The Seven Pillars of Islam are a framework found in classical Ismaili Shia jurisprudence, especially in Da’a’im al-Islam, a tenth-century legal work by al-Qadi al-Nu’man associated with the Fatimid tradition. They are not a universal list adopted by all Shia Muslims or by Islam as a whole. The better-known Five Pillars of Islam are especially familiar from Sunni teaching.
What Are the Seven Pillars in the Ismaili Tradition?
In the account given by al-Qadi al-Nu’man, the seven pillars (da’a’im) are:
- Walaya (devotion and allegiance to the Imam): Recognition of the Imam’s religious authority. It is central to the classical Ismaili understanding of the Imamate.
- Tahara (purification): Ritual purity and the preparation required for worship.
- Salat (prayer): Prayer as a fundamental act of worship. Its forms and communal practices vary among Muslim traditions.
- Zakat (almsgiving): Religious giving and obligations associated with care for the community.
- Sawm (fasting): Fasting, traditionally associated with Ramadan, with interpretations and practices that vary across Ismaili communities.
- Hajj (pilgrimage): The pilgrimage to Mecca and the religious meanings attached to it within Islamic law and interpretation.
- Jihad (striving in God’s cause): A concept discussed in religious, ethical and historical legal contexts, including questions of communal defence; it should not be reduced to a single modern meaning.
This is one coherent list. Shahada (the declaration of faith) and khums (a religious levy) are important concepts in Islamic traditions, but neither replaces walaya or tahara in this particular list of seven pillars.
Why Does This List Have Seven Rather Than Five?
The distinction is about how a particular legal and theological tradition organizes religious duties, not a claim that some Muslims have a different God or a different Qur’an. Al-Qadi al-Nu’man organized the seven pillars in the Da’a’im al-Islam, a major work of Fatimid Ismaili jurisprudence. In that framework, walaya is given a particularly prominent place, and tahara is treated as a separate pillar.
For comparison, the familiar Sunni list has five: shahada, salat, zakat, sawm and hajj. These categories overlap with the Ismaili list, but they are not simply the same list with two extra items.
Do All Shia Muslims Follow the Seven Pillars?
No. Shia Islam includes several traditions with different accounts of religious authority and different ways of grouping beliefs and duties. For example, Twelver Shia teaching often distinguishes five usul al-din (principles of faith) from the furu al-din (branches of religious practice). The five commonly listed principles are God’s oneness, divine justice, prophethood, the Imamate, and resurrection or the Last Judgment. Ismaili and Zaydi approaches are not identical to the Twelver scheme, either.
The seven-pillar framework therefore needs to be described specifically as part of classical Ismaili legal thought. Practices among today’s Ismaili communities are also diverse; a historical legal classification should not be mistaken for a uniform description of every Ismaili Muslim’s daily observance.
