Mohammed established the primacy of five broad duties, now called the five pillars of Islam: shahadah, to attest that there is only one God and Mohammed is his messenger; salaat (or namaz), to perform a certain prayer ritual five times every day; zakat, to give a certain percentage of one’s wealth to the poor each year; sawm (or roza), to fast from dawn to dusk during the month of Ramadan each year; and hajj, to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime, if possible.
