The Five Pillars of Sunni Islam and the Ten Obligatory Acts of Shia Islam, their meaning and importance, and the differences between the two traditions.

What this dot point is asking

Eduqas wants you to explain the Five Pillars of Sunni Islam and the Ten Obligatory Acts of Shia Islam: the core duties that structure Muslim life. The Pillars are the framework on which the rest of this module hangs, since each pillar is then studied in detail. The topic feeds the 15-mark evaluation question on which pillar is most important, so you need the content, the Sunni-Shia comparison, and the sources of wisdom and authority Eduqas rewards.

The Five Pillars of Sunni Islam

The Pillars are called the foundations because they hold up the Muslim's faith and life, just as pillars hold up a building. They are listed in the famous Hadith of Jibril, where the angel questions Muhammad and he names them. Each one is examined in its own dot point in this module.

The Ten Obligatory Acts of Shia Islam

The Shia list shows the same devotion to prayer, fasting, charity and pilgrimage, but expresses the distinctive Shia emphasis on the Prophet's family (Tawalla and Tabarra) and adds duties such as khums and commanding good. Both traditions agree these acts put faith into practice.

Why the Pillars and Acts matter

For Muslims, these duties are not optional extras but the practical heart of Islam. They turn belief into a way of life: declaring faith, remembering Allah throughout the day, sharing wealth with the poor, disciplining the body, and joining the worldwide community at Makkah. They build the ummah (the global Muslim community), since Muslims everywhere perform the same acts, and they express the meaning of the word Islam itself: submission to Allah. This is why the evaluation question, "which pillar matters most?", is so rich: each pillar is essential, yet the Shahadah underlies them all.

Common and divergent views

The common view is that the core acts (declaring faith, prayer, charity, fasting and pilgrimage) are obligatory for all Muslims. The divergence is in how they are organised: Sunni Islam lists Five Pillars, while Shia Islam sets out Ten Obligatory Acts, adding khums, jihad, commanding good and the duties towards the Prophet's family (Tawalla and Tabarra). For the exam, present the shared core as agreed and use the Shia additions to show the difference.

Try this

Q1. Name the Five Pillars of Sunni Islam. [a-style recall]

• Cue. Shahadah (declaration of faith), Salah (prayer), Zakah (almsgiving), Sawm (fasting in Ramadan) and Hajj (pilgrimage to Makkah).

Q2. Explain one way the Shia Ten Obligatory Acts differ from the Sunni Five Pillars. [b-style short explanation]

• Cue. The Shia list adds duties such as khums (a one-fifth religious tax), jihad, commanding good and forbidding evil, and Tawalla and Tabarra (loving the Prophet's family and rejecting its enemies), reflecting the Shia emphasis on the Ahl al-Bayt; both still keep prayer, fasting, charity and Hajj.