At-Tawheed-I

At-Tawheed-I

The meaning of [the confession]: Lâ ilâha illallâh (The first confession of a Muslim which means: ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allâh’) and its conditions:

The conditions of Lâ ilâha illallâh and its meaning:

Lâ ilâha illallâh is the key to Paradise, but every key should have teeth by which it opens or it would not be useful.

The conditions of Lâ ilâha illallâh are the teeth of this key, and they are:

                1. Knowing its meaning, which is the negation of worship except to Allâh, then confirming it only to Him.

Allâh I said, “فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّهُ لا إِلَهَ إِلا اللَّهُ” – meaning – {Know, therefore, None has the right to be worshipped but Allâh, and ask forgiveness for your fault, and for the men and women who believed.} This means that there is no truly worshipped god in earth so is in heaven except Allâh.

And the Prophet r said, “من مات وهو يعلم أنه” - meaning - “Whoever dies while he knows that there is no true god worthier to be worshipped but Allâh shall enter the Paradise”. Reported by Muslim.

                2. The certainty, which negates doubt. This could be only achieved by having a certain heart, which never doubts in it.

Allâh I said, “إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَرْتَابُوا” - meaning – {Only those are Believers who have believed in Allâh and His Messenger, and have never since doubted in it.}

And the Prophet r said, “أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله” - meaning – “Any slave who meets with Allâh, bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped but Allâh, and that I am his Messenger, without entertaining any doubt about these (two fundamentals), will not be banished from entering Paradise”.

                3. Accepting whatever this word necessitates in heart and saying, Allâh said about disbelievers: “إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا إِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ لا إِلَهَ إِلا اللَّهُ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ. وَيَقُولُونَ أَئِنَّا لَتَارِكُو آلِهَتِنَا لِشَاعِرٍ مَجْنُونٍ” - meaning – {For they, when they were told that none has the right to be worshipped but Allâh, would puff themselves up with Pride. And say: "What! Shall we give up our gods for the sake of a Poet possessed?’}, this means that they disobeyed to say it where believers did.

And the Prophet r said, “أمرت أن أقاتل الناس” - meaning - “I have been ordered (by Allâh) to fight the people till they say, ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allâh’, and whoever said it then he will save his life and property from me except on trespassing the law (rights and conditions for which he will be punished justly)”.

                4. Submission and surrender to what it shows.

Allâh I said, “وَأَنِيبُوا إِلَى رَبِّكُمْ وَأَسْلِمُوا لَهُ” - meaning – {Turn yourselves to your Lord (in repentance) and bow to His (Will)}.

                5. The Truth, which negates lying. This means that one should say it truly from heart.

Allâh I said, “الم. أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَنْ يُتْرَكُوا أَنْ يَقُولُوا آمَنَّا وَهُمْ لا يُفْتَنُونَ. وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ فَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ الْكَاذِبِينَ” - meaning – {Alif Lam Mim. Do men think that they will be left alone on saying, "We believe," and that they will not be tested? We did test those before them, and Allâh will certainly know those who are true from those who are false (believers).}

And the Prophet r said, “ما من أحد يشهد” - meaning – “If anyone testifies (sincerely from his heart) that there is no god but Allâh, and that Muhammad r is His bondsman and His messenger, Allâh immunes him from Hell Fire.”

                              6.           Loyalty, which is the purification of the deeds with the good intention from any kind of Shirk (polytheism).

Allâh I said, “وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلا لِيَعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ” - meaning – {And they have been commanded no more than this: to worship Allâh, offering Him sincere devotion, being True (in faith).}

And the Prophet r said, “أسعد الناس بشفاعتي” - meaning - “The luckiest person who will have my intercession on the Day of Resurrection will be the one who said, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allâh,' sincerely from the bottom of his heart.”

And he also said, “إن الله حرم على النار من قال” - meaning – “Allâh immuned from Hell Fire whomever he said, ‘Lâ ilâha illallâh’ only aiming at the face of Allâh Glorified and Exalted (desiring His Satisfaction)”

                7. Loving this pure word and loving whatever it necessitates or shows, and loving its people who perform its meaning and take it strongly with its conditions, and hate whatever may negate that.

Allâh I said, “وَمِنْ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَتَّخِذُ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ أَندَادًا يُحِبُّونَهُمْ كَحُبِّ اللَّهِ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَشَدُّ حُبًّا لِلَّهِ” - meaning – {Yet there are men who take (for worship) others besides Allâh, as equal (with Allâh): they love them as they should love Allâh, but those of Faith are overflowing in their love for Allâh}.

And the Prophet r said, “ثلاث من كن فيه” - meaning - “Whoever possesses the following three qualities will taste the sweetness of faith:

1.          The one to whom Allâh and His Messenger become dearer than anything else.

2. Who loves a person and he loves him only for Allâh's sake.
3. Who hates to revert to disbelief (Atheism) after Allâh has brought (saved) him out from it, as much as he hates to be thrown in fire.”

                8. To disbelieve in Tawagheet (those who are worshipped or wrongly obeyed other than Allâh). These are the worshipped gods else than Allâh. Moreover, to believe in Allâh as a Lord and a truly worshipped God.

Allâh I said, “لا إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِ قَدْ تَبَيَّنَ الرُّشْدُ مِنْ الغَيِّ فَمَنْ يَكْفُرْ بِالطَّاغُوتِ وَيُؤْمِنْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ اسْتَمْسَكَ بِالْعُرْوَةِ الْوُثْقَى لا انفِصَامَ لَهَا وَاللَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ” - meaning – {Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects Evil and believes in Allâh has grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allâh is the All-Hearer All-Knower}.

And the Prophet r said, “من قال لا إله إلا الله” - meaning – “He who professed that there is no god but Allâh and made a denial of everything which the people worship besides Allâh, his property and blood became inviolable.”

The meaning of [the confession]: Muhammad-ur-Rasûl-Allâh

(The second confession of a Muslim, which means: Muhammad r is the Messenger of Allâh).

The belief that he is sent from Allâh, so that we should believe him in what he has informed, and obey him in what he has ordered, and leave what he has forbade, and worship Allâh as he has decreed. Moreover, we should believe that he is the last (end) of the Prophets and that his Message (Islâm) is quite general for all mankind and jinn.

In fact, the veneration of the Prophet with his orders and prohibition and sticking to his rules are the true expression for the real meaning of this testimony (confession).

However, this is a mere submission to the orders of Allâh, who sent him to all people as a bearer of glad tidings, and a warner, and as one who invites to Allâh (Islâmic Monotheism, i.e. to worship none but Allâh Alone) by His Leave, and as a lamp spreading light (through his instructions from the Qur’ân and the Sunnah – the Legal ways of the Prophet)