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The Shahada (Arabic: aš-šahāda, from the verb šahida "to testify") is the Islamic creed. The Shahada is the Muslim declaration of belief in the oneness of God and acceptance of Muhammad as his prophet.

The declaration reads: “La illaha ill Allah, Muhammadur Rasul Allah” which is translated into “There is no God but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah” in English.

This declaration is called the Kalima, which literally means "words." Recitation of the Shahadah is the most important

of the Five Pillars of Islam for Muslims and is performed daily. Non-Muslims wishing to convert to Islam do so

by a public recitation of the creed.

The complete statement of the creed of the Muslim is:

"Ash-shadu anna Laa elaha illa lah. Ash-shadu anna Muhammadar Rasoolulah."

(I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger).

Every Muslim has been taught that the key to "Jennah" (Paradise) is the statement in Arabic: "Laa illaha illa lah." (There is none worthy of worship except Allah.)

Yet too many Muslims simply rely upon this statement and believe that as long as they have made this statement, nothing will harm them. They think they will be granted Paradise because of this mere verbal statement of the Shahadah

There is no question that the mere saying of the shahadah: "I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger" is not sufficient for salvation. In fact, the munafiqeen ( hypocrites) used to make this statement quite often yet Allah describes them as liars and says that they shall abide in the lowest abyss of the Hell-fire.

True scholars of Islam are quick to tell us that this testimony of faith is our "Muftah ul Jennah" (Key to Paradise). The famous follower Wahb ibn Munabbih was once asked;
"Isn't the statement of "La ilaha illa-lah" the key to Paradise?"

He answered;
"Yes! But every key has ridges. If you come with the key that has the right ridges, the door will open for you. Yet if you do not have the right ridges the door will not open for you."

Think about it. If you try to drive your car with the key to your house will it work? Of course not. So, we see that the statement like a key, must meet certain conditions in order to work. In fact these conditions are what will determine who will benefit from the statement and who will not benefit from saying it, no matter how many times per day they say it.

We must work hard to learn, understand and practice these conditions before we run out time and then it would be too late for our shahadah to help us at all. This article has value only if we use it to look at ourselves and make sure we are really meeting these conditions. Then by Allah's Mercy, the doors to Jennah will open for us with our " muftah of Laa elaha illa lah".

"Nine Conditions of the Shahadah":

The Qur'an and the "Hadeeth" (teachings of Muhammad, peace be upon him) are the ultimate sources for knowledge in Islam. We find contained in them the reality of the conditions necessary for the "shahadah" to work as a "muftah" to the "Jennah" for us. The number might be understood as seven, eight or even nine depending on how you would categorize them or combine them together. Regardless of how we would list them or divide them up, it still remains that we must understand and most important, apply these conditions of our shahadah if we are to enter the Jennah. We listed them here as "nine" in order to give more attention and detail to each and every aspect. However, the scholars who have listed them as seven or eight have not left anything out. They have merely combined several for easier comprehension and memorization.

The nine conditions of the shahadah are known as:

1 - Knowledge	4 - Submission	7 - Love
2 - Certainty	5 - Truth	8 - Denial
3 - Acceptance	6 - Sincerity	9 - Adherence

1- Knowledge ('ilm)

That is, one must have the basic and general knowledge of what is meant by the shahadah. One must understand what the shahadah is affirming and what the shahadah is denying. Allah says in the Qur'an,

"So know that there is no God save Allah, and ask forgiveness for your sin."
(Surah Muhammad: 19).

Similarly, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said,
“Whoever dies knowing that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah shall enter Paradise.”
(Recorded in Sahih Muslim).

In fact, the shahadah itself is a testimony. When one testifies to something, one must know what it is that he is testifying concerns. Obviously, a testimony about something that one does not have any knowledge about is absolutely unacceptable. Allah says in the Qur'an,

"Except him who bears witness unto the truth knowingly."
(Surah Al-Zukhruf: 86).

Now this condition probably sounds obvious; if someone said to you, "There is no God except Allah," and then said that what he meant by Allah was Jesus, you would immediately tell him that this shahadah is nonsense. Yet can you imagine that there is a Muslim country in the world that until recently used to have a yearly weeklong celebration to "the Gods of the Sea"! All along they call themselves Muslims and they make the shahadah numerous times a day.

This clearly shows that they have no idea what the meaning of their shahadah is. Do you think that this kind of shahadah will open the doors to Paradise for them? Today, there are many Muslims who wonder why we should not accept secularism. They think that there is nothing wrong with secularism! Many of these Muslims pray five times a day and utter the shahadah repeatedly. Yet they see nothing wrong with accepting a Lawgiver other than Allah? What kind of shahadah are these people making?

All of us do our best to learn at least the basics of Islamic beliefs, the basics of what shahadah means. In this way, Allah willing, we will be making the correct shahadah. We will be witnessing to the truth as we are supposed to be witnesses to it.

فقرة جديدة

فوضعت هنا pagebreak

وكتبت فى الخانة الاولي

Certainty

والخانة الثانية

Certainty (Yaqeen)

2- Certainty (Yaqeen)

This is the opposite of doubt and uncertainty. In Islam, in fact, any kind of doubt is equivalent to Kufr or disbelief. We must, in our hearts, be absolutely certain of the truth of the shahadah. Our hearts must not be wavering in any way when we testify to the truth of, "There is none worthy of worship except Allah." Allah describes the believers in the Qur'an as those who have belief in Allah and then their hearts waver not. Allah says,

"the (true) believers are those only who believe in Allah and His messenger and afterward doubt not, but strive with their wealth and their lives for the cause of Allah. Such are the sincere."
(al-Hujjarat : 15).

Similarly, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "No one meets Allah with the testimony that there is none worthy of worship but Allah and I am the Messenger of Allah, and he has no doubt about hat statement, except that he will enter Paradise." (Recorded by Muslim.)

Indeed, Allah describes the hypocrites as those people whose hearts are wavering. For example, Allah says,

"They alone seek leave of thee (not to participate in jihad) who believe not in Allah and the Last Day and whose hearts feel doubt, so in their doubt they waver."
(al-Tauba: 45).

Many scholars have stated that the diseases of the heart, or the doubt and suspicions that one allows into one's heart, are more dangerous for a person's faith than lusts and desires. This is because lusts and desires may be satisfied at some time yet the person still knows them to be wrong and he may control himself and repent and give up that evil deed. On the other hand, the doubts and suspicions may linger in the heart, with no cure, until the person finally leaves Islam entirely or continues to practice Islam while, in fact, in his heart he does not have the true faith. The greatest cure for these doubts is seeking knowledge. It is through sound knowledge of the Qur'an and the Sunnah that most of these doubts will be removed.

3- Acceptance (Qabool)

If a person has knowledge of and certainty in the shahadah, this must be followed by acceptance, with the tongue and heart, of whatever that shahadah implies. Whoever refuses to accept the shahadah and its implications, even if he knows that it is true and certain about its truth, then he is a disbeliever. This refusal to accept is sometimes due to pride, envy or other reasons.

In any case, the shahadah is not a true shahadah without its unconditional acceptance. The scholars all talk about this condition as a general condition in the way that I have just stated. However, there is also a more detailed aspect that we must all be aware of. The believer accepts whatever the implications of the shahadah are. This also means that he believes in whatever is stated in the Qur'an or stated by the Prophet (peace be upon him), without any right to choose what he wants to believe and what he wants to reject. Allah says in the Qur'an,

"Do you believe in part of the book and reject part of it? And what is the reward of those who do so, except humiliation in the life of this world, and on the Day of Resurrection they will be sent to the most dreadful doom."
(al-Baqarah: 85).

This is one aspect that the Muslims must be aware of. Although it is not the same as the complete refusal to accept the truth, by rejecting part of the truth that has come from Allah, one also negates his testimony of faith. Unfortunately, many Muslims are doing this nowadays in various ways. Although not all of these forms may necessarily be considered apostasy, they are still very dangerous. For example, if they do not like what is stated in a verse in the Qur'an, they simply reinterpret the verse according to their liking. If they do not like what is stated in a hadeeth, they simply state that the hadeeth must not be authentic although they are not scholars in that area. This kind of behavior is the antithesis of the behavior of the true Muslims. Whatever comes from Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him), the true Muslim believes in as the truth. This goes hand in hand with their testimony of faith.

References

1. Wikipedia - www.wikipedia.org

2. http://islamtomorrow.com/beliefs/6_pillars.asp

3. Based on an Article entitled "The Conditions of "La illah illa-lah" taken from
AL-BASHEER magazine

References

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