Are the pillars of islam same from times of adam?

Question

There are many instances in Quran and ahadith which mention earlier prophets prayed, gave zakah, did hajj.

prayers and zakaat. Quran 19:30-34. Hajj. Quran 22:27.

The first pillar was always the same . To belive in Rabb of Adam and Ibrahim.

My question is were the pillars always the same from times of Adam and only jurisprudence has changed?

Answer 1

In general our religion is the same as the religion of the previous nations:

شرع لكم من الدين ما وصى به نوحا والذي أوحينا إليك وما وصينا به إبراهيم وموسى وعيسى

He has ordained for you of religion what He enjoined upon Noah and that which We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what We enjoined upon Abraham and Moses and Jesus

^{— Quran 42:13}

This includes all the beliefs. As for the acts of worship and laws: some of these are the same and some are different. And regarding some of these there is difference of opinion.

Shahadatayn

The Shahadah is a testimony that:

لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله

There is no god except Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah

Belief in oneness of Allah was required from everyone:

وما أرسلنا من قبلك من رسول إلا نوحي إليه أنه لا إله إلا أنا فاعبدون

And We sent not before you any messenger except that We revealed to him that, "There is no deity except Me, so worship Me."

^{— Quran 21:25}

To every nation a Messenger was also sent, and belief in him was also required.

يا بني آدم إما يأتينكم رسل منكم يقصون عليكم آياتي فمن اتقى وأصلح فلا خوف عليهم ولا هم يحزنون

O children of Adam, if there come to you messengers from among you relating to you My verses, then whoever fears Allah and reforms - there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve.

^{— Quran 7:35}

ولقد أخذ الله ميثاق بني إسرائيل ... وآمنتم برسلي وعزرتموهم

And Allah had already taken a covenant from the Children of Israel ... believe in My messengers and support them

^{— Quran 5:12 also see Deuteronomy 18:19}

The other answers here have claimed that the previous nations were not required to believe in Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. This is incorrect.

Believing in God entails believing in His messengers. Believing in a messenger entails that you believe in everything that he teaches and is inclusive of all other beliefs in the religion such as the belief in angels, books, day of judgement and all other prophets whom he acknowledged or foretold. One who rejects anything from his teachings essentially rejects Allah and all His Messengers.

The coming of Muhammad was foretold by their prophets and scriptures as proven by the Quran 7:157 , 61:6 , 48:29. And we are also taught that they were commanded to believe in the Prophet who came after them:

لما آتيتكم من كتاب وحكمة ثم جاءكم رسول مصدق لما معكم لتؤمنن به ولتنصرنه

Whatever I give you of the Scripture and wisdom and then there comes to you a messenger confirming what is with you, you [must] believe in him and support him.

^{— Quran 3:81}

Ibn Kathir writes in the exegesis of this verse, citing Ali and Ibn Abbas:

ما بعث الله نبيا من الأنبياء إلا أخذ عليه الميثاق ، لئن بعث محمد وهو حي ليؤمنن به ولينصرنه ، وأمره أن يأخذ الميثاق على أمته : لئن بعث محمد [ صلى الله عليه وسلم ] وهم أحياء ليؤمنن به ولينصرنه

Allah never sent a Prophet but after taking his pledge that if Muhammad were sent in his lifetime, he would believe in and support him.' Allah commanded each Prophet to take a pledge from his nation that if Muhammad were sent in their time, they would believe in and support him

^{— Tafsir Ibn Kathir (en)}

So Yes, the Shahadah in its entirety was a cornerstone of every nation that has preceded ours.

Salah and Zakah:

There are several verses in the Quran which ascribe Salah and Zakah to various Prophets. The earliest explicit reference seems to be regarding Abraham and his family:

ووهبنا له إسحاق ويعقوب نافلة وكلا جعلنا صالحين وجعلناهم أئمة يهدون بأمرنا وأوحينا إليهم فعل الخيرات وإقام الصلاة وإيتاء الزكاة وكانوا لنا عابدين

And We gave him (Abraham) Isaac and Jacob in addition, and all [of them] We made righteous. And We made them leaders guiding by Our command. And We inspired to them the doing of good deeds, establishment of prayer, and giving of zakah; and they were worshippers of Us.

^{— Quran 21:72-73}

Similarly about Ishmael:

واذكر في الكتاب إسماعيل إنه كان صادق الوعد وكان رسولا نبيا وكان يأمر أهله بالصلاة والزكاة وكان عند ربه مرضيا

And mention in the Book, Ishmael. Indeed, he was true to his promise, and he was a messenger and a prophet. And he used to enjoin on his people prayer and zakah and was to his Lord pleasing.

^{— Quran 19:54-55}

It is possible that prophets and nations before them were also required to perform salah and give zakah. And it is also possible that the details and procedures of these were different, for example there is a hadith (Bukhari 7517) which implies that the Bani Israel had less than five prayers.

Hajj:

Kaabah was the first mosque ever to be built (3:96), probably built by Adam and rebuilt by Abraham. And at least Abraham and Ishmael performed Hajj to it (2:125), and it is claimed that all the Prophets did it, or that many of them did it.

Fasting:

Fasting was prescribed for the previous nations:

يا أيها الذين آمنوا كتب عليكم الصيام كما كتب على الذين من قبلكم لعلكم تتقون

O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous -

^{— Quran 2:183}

And some of the exegetes from the salaf believed that this fasting means exactly the fasting of Ramadan.

فإن الله تعالى كتب على قوم موسى وعيسى صوم رمضان فغيروا

Allah ordained fasting in the month of Ramadan for the followers of Moses and Jesus and they changed it ...

كتب الله عز وجل صوم شهر رمضان على كل أمة Allah ordained fasting in the month of Ramadan on every Ummah ...

^{— Tafsir al-Qurtubi - Mawsu’ah Al-Tafsir Al-Mathūr}