7W1

The fourth pillar of Islam is Sawm. Today we considered the idea of fasting and that it is not just about feeling hungry but connecting with God and achieving “God-consciousness” (taqwa).

Your homework was to find out a little more about Sawm. Particularly think about who does the fasting, when they do it, what happens if people slip up. Look at some of these links and try to find something really interesting!

• BBC Religion
• Looklex
• Islam Tomorrow

Today we looked at the Second Pillar of Islam, “Salah”. This is the requirement for Muslims to pray 5 times a day. We were introduced to 5 key words:

• Adhan - the call to prayer we saw on the whiteboard
• Mu’adhin - the person who sings the call to prayer (adhan)
• Salah - the second pillar
• Rakah - an individual unit of prayer
• Wudu - the ritual wash Muslims have before prayer

Homework:

Your homework was to think of something you could do 5 times a day and then do it before school, at morning break, lunchtime, after school, and in the evening. Once you’ve done it, write a paragraph explaining what you did and how easy or hard you found it.