THE FIFTY-FOUR FARZES (or FARDS) (I)

A child becomes a Muslim when it reaches the age of puberty, and so does a non-Muslim who utters the Kalima-i-tawhîd, i.e. says, “Lâ ilâha il-l-Allah Muhammadun rasûlullah,” and believes what is meant by this utterance. All the sins committed by the non-Muslim until that time become pardoned then and there (by Allâhu ta’âlâ). However, these two people, like any other Muslim, have to memorize the six fundamentals of îmân, which are called Âmentu in the aggregate, whenever they have time, learn their meanings and believe them, and say, “I believe (the fact) that the entire Islam, i.e. all the commandments and prohibitions (in the aggregate), has been declared by Allâhu ta’âlâ.” Later on, whenever they have time and favourable conditions, it is also farz for them to learn the farz ones, i.e. the commandments, and the harâm ones, i.e. the prohibitions among all Islam’s teachings pertaining to ethical and behavioral conduct and new situations that they come up against. If they deny or disbelieve or scoff at the fact that it is farz to learn these teachings and that it is farz to perform any one of the farz ones and to avoid any one of the ones which are harâm, they become a murtadd(renegade, apostate). In other words, a person who scoffs at any one of these teachings, e.g. women’s covering themselves (in a manner dictated by Islam, becomes a murtadd. Unless a murtadd makes tawba for the cause of their apostasy, they will not become a Muslim by saying, “Lâ ilâha il-l-Allah or by doing some of Islam’s commandments such as performing namâz, fasting, going on hajj or by doing good deeds or acts of charity. Nor will they reap any benefits for these good deeds of theirs in the Hereafter. They have to repent and make tawba for their denial, i.e. for the Islamic tenet they have refused to believe.

Islamic scholars have culled fifty-four of the farzes that every individual Muslim has to believe and observe:

1– To know that Allâhu ta’âlâ is One and never to forget Him.

2– To eat and drink what is halâl.

3– To make an ablution.