The word ‘Shahaadah’ in
Arabic means ‘witness’ or ‘testimony’. The first part of the Shahaadah is
expressed in just four words in Arabic: Laa ilaaha illa Allah
which means ‘There is nor god except God’.
Laa ilaaha illa allah
is a very simple, but very profound and far-reaching declaration. It is perhaps
the most oft-repeated sentence in any language that has ever been spoken. It
consists of two parts: one a negation, the other an affirmation.
The first part – laa
ilaaha (there is no other god) – negates the existence of each and any false
god and condemns false worship. The word ‘ilaah’ means ‘god’ or whatever is
worshipped and could refer to any being, person, matter, or concept which is
taken as an object of adoration or worship whether this is done out of love or
fear. In disobedience and ignorance, people have taken the sun, the moon, trees
stones, fire, rulers, prophets, priests, rabbis, saints and other men to be
gods.
But ‘ilaah’, as the Qur’an cautions us (25 :43), could also refer to our whims and desires. To succumb or surrender totally to whims and passions is in effect to worship them and take them as gods. The feeling of pride and vanity for example could become our ‘god’ driving us to do totally selfish acts and causing us to trample on or destroy our natural moral inclinations and responsibilities.
The Qur’an speaks of ‘shirk’
or worshipping other gods with God as the most atrocious act, ‘a tremendous
wrong’ and ‘a great sin’ which will not be forgiven. The Prophet Muhammad was
asked which is the gravest sin in the sight of God and he replied, ‘That you
should associate a partner with God (despite the fact) that He has created
you.’ This suggests that ingratitude to God is one of the reasons why shirk
is such a grave sin.
The second part of the
Shahaadah – illa
Allah – stresses that only Allah, the Arabic name for
the One and Only God, the Creator and Sustainer of all being, deserves to be
worshipped and His guidance followed.
One word in Arabic for
‘saying or affirming that God is One’ is the word Tawhiid.
Tawhiid is the affirmation
that there is only One Creator who deserves our praise and gratitude and whose
guidance needs to be followed for our own good and benefit. Tawhiid has two
main parts:
1. to
believe in and affirm that there is only One Crearot and Sustainer of the
universe;
2. to
affirm that only the One Creator deserves to be worshipped and obeyed.
Tawhiid is the basis of the worldview of a conscious Muslim. It is the only reasonable, sound, correct and natural position for any person to adopt. Tawhiid ushers the individual into a haven of freedom, contentment and harmony that stems from total submission to the Creator Who is Beneficent, Compassionate, Loving, Forgiving, Mighty, Just and Worthy of all Praise.
Tawhiid is also a
powerful liberating force.
Tawhiid liberates
mankind from the worship of false gods.
Tawhid liberates man
from the tyranny and oppression of other men, in as much as there is no
obedience due to another creature which involves disobedience to the Creator.
Tawhiid, by
establishing a direct link between God and man, liberates man from the power of
priests and clerical intermediaries and such degrading acts as the worship of
saints.
Tawhiid liberates the
human mind and conscience from all superstition and fancy, from the grip of
horoscopes and fortune-tellers, from magic and the sinister grip of occult
practies.
Tawhiid liberates a
person from self-conceit, pride and the arrogance of self-sufficiency.
Tawhiid therefore
creates a unique blend of submission to God and individual freedom and dignity.
We now come to the
second part of the Shahadaah or the Muslim’s testimony. This is to declare that
Muhammad is the messenger of God. What does this declaration really mean and
why is it so important for mankind?
This declaration
affirms the historical fact that:
1. someone
called Muhammad, who lived in the sixth-seventh century after the Prophet
Jesus, was chosen by God to provide guidance to people;
2. he
was not just one in the line of God’s prophets chosen to guide people but that
he was the last in this line of prophets;
3. his
mission was for all mankind.
There will be no other prophet after Muhammad because the message or the revelation given to him – the Qur’an – is Divine guidance completed. There is stated guarantee that it will be preserved in the form it was revealed; it will not be changed or corrupted like previous scriptures. The Qur’an has been preserved jus as it was revealed. It will continue to be man’s only source of authentic guidance to truth and his abiding link with Reality.
To declare that
Muhammad is the messenger of God is to declare all this and more. It is to
state that Islam as a system and a way of life is both a message and a method of implementing this message.
Whereas the Qur’an is the final expression of God’s message and guidance to
mankind, the life and example of Muhammad as the last prophet of God to
humanity represents the way or method in which God’s message has been and can
be implemented. The importance of the Prophet’s example has been stressed in
the Qur’an:
‘Verily in the
messenger of God, you will find an excellent example for whoever hopes for God
and the Last Day.’
‘Whatever the messenger
(Muhammad) has brought for you, adopt it; and from whatever he as prohibited
you, keep away from it.’
And the Prophet himself
said shortly before he died:
‘I am leaving behind me
two things which if you hold fast to them, you will never go astray – the Book
of God (the Qur’an) and my example (sunnah).’
Whereas the Qur’an is
essentially the message of God, the Sunnah or Example of the Prophet which
includes what he said, did or agreed to, forms the method of implementing this
message.
Some of the major
concerns of the mission and method of the Prophet are eloquently presented in a
speech which one of his companions, Ja’far ibn abii Taalib, made to the ruler
of Abyssinia in Africa. Ja’far was the spokesman of a group of Muslims who had
sailed across the Red Sea and sought refuge in Abyssinia from the persecution
of the pagan Makkans:
‘O King, ‘he said, ‘We
were a people of ignorance, worshipping idols, eating the flesh of dead
animals, committing abominations, neglecting our relations, doing evil to our
neighbours, and the strong among us would oppress the weak.’
‘We were in this state
when God sent to us a messenger from among us, whose descent and sincerity,
trustworthiness and honesty were known to us.’
‘He summoned us to
worship the One True God and to divest ourselves of the stones and idols we and
our fathers had been worshipping in addition to God.’
‘He ordered us to be
truthful of speech, to fulfill all that is entrusted to us, to care for our
relatives, to be kind to our neighbours, to refrain from unlawful food and the
consumption of blood.’
‘He forbade us to
engage in shameful acts and false speech. He commanded us to worship God alone
and to assign no partners unto Him, to pray, to pay the purifying tax and to
fast.’
‘We deemed him truthful and we believed him, and we followed the message he brought to us from God....’
From Ja’far’s speech on
the mission and method of the Prophet, we see that the first thing he stressed
was the worldview of Tawhiid. To be on the straight and natural way, man’s
first duty is to gain or regain a correct knowledge of and belief in God. From
this knowledge he will come to accept the wisdom and authority of God. From
this will spring correct action.
As an indication of this
method of the Prophet, peace be on him, his wife Aa’ishah is reported as saying
that the Prophet did not start by telling people not to drink wine and not to
commit fornication. He started by telling them about God and the Hereafter
until they had firm belief in them. It is only then he told them not to drink
or commit adultery and they obeyed him. ‘Had he started by telling them not to
drink wine or not to commit adultery, they would have said, ‘We will never
abandon them.’’
From Ja’far’s speech,
we learn that the Prophet encouraged all the natural inbuilt moral virtues such
as truth, kindness, generosity, and justice. And he condemned all the naturally
repugnant vices such as false speech, shamelessness, ignorance, and oppression.
There is also the testimony
of Ja’far on the truthfulness of the Prophet. Both before and after he became a
prophet, Muhammad had the unchallenged reputation of a man who was always
truthful and trustworthy. For this he was known as As-Saadiq
and Al-Amiin
respectively.
In fact, mission and
method fused in the Prophet since we are told by ’Aa’ishah, his wife: ‘His
character was the Qur’an.’ To reject the Prophet is to reject the Qur’an and to
reject the Qur’an is to reject man’s only authentic source of Divine guidance.
We now have some idea
of the importance of the Qur’an and the example of the Prophet Muhammad in
forming a valid and satisfying worldview for man in whatever time or place he
may live. Since the Qur’an is the final and complete message of God to humanity
and since there will be no prophet after Muhammad, it is especially important
for people everywhere to discover or rediscover the meaning and relevance of
the Qur’an to their lives. Whether you live in the north or the south, the east
or the west, whether you live in the so-called developed and advanced world or
the underdeveloped and impoverished world, whether you are a male or female,
young or old, the Qur’an has a message for you. In fact, it is the
message for you.
We have only had a
glimpse of the content of the Qur’an and its purpose for man. We have seen that
it stresses the Oneness of God and man’s duty to acknowledge and worship God
alone. We now want to look a little more closely at what the Qur’an says about
the nature of man, the purpose of his life and the various choices and
destinies open to him. In other words: Who are we? What are we doing here on
earth” And where do we go from here?