The Shahadah

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The Shahadah

The Shahadah is the Muslim profession of faith. It is the first of the five Pillars of the Islamic faith (Encyclopedia Britannica Online). Muslims bear witness to the oneness of God by reciting the phrase "there is no diety but Allah and Muhammad is his servant and messenger." This statement expresses a Muslim's absolute commitment to, and total acceptance of, the message of Islam. This statement of faith should be recited and declared publicly, and should be a genuine belief which includes all of the articles of faith. Reciting and accepting the Shahadah before two witnesses is all that is required of new members of the Islamic faith. The Shahadah is also included in the Adhan, or call to prayer, and is to be repeated during all everyday prayers. The Shahadah is generally always recited in Arabic, since Arabic is considered to be the "language of God." The words in Arabic are: "Ashhadu Alla Ilaha Illa Allah Wa Ashhadu Anna Muhammadun rasulu'Llah." This can be interpreted as: "I bear witness that there is now god but Allah and Muhammad is His Apostle" (Shahadah, Declaration of Faith). A famous follower of Islam, Whab ibn Munabbih, was once asked, " Isn't the statement of faith 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." Basically, Munabbih was saying that it is true, only if the person meets the certain conditions of the Shahadah. In fact, Allah describes the hypocrites that say the Shahadah quite often as liars and also states that they will abide in the lowest abyss of Hell, or the Hell-fire. If one studies the Quran and the Hadith of th...

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...eople of Hell-fire and then he ends his deeds with the deeds of the people of Paradise" (Recorded by Muslim). One must satisfy all of the conditions in order to have the best Shahadah to Allah. Simply having only a knowledge of these nine conditions will be of no avail, unless one uses them in their everyday life and in all of the deeds they do (Zarabozo). A Muslims faith is not complete unless it is built on these well grounded convictions beyond any reasonable doubt and above uncertainty (Introducing Islam). Works Cited al-Din Zarabozo, Jamaal. "The Declaration of Faith." Al-Basheer. January-Febuary, 1994. Volume 7 Number 5. Introducing Islam. [Accessed 25 October 1999]. "Islam" Encyclopedia Britannica Online. [Accessed 25 October 1999]. "Shahadah" Encyclopedia Britannica Online. [Accessed 25 October 1999]. Shahadah, Declaration of Faith [Accessed 27 October 1999]

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