God YAHWEH is the Father of Jesus Christ. 

The God YAHWEH, through Jesus Christ deals with the heart. He is not a God after keeping a certain law for the sake of it; He is not a God of rituals. 

Upon all the above, it could pretty  be true that we may never have an answer satisfying to all parties.

In basic terms, let us list these pillars and thereafter discuss one by one in more critical terms;

• Shahadah- Confession that allah is god and Muhammad is his prophet.

• Swalah- keeping the daily five prayer sessions.

• Zakat- Giving to the poor

• Swaum- The annual fasting of the month of ramadhan

• Hajj- Visiting the “holy places” of Mecca and Muhammad’s tomb in Medina.

Shahadah

This is to confess that Allah is god and that Muhammad is his prophet. By this, you have confirmed that you know no other god but Allah and Muhammad is the “lead prophet”. Mere confession of Allah and his prophet Muhammad in Islam is a guarantee to heaven. 

Christians on the other hand are also required to confess CHRIST Jesus as Lord and Savior. However, in Christianity, mere confession is not an end in itself, it is to be matched with actions of holiness. As that, in Christianity, nobody is simply led to heaven because he has confessed; it is the spirit in which you do so and how you act thereafter. 

The devil also believes and confesses Jesus is Lord but he is not accepted as a Christian (James 2:19), (Luke 4:41).

Additionally, the content of what we confess is different, the Muslims confess Allah and Muhammad. On the other hand, Christians are required and do indeed confess CHRIST Jesus as Lord and Saviour of all (Matthew 9:6-8, 28:18-20), (Luke 10:19). 

All these differences are clear indications that we are referring to very different deities. Allah is not YAHWEH neither is Muhammad a "prophet" of the same (YAHWEH).

Swallah

This is to keep the five daily prayer sessions throughout the life of a Muslim. It is a repeated recitation of a certain surat alfatiha and any other surah from the Quran followed up with additional memorizations in all these prayer sessions. I mean the same phrases are repeated in all these "prayers". 

On the other hand, though, the God of the Christians is not about memorizations or recitations. He allows you to pray from your heart. It is about the one praying not God. Rather we pray from within us because we want to reconcile and reunite with God. And if that is, it is that prayer has to come from within us and not from God.

To Christians, prayer is out of the desire to have a relationship with God. So then, prayer is not an end it itself and can’t therefore by itself lead you to heaven. Prayer is simply a tool (if used well with knowledge) that can help build the much needed relationship with God. For Christians, it is not simply to pray, but the prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16). This is what eventually paves the way to heaven.

While they "pray", Muslims are commanded to face in the direction of the Kaaba in which also is the black stone. To the Muslim faith, doing this alone earns a person credit from Allah. If you pray not facing in the direction of the Kaaba, then your prayer is null and void. Rather it doesn't count at all.

For Christians, you are free to pray facing anywhere. For God YAHWEH is Omnipresent and Omniscient. He connects with the Heart and not by merely facing or being anywhere. 

There are immense differences in perceptions of prayer between Christians and Muslims among which are the following:

Christian God                                                                Muslim god

It is out of the need to                                                   It is a command
Prayer comes from the heart                                         Prayer is by Allah, memorized and recited
Not an end in itself                                                        It is an end in itself
Prayer is formed by the individual                                  Prayer is formed by Allah
God directs how to pray                                               Allah commands you what to pray
You can face anywhere in prayer                                   Face the Kaaba only

Simply to pray can’t lead anybody to heaven.

Zakat

This is giving alms. It involves giving to the poor. However, in the Islamic teaching, it is more of a command than out of passion, love, care. It is a command from Allah. 

On the other hand, giving whether as a command or not is a way of worship. Worship is not forced on someone, it is out of one's realization how great and good God is to us. As such, giving sometimes is out of such encounters. However, many people of all sorts give; witches, homosexuals, Muslims, Christians, etc. So to say someone may simply be led to heaven because he has given is not realistic.

So then, a Christian should give because he is Christian. Rather, as Christians, we give because of what we are in Christ and not because it is a command from anybody. We do give because of the life of Christ in us. That means the giving alone can't translate into justification.

But if we give because we are Christians, it means we are giving because of the Christ in us. And if Christ is in us, then our giving pretty makes meaning and sense. For we are nothing of our own. It is all about God.

Swaum

This is fasting during the “holy” month of Ramadhan. In fact, in the Muslim faith, it is alleged that during this month, the devil is tied up and the “heavens are wide open, and any Muslim who dies during this month has his direct way to Jana (paradise). But so to say, such are simply religious beliefs that have no any root at all. 

To fast or not to fast can’t be reason why someone should or shouldn’t go to heaven. This is because it is about the one fasting, it does God no good for someone to fast. Rather it doesn't benefit God in anyway if someone fasts. For fasting aids the individual. 

Much more so, the period during which to fast also raises questions. The God of the Christians allows them to fast as and when they believe and realize it is paramount to do so, it doesn't matter when. Rather Christians fast because the need is there to do so (Matthew 17:21), (Luke 9:29). All time is God’s.

But Muslims can only do their fasting during that particular month. And it is a must that you wake up in the wee morning hours and eat. If you don't, you miss the fast. Equally so, you have to break the fast when the sun goes down. If you don't break the fast at that time, your fast is declared null and void. Not so?

Yet mere fasting can't be guarantee to heaven; it is how and the intent with which you do so (Isaiah 58:1-14), (Matthew 6:16-18, 9:14-15). Neither should fasting be about rituals of some sort. For fasting is simply about punishing the body and subjecting it to the will of God. How long you fast can't be reason to or not to be rewarded.

And according to the Christian doctrine, once you have fasted, the reward is the result or bearing fruit for that matter. Rather when you fast, the fasting must be helpful to shape you and make you a better person. It is rather about reconciling us with God. 

Many people have fasted and will still end up in hell because they much more do it as a command rather than as out of passion and love for a good relationship with God. 

You could fast because it is a command or ritual but continue to dwell in sin. Additionally, many people of other different faiths do fast. The witches, Buddhists and many others do fast, but they can't go to heaven because of their fasting? Rather the difference will come in how and the intent with which it is done. It is this "how" and the intent which brings reward but not merely having fasted.

Hajj

This is visiting the “holy” places of Mecca and Medina and perform certain rituals by those who can financially afford. Actually the word “Hajj” is translated as visitor. In Mecca is where the Kaaba is. In the Kaaba is the black stone. Every pilgrim must kiss this stone if to be counted as having done Hajj. This is why the pilgrim is rewarded.

NB According to the Muslim faith, if a pilgrim dies in Mecca or Medina during Hajj, he directly goes to "heaven". Muslims do believe that Mecca and Medina is the direct gateway to Jana. Upon this, many Muslim faithfuls do relish to die in this part of the world.

In Mecca, there is also stoning the satanic pillars. You must stone the pillars if to count your Hajj. For you must fulfill all the rituals. Most of the very crucial rituals are done in Mecca. In Medina, there is Muhammad's tomb. So pilgrims go to Medina mostly to visit the tomb of the "greatest prophet" ever to be. The body of "great prophet" is in the grave in Medina.

Christians do not have this as a reason to go or not to go to heaven. A wealthy Christian who may have never wished to go to Israel can’t be held in bad faith for not doing so. The God of the Christians is Omnipresent. I don’t need to go to anywhere to have an experience of God (Matthew 18:20, 28:20), (Revelation 3:20). The moment I confess His name (Jesus Christ), He is right here or there with me. For Jesus gave us the promise that where we are, He will always be with us. 

What brings Him (God) to us?

He comes to us because our hearts and that of His do connect. For it is not because a person is in this place or that place that God will listen to them. Rather a place where one is does not matter at all. God listens to me in Uganda much as He doe listen to a person who is Israel, Europe, America, or anywhere else.

For Christians, worship is in the heart and not in a particular place or of a particular person. The only difference is in righteousness which only is but in the heart. We worship God in the spirit (John 4:23-24). And we worship Him anywhere we are because He (God) searches for the heart of a person (John 4:19-22). That is how we get to heaven.

A broken and contrite heart God does not despise (Psalms 51:17). But a proud heart will lead one to hell whether so prayerful, so giving, so fasting, etc. A broken heart is of one who accepts his wrong doing, forsakes it, gets transformed and become that person, the type that Jesus formed on the cross at Calvary. 

On the other hand, Allah can allow whoever person into his "heaven" with whichever heart they have as long as they keep his laws, no matter with which heart. A person who beheads another is not, (according to Allah) answerable in any way if that person keeps all these pillars. He could even do it in the name of Allah. Note that according to Allah, if a Muslim kills a non-Muslim, he has not committed any crime. He is rather rewarded for that act by Allah.

Do you realize that none of these Muslim pillars is spiritual? They are all literally. Rather there is nothing in them that ever mentions the heart. It is all about; if you do this or that. As such, well as Allah can allow his followers into his "heaven" for simply performing certain rituals and keeping certain laws, YAHWEH God can’t do the same. He needs the heart, He loves a broken one.

The case of sin

In more critical terms, keeping the five pillars of Islam does not meet the penalty for sin. That Adam and Eve (of whom we are the offspring) sinned, sin is passed on from one generation to another (Romans 3:23). And when God provided the only way in Jesus for the remission of sin, it was not meant for one category of people and not for the other. One to claim not to or to have sinned is therefore totally baseless.

The Muslims do agree that indeed Adam sinned. But how this kind of situation is not explained how it is dealt with by our Muslim brothers raises serious questions. Rather according to the Muslims, when and how is the sin of Adam paid for?

If one commits a crime in the secular world, he is either sentenced or he is pardoned. And it is not that when he is pardoned, that there is no price to pay. There has to be a way that is acceptable to all parties to allow the pardon to be effective. Rather if one is given amnesty, he is issued with the amnesty certificate. That person is rather certified to have been forgiven. If to have been pardoned, how are the Muslims pardoned? Who certifies their amnesty?

Thus the reason that God provided a way in Jesus who is sinless that in Him who is sinless, the sinful man can find a way to be set free from the generational sin. For a criminal can't stand surety for another. A sinner can't stand surety for a sinner. Thus only Jesus qualifies for this. That is why it is pretty a condition that we submit to Him so we can be cleansed of the consequential sin. For it is only (the sinless) Jesus who underwent the process of cleansing man of sin. Who has done what for the Muslims?

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. The gift of life is in Jesus (Romans 6:23). Keeping the five pillars of Islam does not meet this standard. Only when do we submit to Jesus that we have the assurance that our sin is adequately paid for and subsequently forgiven and cleansed away.

Conclusion

Observing the five pillars of Islam by Muslims is simply their effort to please their god Allah. Christians do not struggle to keep laws and observe rituals to please their God because they can’t please Him by works. Laws can be kept and rituals can be observed carnally and all such can only be justifiable to the human eye, but God does not judge by what we can see.  God judges by the heart (Psalms 51:10), (Matthew 5:8), (Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26), (Jeremiah 17:10),

The five pillars of Islam aren’t about the heart or transforming someone, they are simply a way of keeping laws and observing rituals designed only to give a sinner some sort of comfort.

It is therefore pretty true that keeping the five pillars of Islam can’t get you to heaven.