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The testimony of faith (Shahādah)

The Conditions of the Shahādah

The Shahādah has numerous conditions of which one’s belief and faith cannot be correct without them. They include;

The First Condition: Verbal Pronouncement

When one wishes to enter into Islām and for the attribution and rulings of Islām to be applicable to him, they must state by word the testimony of Tawhīd, ‘I bear witness that there is no god but Allāh and that Muhammad (saw) is the Prophet of Allāh (swt).’

Whosoever rejects by their own free will not to pronounce the Shahādah is not a Muslim whose blood is protected from being spilled. The evidence for this is according to the Hadīth reported by Sa’īd bin Musayyab (ra) from his father who said,

لما حضرَت أبا طالب الوفاةُ، جاءه رسولُ الله فوجد عنده أبا جهل، وعبد الله بن أبي أمية بن المغيرة، فقال رسول الله: يا عم قُل لا إله إلا الله، كلمة أشهدُ لك بها عند الله، فقال أبو جهل وعبد الله بن أبي أُمية: يا أبا طالب أترغب عن ملة عبد المطلب ؟! فلم يزل رسول الله يَعرضها عليه ويُعيد له تلك المقالة، حتى قال أبو طالب آخر ما كلمهم: هو على ملة عبد المطلب وأبى أن يقول: لا إله إلا الله، فقال رسول الله: أما والله لأستغفرنَّ لك ما لم أُنهَ عنك فأنزل الله ) ما كان للنبي والذين آمنوا أن يستغفروا للمشركين ولو كانوا أُولي قُربى من بعد ما تبين لهم أنهم أصحاب الجحيم (، وأنزل الله تعالى في أبي طالب قوله لرسول الله) إنك لا تهدي مَن أحببتَ ولكن اللهَ يهدي من يشاء وهو أعلمُ بالمهتدين(

“When Abu Tālib was entering his deathbed the Prophet (saw) came to his side and found Abu Jahl and Abdullah ibn Abie Ummayah al-Mughira. He (saw) said, ‘O my uncle! Say: there is no god but Allāh (swt) by which I will be able to testify for you in front of Allāh (swt). Abu Jahl responded, ‘O Abu Tālib! Are you going to reject the religion of Abdul Muttalib?’ The Prophet (saw) continued to encourage his uncle to say the Shahādah until Abu Tālib said his final words to them, ‘He is on the religion of Abdul Muttalib,’ and refused to say there is no god but Allāh (swt). When this came to pass, the Prophet (saw) said, ‘By Allāh! I will continue to beseech Allāh (swt) for Abu Tālib’s forgiveness until I am ordered to do otherwise.’ Allāh (swt) then revealed, ‘It is not fitting, for the Prophet and those who believe, that they should pray for forgiveness for Pagans, even though they be of kin, after it is clear to them that they are companions of the Fire.’ [Surah at-Tauba 9:133] and Allāh (swt) also revealed to the Prophet (saw), ‘You cannot guide whoever you so will, it is Allāh (swt) who guides whom He wishes.’ [Surah Qasas 28:56]”[1]

And upon the authority of Abu Hurayra (ra) who reported that the Prophet (saw) said to his uncle,

قال رسول الله لعمه: قل لا إله إلا الله أشهدُ لك بها يوم القيامة قال: لولا أن تعيرني قريش يقولون إنما حمله على ذلك الجزع لأقررت بها عينك !! فأنزل الله:) إنك لا تهدي من أحببت ولكنَّ الله يهدي من يشاء (

“Say: there is no god but Allāh and I will bear witness for you on the Day of Judgement.’ Abu Tālib replied, ‘If Quraysh did not reproach me by saying that I said this statement out of fear, I would have repeated it for your sake!’ Then Allāh (swt) revealed, ‘You cannot guide whoever you so will, it is Allāh (swt) who guides whom He wishes.’[2]

And the Prophet (saw) said,

أُمرت أن أقاتل الناس حتى يشهدوا أن لا إله إلا الله وأن محمداً رسول الله، ويُقيموا الصلاة، ويؤتوا الزكاة، فإذا فعلوا ذلك عصموا مني دماءَهم وأموالهم إلا بحقِّ الإسلام وحسابهم على الله

“I have been commanded (by Allāh) to fight the people until they testify that there is no god but Allāh and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allāh, and they establish regular prayer and pay Zakāh. If they do that, then their lives and property are protected from me except for the Islāmic laws and then their reckoning will be with Allāh.”[3]

Imām Nawawi commented in his Sharh of Sahīh Muslim,

“From this we understand that one of the conditions of Īmān is to pronounce the two testimonies of faith in addition to believing in them and believing in all that the Prophet (saw) came with”.[4]

Ibn Taymiyya commented in his Fatāwa,

“If one has capability to, but does not say the two testifications of faith he is a disbeliever by the unanimous agreement of all Muslims; and he is a Kāfir inwardly and outwardly according to the Salaf of the Ummah, their leaders and the Jumhour (vast majority) of the scholars.”[5]

Shaykh Ibn Taymiyya in his Fatāwa mentions, ‘…capability…’ to exclude those who are disabled or infirm in particular those who are mute and are unable to speak or vocalise the Shahādatān (two testimonies). Such persons are excused this responsibility by agreement of the people of knowledge.

None from the Muslim scholars disagree regarding pronouncement being a condition for the correctness of one’s Shahādah except the misguided Jahmeyeen; who restrict Īmān to conviction of the heart alone. Such a definition carrying them to the reverse conclusion that Kufr can only be of the heart as well. Consequently, they do not believe in anything called Kufr of actions or Kufr of speech.

Although such statements are clearly rejected, opposing the Shar’iah texts and is not what the ‘Aqīdah of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamā’ah is based upon, they still have affected a great number of the students of knowledge from our times in particular, those who falsely claim to follow the methodology of the Salaf. Such a way of thinking having also infiltrated most of the schools and universities found in the Muslim lands.[6]

However, if one were to investigate the situation of these people more closely, one finds that they have different methodologies in matters relating to Kufr and Īmān. If you were to ask such a person, ‘when does a person become Kāfir?’ or, ‘what leads a person to Kufr?’ you will find then leaning towards the ‘Aqīdah of Jahm, implying that anyone who has conviction of the heart is a believer irrespective of committing Kufr actions or uttering Kufr. By way of example if you say such and such a person has committed clear Kufr by swearing against Allāh (swt), the Prophet (saw) or against the Dīn of Islām, they will answer you, ‘did they make such an action permissible in their hearts? What is important to us is the completeness of his conviction. This is only Kufr of the outer but does not represent his inner! And we have no way to gain access to know what is in his heart. Consequently we must call him a Muslim!’ According to them he is a Muslim irrespective of how grave the Kufr such a person may state!

This is regarding matters of Kufr. If one were to ask the same people regarding matters pertaining to belief and when a person is a believer or not, you find them following a different methodology, that of the Murji al-Karamiya. This states that whoever simply states and pronounces the Shahādah then he is a believer even if inside his heart he is a Munāfiq (hypocrite) disbeliever, neither believing in nor confirming his Islām!.[7]

If you say to them regarding the Communist atheist who believes in Kufr and denies that God exists, and who is a disbeliever even according to the definition of the deviant Jahm bin Safwān, you find them answering, ‘But he said the statement, ‘there is no god but Allāh’! How do you want us to make Takfīr upon them and his apparent shows Islām and Allāh (swt) ordered us to judge the apparent; and to Allāh (swt) are the internal secrets. We were not ordered to open the hearts and check what was inside!’

If you were to ask them in relation to one of the Tawaghīt alive today that performs Kufr openly, they would immediately repudiate you using the words and beliefs of al-Jahm i.e. did they permit such Kufr in their hearts? And if you show them another of the Tawaghīt who holds hatred to Islām and permits the Kufr in their hearts, they reject what you say about them by the belief of the deviant Karamiyyah i.e. they will claim that such people had said the Shahādah once in their lives, what is in their heart does not matter!!!

They are Batineyīn (mention the inner) Jahmiyoun if you ask them about someone whose apparent is Kufr and Dhahiryoun (mention the outer) Karamiyoun if you ask them about someone whose heart is full of Kufr and atheism yet proclaims the Shahādah when it is requested of him.

These individuals are amongst the worst types of people by which this Ummah has been tested, employing all manner of misguidance and distortion. They often parade themselves under the guise of Salafiyyah or Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamā’ah to spread their ideas amongst the general public. However, as-Salafiyyah and Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamā’ah are free from their propaganda in the same way the wolf was free from the blood of Yusuf (as)!

Topic: Is there anything which can substitute the Shahādah as evidence for a person’s Islām?

The correct understanding of this question is that there is nothing that can fulfil such a role except the Salāh (prayer). If you were to see someone pray and prior to that you had no knowledge of them saying the Shahādah, you must judge him as a Muslim and deal with him according to the duties of Islām as mentioned by the Divine texts. This is because the Prophet (saw) said as recorded in Sahīh Bukharī,

من صلى صلاتنا، واستقبل قبلتنا، وأكل ذبيحتنا، فذلك المسلم له ذمة الله وذمة رسوله

“Whoever prays our prayer, faces our Qibla and eats our slaughtered meat is a Muslim under the protection of Allāh (swt) and His Prophet (saw).”

Imām Qurtubi commented in his Tafsīr,

“Īmān cannot exist except by declaring there is no god but Allāh and nothing can be equivalent to it from ones actions or statements except the prayer. Ishāq bin Rahaway said, ‘(The scholars) have unanimously declared that if a person who is previously known as a Kāfir is seen to pray the prayers of the Muslim on time and regularly and no-one had previously heard from him the confirmation (of the Shahādah) upon his tongue, then he is judged as someone with Īmān (i.e. he is Muslim). However, they did not judge likewise in the case of fasting or giving Zakāh.”[8]

Someone may ask if the Shahādah and the Salāh are the only two things that can make one Muslim why then did the Prophet (saw) disown the action of Khālid bin Walīd when during the conquest of Makkah he killed some Arabs who said, ‘Saba’na! Saba’na! (we have come out of one religion to another)’ trying to imply that they became Muslim. However, mistakenly instead of saying, ‘Aslamna (we have submitted i.e. become Muslim)’ they said ‘Saba’na’. So how can one reconcile the fact that the Prophet (saw) reprimanding Khālid bin Walīd for killing people who did neither of these, but who appeared to be considered as Muslims?

My answer is that there is a difference between a statement that makes a person enter Islām and a doubtful statement that prevents the drawing of the sword upon a person during the midst of fighting.

The matters which enters one into Islām is as we have mentioned previously i.e. pronouncing the Shahādah and the Salāh, and the matters that remove the sword upon a person is any expression or action that may imply that the one who is saying it is a Muslim; for example by someone saying, ‘Assalāmu Alaykum wa Rahmatullah.’ This is because Allāh (swt) says,

يا أيها الذين آمنوا إذا ضربتم في سبيل الله فتبينوا ولا تقولوا لمن ألقى إليكم السلام لست مؤمناً تبتغون عرض الحياة الدنيا

“O you who believe! When you go out in the cause of Allāh, investigate carefully, and say not to any one who offers you a salutation: ‘You are not a believer!’ Seeking the perishable goods of this life: with Allāh are profits and spoils abundant.”[9]

This ayah is indicating that when one wishes to go out to fight one must verify and check the situation of the people before they are killed seeking the spoils of war. So such statements and anything of a similar nature removes the sword upon a person until further verification. However, having said that, the simple stating of such speech do not in themselves make these persons Muslim.

Regarding the situations in the lands of the Kuffār, if a person living there meets another he should always carry a good opinion about his fellow Muslim and should not be hasty in declaring one another Kāfir. As by making Takfīr this is like killing a person as the Prophet (saw) said,

ومن رمى مسلما بكفر فهو كقتله
“Whosoever declares a Muslim to be a disbeliever, it is as if he killed him.”[10]

And the Prophet (saw) said,

إذا قال الرجل لأخيه يا كافر فهو كقتله

“If a man says to his brother, ‘O disbeliever!’ It is as if he killed him.”[11]

And he (saw) said,

و قتل المؤمن أعظم عند الله من زوال الدنيا

“Killing a Muslim is greater in front of Allāh (swt) than the destruction of the whole earth.”[12]

Consequently, the one is who quick to declare someone a disbeliever without verifying a person’s situation is like the one who is quick to kill and spill blood before verifying and making confirmation. This is because, what follows the pronouncement of Takfīr is not less serious than the sin of killing unlawfully.

Topic: Regarding the one who performed Kufr which has no relation to the pronouncement of the Shahādah, does pronouncing the Shahādah thereafter benefit him?

The answer is that whoever has committed Kufr from an angle other than the pronouncement of the Shahādah, i.e. if he rejects any matter that is known from the Dīn by necessity, his spelling out of the Shahādah again will not benefit him in the least, unless and until he retracts the matter which was the cause for him to leave the Dīn in the first place.

So for example, if he says fasting in Ramadhān is not an obligation or was not ordered by Allāh (swt), he becomes a disbeliever by such a statement, and saying the Shahādah after this will not help him, except if he retracts his rejection of the obligation of fasting in Ramadhān. Similarly for the Tawaghīt who replace the laws of Allāh (swt) with their own man-made laws and those who fight against Allāh’s (swt) Dīn, such actions causing them to be disbelievers. Even if they were to repeat the Shahādah every second of the day, this will not help them as they are still entrenched in the actions which caused them to leave the Dīn in the first place. For such people to return back into the fold of Islām, they must repeat the Shahādah along with seeking forgiveness and publicly declaring their disassociation to those actions which caused them to become apostates. This example can be used as an analogy for any other situation which one finds an apostate in wishing to return to the circle of Islām.

Indeed, Abu Bakr (ra) and the Sahābah alongside him fought against those who rejected to pay the Zakāh, declaring them as apostates despite their saying of the Shahādah and bearing witness that there is no god but Allāh (swt) and that Muhammad (saw) was His messenger.

Shaykh Kashmīrī commented in his book, ‘Ikfār al-Mulhidīn’,

“Whoever’s Kufr is by rejecting a known matter such as the prohibition of alcohol, he must declare disassociation from this belief as he used to believe such and state the two Shahādahs at the same time before it; as Imām Shafi’ī explained in ‘Jami’a Fasoulayn’. If he were to only state the Shahādah as normal, this will not help him one bit as long as he did not reject the Kufr which he fell into in the first place.”

And Shaykh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahāb stated,

“Whosoever prays night and day to Allāh (swt) and then goes to a grave and makes Duā (petition) to the Prophet (saw) or the Awliyā’ (those close to Allāh), it is as if they have taken another lord besides Allāh (swt) and they have rejected the Shahādah. This is because the Lord is the only One who can be called upon for Duā. The one who gives another man the status of the Prophet (saw) has disbelieved and his blood is lawful to be spilt; neither his repeating of the Shahādah nor his Salāh will benefit him.”[13]

The last statement indicates that the testimony of the Shahādah will neither benefit nor prevent the judgement of Takfīr or apostasy befalling a person until they were to reject the very matter that was the root cause of their expulsion from the Dīn.

[1] Agreed upon

[2] Narrated by Sahīh Muslim. The fact that Abu Tālib the uncle of the Prophet (saw) did not enter Islām despite the perseverance of the Prophet (saw) is one of great signs of Allāh (swt) for those who ponder about it. The person who stood trying to guide Abu Tālib to Islām was the Prophet (saw) himself. In spite of what Allāh (swt) had given the Prophet (saw) from knowledge, the best manners and greatest wisdom, and in spite of his insistence and great perseverance with his uncle hoping for his guidance, he was unable to realise this and Allāh (swt) had written for Abu Tālib to die upon Kufr and the religion of Shirk. This example clearly demonstrates that the matter of guidance and guiding is completely in the Hands of Allāh (swt) alone and no one can even participate in this. He (swt) alone guides whomever He (swt) wishes and misguides whomever He (swt) wishes, and no one is equal in this, not even the Prophet (saw). As Allāh (swt) said, “Not for you, (but for Allāh), is the decision: Whether He turns in mercy to them, or punishes them.” [Surah ale-Imrān 3:128].

[3] Agreed Upon

[4] Sharh Sahīh Muslim, 1/212

[5] Shaykh ul-Islām Ibn Taymiya, Majmou’ al-Fatāwa 7/609

[6] Please refer to our books, ‘Supporting the people of Tawhīd’ and ‘Refining Sharh Aqīdah Tahawiyah’ if you wish further details refuting such a concept.

[7] We discovered such statements regarding these people through our own dealings with them and from their own works. We would like to mention what Shaykh Muhammad Qutb (may Allāh (swt) preserve him) said in his book, ‘There is no god but Allāh, Belief and methodology for life’ regarding a person afflicted with such an understanding, “I am still astonished by a particular person, soft hearted in al-Tayba, may Allāh forgive him, when he was a leader in charge of Islāmic works, he said, ‘We never make Takfīr on anyone who says there is no god but Allāh even if they are Communist!’ May Allāh have mercy on the one who said this and forgive him!” Just think for a second, this statement, which is the core of the Murji’a Karamiya belief, is being made by people who are in charge over the Muslim, what hope is there for the general masses who follow blindly without any insight or evidences? If we have any grievance it is for Shaykh Muhammad Qutb (may Allāh protect him) for asking mercy for that famous leader’s grave mistake and crime in which he does not make Takfīr upon the atheist Communist because perhaps once in his life he said the testimony of faith! The least the Shaykh should have done was to mention his shock at this ugly statement without speaking good or bad about the person, neither making du’a for him nor du’a against him! Ibn Taymiyya counted the Karamiyyah as part of the Murji’a when he said in his Fatāwa, ‘The Karamiyyah are the followers of Muhammad bin Karām who claim that Īmān is the testification and confirmation of the tongue without the heart.’ [Fatāwa Ibn Taymiyya 7/548].

[8] Imām Qurtūbi, Tafsīr Jāmi’ Qurān 8/207

[9] Al-Qurān, Surah an-Nisa 4:94

[10] Sahīh Bukharī

[11] Agreed upon.

[12] Sunan Nisā’ī

[13] Ar-Risāla Ash-Shaksiya, P.166 and Majmou’a at-Tawhīd P.82

Labels: Abu Baseer Al-Tartosi, The First Condition:Verbal Pronouncement, There are no gods or objects of worship which have the right to be worshipped except Allah, شروط لا إله إلا الله