The Meaning of the Shahada

Every Muslim knows the statement of faith, or “a good word” as it is translated. It is the first of the Pillars of Faith. In addition to that, we say it every day in our prayer, in both sittings between every two raka’a. It is mentioned in the adhan calling us to pray. It is recited in the ear of our new-borns (Though there is difference of opinion as to whether this is correct). We ask our sick to utter it before they die. It is the statement that allows a person to enter Islam. But with all of these reminders, how many understand the true implications of this statement, La illaaha illa llah?

First of all Allah can be defined as Shaykh ul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said:

The pagan Arabs knew what this statement meant and what it necessitated, and that is why they were reluctant to say it.

To be concise, the statement of faith La illaaha illa llah is a two part declaration that affirms and negates. The first part, “la illaha” shows complete and utter negation in Arabic (la an naafiyah lil jins) which includes the hidden predicate “truly, or deserving” which could be translated as; “There is no deity that deserves to be worshipped”. The second portion of this testimony is the part which affirms, meaning; “except Allah.”

The reason that the pagan Arabs refused to say this statement is that they understood what negation of worshipping other gods meant. They understood that negating their gods meant that they could not pray to other than Allah, they could not swear by other than Allah, they could not sacrifice, supplicate, fear, love, depend or any of the things included in worship except to Allah. This unadulterated “Tawheed” or singling out Allah alone for all worship was scary to a person whose belief was tainted with shirk and associating partners with Allah. That was why they refused.

Shaykh Muhammad Abdul Wahaab in explaining the meaning of the statement said:

It is necessary for us as Muslims (those who submit and surrender to Allah completely) that we comprehend and act upon the meaning of the good word so that our worship of the true God is not corrupted by shirk which would destroy our pure and unadulterated Tawheed.