Dear brothers and sisters,
This humble page was created so that new Muslims,
who are not Arabic-speaking can learn some of the essential Sura's and other requirements to perform the prayers (Salat).
You Are a Muslim When
You
Believe in your heart that there is only one God (named Allah in Arabic).
Believe in Allah's prophets from Adam to Muhammad, peace be upon them all.
Understand that all prophets came with the same message, which is to believe in God and to do good in this world to be rewarded possibly in this life and certainly in the hereafter.
Remember that a Muslim is someone who the people are safe from his hand and his tongue (Prophet Muhammad's saying).
When you believe in that, you have to make The DECLARATION
(Al-Shahada) by tongue and by heart.
Al-Shahada:
I Bear Witness that there is No god, but Allah
and Mohammad is the Messenger of Allah
Ash-hadu Anna La-Ilaha Ella-llah
Wa Ash-hadu Anna Muhammadan Rasulu-llah
Islam is not only beliefs and words. Actions must support the words.
Pillars of Islam are: Testifying Al-Shahada, Performing Prayers, Paying Zakat (Mandatory Charity), Fasting Ramadan, Performing Pilgrimige to Mecca if one is financially and physically able.
Performing prayers is the first duty of a Muslim. The prayer is mainly recitations of verses from the Quran "The Holy Book". The recitation is in Arabic in order to assure that all Muslims in the world perform the prayers the same way without giving room to translation distortions.
There is one part of the prayer called Al-Tashahud or Al-Taheyat, which is not part of the Quran, but the prophet Muhammad Peace Be Upon Him (PBUH) taught us to say it and that is also in Arabic. Finally, one can say whatever he/she wishes in his own language, when those the essential components of the prayers are fulfilled.