Shahada

This article is part of the series:
Allah-eser-green.png
Islam
Beliefs
Allah · Oneness of God
Prophets · Revealed books
Angels
Practices
Profession of faith · Prayer
Fasting · Charity · Pilgrimage
Texts and laws
Qur'an · Sunnah · Hadith
Fiqh · Sharia · Kalam · Sufism
History and leadership
Timeline · Spread of Islam
Ahl al-Bayt · Sahaba
Sunni · Shi'a  · Others
Rashidun · Caliphate
Imamate
Culture and society
Academics · Animals · Art
Calendar · Children
Demographics · Festivals
Mosques · Philosophy
Science · Women
Politics · Dawah
Islam and other
religions
Christianity · Judaism
Hinduism · Sikhism · Jainism · Mormonism
See also
Criticism
Glossary of Islamic terms
Islam portal

The Shahada, also spelled Šehadet (Arabic: الشهادة aš-šahāda audio) (from the verb šahida, "he witnessed"), means "to know and believe without suspicion, as if witnessed"/testification; it is the name of the Islamic creed. The Shahada is the Muslim declaration of belief in the oneness of Allahu ta'âlâ and acceptance of Muhammad as God's prophet. The declaration reads:

لا اله الا الله محمد رسول الله (lâ ilâha illallâh, Muḥammadur rasûlullâh) (in Arabic)
There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God. (in English)

In tradition of the Shia Muslims, there is the optional addition of Ali –un- vali -ul –lah ["Ali is the friend/representative/care taker (cf. Wali) of God"].

A single honest recitation of the Shahadah in Arabic is all that is required for a person to become a Muslim. A conversion to Islam is meant to be a one-way process, both for the individual and their descendants.[1]

This declaration, or statement of faith, is called the Kalima, which literally means "word". Recitation of the Shahadah the "oath/testimony", is the most important of the Five Pillars of Islam for Muslims. Non-Muslims wishing to convert to Islam do so by a public recitation of the creed.[2] Technically the Shi'a do not consider the Shahadah to be a separate pillar, but connect it to the Aqidah.[3] The complete shahadah cannot be found in the Quran, but comes from hadiths.[4]

Contents

Recitation

audio

Arabic text: أشهد أن لا إله إلاَّ الله و أشهد أن محمد رسول الله
Romanization: ʾašhadu ʾan lā ilāha illa (A)llāh, wa ʾašhadu ʾanna Muḥammada(n) rasūlo (A)llāh

A single honest recitation of the Shahadah in Arabic is all that is required for a person to become a Muslim according to most traditional schools.

In usage the two occurrences of ašhadu 'anna (or similar) = "I testify that" or "I bear witness that..." are very often omitted.

Shia, Fatimid, Ismaili, and Dawoodi Bohra recite the kalema as follows: "Ash-hadu -an-la-ilaha illal-laha, wa ash-hadu anna Mohammad-an Abdo-hu wa Rasulo-uhu wa ash-hadu anna Moulana Ali-un-Waliullah .”, and the complete oath now means: "I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, and I bear witness that Mohammad is Allah's servant and His Messenger and I bear witness that Ali is Allah's 'Wali','representative' ." The last phrase is optional to some shia. They feel that Ali's 'Valayat' is self-evident and need not be declared. However, the greatness of Allah is also taken to be self-evident, but Muslims still declare 'Allaho Akabar' to publicize and confirm/boost their faith. This is the reason Fatemid/Dawoodi Bohra gives for recitation of the phrase regarding Ali.

History

A mancus / gold dinar of the king Offa of Mercia, copied from the dinars of the Abbasid Caliphate (774); probably unintentionally, it still includes the Arabic text Muhammad is the Apostle of God.
Qiblah of imam Mustansir in Fatemid masjid of Cairo showing Kalema-tut-shahadat 'la-ilaha-'

One of the earliest surviving translations of the Shahadah into a foreign language is in Greek, from the reign of al-Walid I (86–96 AH, 705–715 CE): Ούκ Έστιν θεός εἰ μὴ ὁ θεὸς μόνος·] Μααμὲ[τ ἀπόστολος θεοῦ] (Ouk esti[n theos ei mē ho theos monos;] Maame[t apostolos theou]).[5] "There is no god except for God alone; Muhammad is the Apostle of God."; i.e. "Allah", the Arabic word for "God", is translated as "Θεός" and Muhammad is transliterated as "Μωάμεθ".

The right photo shows aux. Qiblah in one of pillars in between masjid (Mosque of Ibn Tulun of Qahira) of Fatemid Caliphate/ Imam’s era of Egypt having engraved in stone the name of 18th Imam Mustansir(1035-1094 A.D.) and the complete Kalema in the same form as above. “La-ilah-a- ill-allah, Mohammad-an- Rasul-ul-lah, Ali-un-Wali-u(A)l-lah(clearly visible).”,

photo of kalema at Bab al-Nasr Fatimid Cairo

The Kalema in the complete form also exist at Gate " Bab al-Nasr" built by Fatimid minister Badr-al-Jamali (952-975 A.D.)at northen wall of Fatemid Cairo(Photo at right).

"Tawhïd", "Nabuwat", "Imāmate"

Its fundamental first phrase ”Lā 'ilaha 'illā llāh” is the foundation stone of Islam, the belief that “there is no god but Allah”. This is the confession of "Tawhïd" = "oneness".

The second phrase ”Muħammadun rasūlu llāh” fulfils the requirement that there should be someone to guide in the name of Allah, which tells "Muhammad is Allah’s Rasūl, Nabi, the Messenger, Apostle". This is acceptance of the "Nabuwat" (prophethood) of Muhammad.

The Shia /Ismaili/fatemid/ Bohra believe that Nabi Muhammad declared that Ali bin Abu Talib was his successor at a place called “Ghadir al Khumm” (Ref: Hadith of the pond of Khumm )which was required for the continuation of his guidance: that is why he told that ”for whoever I am a ’Moula’ of them Ali is his ‘Moula’”. Hence, the kalma required as further confession the third phrase “Alīyun Waliyu llah” means “Ali is his (Mohammad’s) "Wali", vasi , the "real care taker" stressing the need that for continuation of faith there is requirement of "Wali" which is the one and only "Imam after Imam", which are really taking care of Islam, hence this is also confession of “Imāmat”,

Kalema–tut-Shahadat make three Islamic teaching "Tawhïd", "Nabuwat", and "Imāmate" together. In this devotion to Allah, his Nabi Muhammad and Imam are so linked together that these can not be viewed separately. One leads to other and finally to God the Allah almighty.

Conditions

The Islamic creed (Shahada), written in Arabic on a black background.

Muslims believe that the shahadah is without value unless it is earnest. Islamic scholars have therefore developed, based on the data of the Quran and hadith, essential criteria for an expression of the shahadah to be earnest. These criteria are generally divided into seven or eight or nine individual criteria; the varying numbers and orderings are not due to disagreements about what the criteria actually are, but rather different ways of dividing them.[6]

One such list of seven critical conditions of the shahadah, without which it is considered to be meaningless, are as follows:.

The second part of the Shahada carries several conditions as well:

Flags

The flag of Saudi Arabia, displaying the Shahadah.
The flag of Afghanistan between 1997-2001, displaying the Shahadah.
The flag of Somaliland, featuring the Shahadah

Several national flags display the Shahadah:

Several other flags display the shahadah, such as the flags of Hamas and Al-Qaeda.

Hadith

قال المصنف -رحمه الله تعالى-: وعن أبي عبد الرحمن عبد الله بن عمر بن الخطاب -رضي الله عنهما-، قال: سمعت رسول الله -صلى الله عليه وسلم- يقول: بني الإسلام على خمس: شهادة أن لا إله إلا الله وأن محمداً رسول الله، وإقام الصلاة، وإيتاء الزكاة، وحج البيت، وصوم رمضان رواه البخاري ومسلم.[7]

On the authority of Abu 'Abd al-Rahman 'Abdullah bin 'Umar bin al-Khattab, radiyallahu 'anhuma, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, say: "Islam has been built upon five things - on testifying that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is His Messenger; on performing salah; on giving the zakah; on Hajj to the House; and on fasting during Ramadhan."[8] [Al-Bukhari & Muslim]

وعن عمر -رضي الله عنه- أيضا قال: بينما نحن جلوس عند رسول الله -صلى الله عليه وسلم- ذات يوم، إذ طلع علينا رجل شديد بياض الثياب، شديد سواد الشعر، لا يرى عليه أثر السفر، ولا يعرفه منا أحد حتى جلس إلى النبي -صلى الله عليه وسلم- فأسند ركبتيه إلى ركبتيه، ووضع كفيه على فخذيه. فقال: يا محمد أخبرني عن الإسلام، قال: الإسلام أن تشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وأن محمدا رسول الله، وتقيم الصلاة، وتؤتي الزكاة، وتصوم رمضان، وتحج البيت إن استطعت إليه سبيلا. قال: صدقت، فعجبنا له يسأله ويصدقه! فقال: فأخبرني عن الإيمان، قال: أن تؤمن بالله، وملائكته، وكتبه، ورسله، واليوم الآخر، وتؤمن بالقدر خيره وشره. قال: صدقت. قال: فأخبرني عن الإحسان، قال: أن تعبد الله كأنك تراه، فإن لم تكن تراه فإنه يراك. قال: فأخبرني عن الساعة، قال: ما المسئول عنها بأعلم من السائل. قال: فأخبرني عن أماراتها، قال: أن تلد الأمة ربتها، وأن ترى الحفاة العراة العالة رعاء الشاة يتطاولون في البنيان. ثم انطلق فلبثت مليًّا، ثم قال: يا عمر أتدري من السائل؟ قلت: الله ورسوله أعلم، قال: هذا جبريل أتاكم يعلمكم دينكم رواه مسلم.[9]

Also on the authority of 'Umar, radiyallahu 'anhu, who said: "While we were one day sitting with the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, there appeared before us a man dressed in extremely white clothes and with very black hair. No traces of journeying were visible on him, and none of us knew him. He sat down close by the Prophet, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, rested his knee against his thighs, and said, O Muhammad! Inform me about Islam." Said the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, "Islam is that you should testify that there is no deity save Allah and that Muhammad is His Messenger, that you should performsalah (ritual prayer), pay the zakah, fast during Ramadan, and perform Hajj (pilgrimage) to the House (the Ka'bah at Makkah), if you can find a way to it (or find the means for making the journey to it)." Said he (the man), "You have spoken truly." We were astonished at his thus questioning him and telling him that he was right, but he went on to say, "Inform me about iman (faith)." He (the Messenger of Allah) answered, "It is that you believe in Allah and His angels and His Books and His Messengers and in the Last Day, and in fate (qadar), both in its good and in its evil aspects." He said, "You have spoken truly." Then he (the man) said, "Inform me about Ihsan." He (the Messenger of Allah) answered, " It is that you should serve Allah as though you could see Him, for though you cannot see Him yet He sees you." He said, "Inform me about the Hour." He (the Messenger of Allah) said, "About that the one questioned knows no more than the questioner." So he said, "Well, inform me about the signs thereof (i.e. of its coming)." Said he, "They are that the slave-girl will give birth to her mistress, that you will see the barefooted ones, the naked, the destitute, the herdsmen of the sheep (competing with each other) in raising lofty buildings." Thereupon the man went off. I waited a while, and then he (the Messenger of Allah) said, "O 'Umar, do you know who that questioner was?" I replied, "Allah and His Messenger know better." He said, "That was Jibril. He came to teach you your religion.[10]"

[Muslim]

Turkish national anthem

The Shahadah is referenced in the eighth stanza of the Turkish national anthem which can be translated as:

Oh glorious God, the sole wish of my pain-stricken heart is that,

No heathen's hand should ever touch the bosom of my sacred Temples.
These adhans, whose shahadahs are the foundations of my religion,
May their noble sound last loud and wide over my eternal homeland.

Shia and Sufi

Minaret in Granada displaying the Shahadah in Kufic script

Muslims believe reference to previous prophets as Messengers (rasul), and a few groups (notably certain Sufi mystics) amend the declaration to mention prior prophets whose names are found in the Qur'an.

Sometimes اشهد ان 'ashhadu ‘an = "I witness that" is prefixed to each half of the Shahadah.

Sometimes و wa = "and" is prefixed to the first word of the second half of the Shahada.

Shī‘a Muslims add "و عليٌ وليُّ الله" "and Ali is the wali (chosen one) of God" (wa-‘Aliyun waliyu l-Lāh), but this is not obligatory.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Abdullah Ahmed An-Na'im. "The Islamic Law of Apostasy and Its Modern Applicability: A Case from the Sudan." Religion (1986) p. 211.
  2. ↑ Farah (1994), p.135
  3. ↑ "If You Decide to Convert they put this their most important pilar". http://www.al-islam.org/reflectionsnewmuslim/8.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-09. 
  4. ↑ http://www.albalagh.net/kids/understanding_deen/Shahadah.shtml
  5. ↑ http://www.islamic-awareness.org/History/Islam/Papyri/enlp1.html
  6. ↑ http://www.islamtomorrow.com/9points.htm
  7. ↑ http://www.taimiah.org/Display.asp?ID=5&t=book17&pid=1&f=nawa-0003.htm#عنوان24355
  8. ↑ http://fortyhadith.iiu.edu.my/hadith03.htm
  9. ↑ http://www.taimiah.org/Display.asp?ID=4&t=book17&pid=1&f=nawa-0002.htm#عنوان4313
  10. ↑ http://fortyhadith.iiu.edu.my/hadith02.htm
  11. ↑ http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/shahada.htm

External links