Shahada is the first pillar?

[AhmedBahgat]

Hello All,

One of the things in Islam I never accepted as law upon the believers is to state the Shahada Ashahadu Ana La Illah Ila Allah wa Ana Mohammad Rasool Allah", while I agree 100% that anyone who wants to believe must declare their belief in the one God, it is also logical that this decleration is something personal between the individual and Allah, in fact even if someone declares this Shahada 100 times a day, how we know that the person is truthful?, only Allah knows, I firmly believe that the Shahada was never the first pillar of Islam, this is confirmed when we look at the Quran and see for ourselves that the Shahada was never mentioned in the Quran unlike the other 4 pillars (Salat, Zakat, Fast and Hajj)

Let's go back to the basics and try to see if some logic can fit to the Shahada:

1) We have been taught since birth, to be a Muslim you must say the Shahada first, which sounds reasonable to me but I believe it should be in the heart and mind

2) The Shahada by definition is To declare a statement as a witness", this statement in the human world may or may not have any value indeed. Also in the human world most likely this Shahada is needed only ONCE, not all life long

3) People may ask, possibly it was an order from Allah to say the Shahada all life long, which again sounds very reasonable if this is the case

4) But the word Shahada as such" NEVER appeared in the Quran, let's look at a few examples out of many where the word Shahada appeared, we will be able to divide the word occurrences into two main groups:

The first group, relates to Allah in two aspects:

A) He is Alim Al Ghayb and Shahada", The knower if unseen and witnessing"
B) He is the only One that can offer the biggest of Shahada, i.e. He is the most trusted witness

We see the sub group (A) in the following examples:

Knower of the Invisible and the Visible, the Mighty, the Wise.

[The Quran ; 64:18]

عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ (18)

-> I believe the translation above is odd, the translators thought wrongly that Al Ghayb" is the opposite of Shahada", therefore they translated Shahada as Visible", which is wrong, the verse means that Allah know the UNSEEN Ghayb", and He knows the true/fake Witnessing Shahada"

-> The exact context appeared in the following verses:

62:8, 59:22, 39:64, 32:6, 23:92, 13:9, 9:105, 9:94, 6:73

-> Obviously it means that Allah knows if any witness is crook or not, this understanding makes more sense when bearing in mind how Allah warned us against giving false witnessing He is the only one that can know the truthful witness", this really enlighten us a bit considering that giving Shahada in Islam is to declare that there is only one God who is Allah, the matter is a personal affair between any person and Allah only, others has nothing to do with this Shahada, in a way others fate can't be dependent on this self Shahada that there is no God but Allah, now considering that Allah only is the knower of the truthful Shahada, the matter for us to repeat it all day long does not really make any sense, sounds like I want to convince Allah that I believe that there no God but Him, which is ridiculous, the reason I'm saying that is simply there is no direct order from Allah to do such Shahada regarding His God status, even when the prophet had issues with the arrogant humans He declared that Allah is the worthy of all witnesses:

Sub group (B) above can be read in the following verse:

Say: What thing is the weightiest in testimony? Say: Allah is witness between you and me; and this Quran has been revealed to me that with it I may warn you and whomsoever it reaches. Do you really bear witness that there are other gods with Allah? Say: I do not bear witness. Say: He is only one Allah, and surely I am clear of that which you set up (with Him).
[The Quran ; 6:19]

قُلْ أَيُّ شَيْءٍ أَكْبَرُ شَهَادةً قُلِ اللّهِ شَهِيدٌ بِيْنِي وَبَيْنَكُمْ وَأُوحِيَ إِلَيَّ هَذَا الْقُرْآنُ لأُنذِرَكُم بِهِ وَمَن بَلَغَ أَئِنَّكُمْ لَتَشْهَدُونَ أَنَّ مَعَ اللّهِ آلِهَةً أُخْرَى قُل لاَّ أَشْهَدُ قُلْ إِنَّمَا هُوَ إِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ وَإِنَّنِي بَرِيءٌ مِّمَّا تُشْرِكُونَ (19)


The second group of Shahada verses relate to human affairs:

O ye who believe! When death approaches any of you, (take) witnesses among yourselves when making bequests,- two just men of your own (brotherhood) or others from outside if ye are journeying through the earth, and the chance of death befalls you (thus). If ye doubt (their truth), detain them both after prayer, and let them both swear by Allah: "We wish not in this for any worldly gain, even though the (beneficiary) be our near relation: we shall hide not the evidence before Allah: if we do, then behold! the sin be upon us!
[The Quran ; 5:106]

يِا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ شَهَادَةُ بَيْنِكُمْ إِذَا حَضَرَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ حِينَ الْوَصِيَّةِ اثْنَانِ ذَوَا عَدْلٍ مِّنكُمْ أَوْ آخَرَانِ مِنْ غَيْرِكُمْ إِنْ أَنتُمْ ضَرَبْتُمْ فِي الأَرْضِ فَأَصَابَتْكُم مُّصِيبَةُ الْمَوْتِ تَحْبِسُونَهُمَا مِن بَعْدِ الصَّلاَةِ فَيُقْسِمَانِ بِاللّهِ إِنِ ارْتَبْتُمْ لاَ نَشْتَرِي بِهِ ثَمَنًا وَلَوْ كَانَ ذَا قُرْبَى وَلاَ نَكْتُمُ شَهَادَةَ اللّهِ إِنَّا إِذًا لَّمِنَ الآثِمِينَ (106)

-> It is really strange that we were taught that the Shahada is the most important requirement to be a Muslim and must be said all day long, as well in the hadith we have been taught that if the Shahada is our last words then we go straight to the garden which surely does not make any sense, yet in the above verse we see at the moment of death Allah is advising us to make a totally different Shahada that relates to our human affairs.

5) The whole Quran does not have just one incident of ordering the verbal Shahada that there is no God but Allah I even assumed that this is the required Shahada", however later on I was being fed that the required Shahada must have this part Mohammad Rasool Allah", this indeed raised my eye brows, but I said if it is an order from Allah, why not, but the problem I found is this, declaring that there no God but Allah all day long was never ordered in the Quran, how come I will find the second part of declaring Mohammad Rasool Allah all day long?, sure it must not exist if the first does not exist.

6) By looking at all the verses where the words La Ilah Ila...appeared we will discover the following results:

1) لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا , "La Ilah Ila...", "There is no God but...", 37 times

2) لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ, "La Ilah Ila Hu", "There is no God but Him", 30 times

3) لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنَا , "La Ilah Ila Ana", "There is no God but Me", 3 times

4)لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهَُ, "La Ilah Ila Allah", "There is no God but Allah", 2 times

5) لَّا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنتَ, "La Ilah Ila Anta...", "There is no God but You", 1 time

6)لا إِلِهَ إِلاَّ الَّذِي, "La Ilah Ila alazi...", "There is no God but The One Who...", 1 time

IN NON of these 37 times we read "Mohammad Rasool Allah" after any of the above

But what I found very amazing is: "La Ilah Ila Allah" was repeated twice in the Quran, one of them is in sura 47, the sura name is "Mohammad", therefore you expect that "Mohammad Rasool Allah" appears after "La Ilah Ila Allah" in this sura the least, and again it never happened.

How come this Shahada (that has been taught to us by humans who are vulnerable to Satan) which is the most important pillar to be a Muslim be even close to the truth while Allah NEVER EVER told us about it?, it was not even something that needed further explanation by the prophet, simply the Oneness of Allah need no explanation

The Shahada on the other hand contradicts this Oneness of Allah, because simply Allah does not need humans to give witness of His God status Kafa Bellah Shahida" , He only wants us to believe in Him as the only God who created us and who sent many prophets to warn us of the Day of Account, as well it contradicts the Oneness of Allah by associating a human name next to the suppose to be the Shahada for the one God, that human was also created by Allah and will also give account on the JD, it is important to ask, why declaring the prophethood of the other prophets is not included in the suppose to be Shahada?, we don't need to pay much attention to their relation with Allah because this is really between them, we only need to follow those prophets who will also give account like us exactly, so why is the name of one of those great prophets should be said after Allah unique name all day long?, WHAT DOES IT PROVE?

The only authority for the Shahada came from the hadith, this makes me wonder, does Satan figured out that it is really hard to make a Muslim Kafir by rejecting the last warning of Allah" as He does with a Christian or any other religion, so it is more appropriate for the Muslims to make them Mushrikoon, and sure he figured out that it is hard to convince the Muslims that Mohammad is another God, so the least he managed to do is to convince us to say the name Mohammad next to Allah Name all day long, his only way in was the hadith, sure he figured out that he can't do it through the Quran as he did with the other scriptures, we also should be considering the action of Omar when he heard Abu Hurairah saying the Shahada in public that it is shirk, we also should consider that Abu Hurariah can't be taken for granted as an honest person I don't say that he was a dishonest man", the Quran never mentioned his name any way, in fact the Quran suggested the opposite that humans will never know what is inside other humans, therefore I can't take the order of Shahada that sounds like clear cut shirk considering 39:45" from Abu Hurairah as another Authority, as taking it from him is another clear cut case of shirk, wow, the Shahada is indeed DOUBLE SHIRK in one sentence, isn't Satan very generous?, for shirk sake, bloody he is.

There is no doubt that Allah is not shy to praise Mohammad in the Quran, in fact Mohammad was praised big deal in the Quran, but why the Shahada which is reciting Mohammad name next to Allah name all life long" WAS NEVER MENTIONED IN THE QURAN EVEN ONCE?

Let's look at the suppose to be the 5 pillars of Islam:

1) Shahada comes at no 1 (NEVER EVER MENTIONED and only Authorised by Abu Hurairah)
2) Salat (Mentioned zillions of times by Allah)
3) Zakat (Mentioned zillions of times by Allah)
4) Fast (Mentioned quite a few times by Allah)
5) Hajj (Mentioned quite a few times by Allah)

Why the no 1 Shahada was never mentioned ONCE in the Quran?

How about looking at logically, does saying a creature name along with its creator all life long is SHIRK?

If it even sounds like shirk not 100% shirk", would that be enough reason that IT WAS NEVER MENTIONED IN THE QURAN ONCE?

Salam

[AhmedBahgat]

Hello All,

One of the things in Islam I never accepted as law upon the believers is to state the Shahada Ashahadu Ana La Illah Ila Allah wa Ana Mohammad Rasool Allah", while I agree 100% that anyone who wants to believe must declare their belief in the one God, it is also logical that this decleration is something personal between the individual and Allah, in fact even if someone declares this Shahada 100 times a day, how we know that the person is truthful?, only Allah knows, I firmly believe that the Shahada was never the first pillar of Islam, this is confirmed when we look at the Quran and see for ourselves that the Shahada was never mentioned in the Quran unlike the other 4 pillars (Salat, Zakat, Fast and Hajj)

Let's go back to the basics and try to see if some logic can fit to the Shahada:

1) We have been taught since birth, to be a Muslim you must say the Shahada first, which sounds reasonable to me but I believe it should be in the heart and mind

2) The Shahada by definition is To declare a statement as a witness", this statement in the human world may or may not have any value indeed. Also in the human world most likely this Shahada is needed only ONCE, not all life long

3) People may ask, possibly it was an order from Allah to say the Shahada all life long, which again sounds very reasonable if this is the case

4) But the word Shahada as such" NEVER appeared in the Quran, let's look at a few examples out of many where the word Shahada appeared, we will be able to divide the word occurrences into two main groups:

The first group, relates to Allah in two aspects:

A) He is Alim Al Ghayb and Shahada", The knower if unseen and witnessing"
B) He is the only One that can offer the biggest of Shahada, i.e. He is the most trusted witness

We see the sub group (A) in the following examples:

Knower of the Invisible and the Visible, the Mighty, the Wise.

[The Quran ; 64:18]

عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ (18)

-> I believe the translation above is odd, the translators thought wrongly that Al Ghayb" is the opposite of Shahada", therefore they translated Shahada as Visible", which is wrong, the verse means that Allah know the UNSEEN Ghayb", and He knows the true/fake Witnessing Shahada"

-> The exact context appeared in the following verses:

62:8, 59:22, 39:64, 32:6, 23:92, 13:9, 9:105, 9:94, 6:73

-> Obviously it means that Allah knows if any witness is crook or not, this understanding makes more sense when bearing in mind how Allah warned us against giving false witnessing He is the only one that can know the truthful witness", this really enlighten us a bit considering that giving Shahada in Islam is to declare that there is only one God who is Allah, the matter is a personal affair between any person and Allah only, others has nothing to do with this Shahada, in a way others fate can't be dependent on this self Shahada that there is no God but Allah, now considering that Allah only is the knower of the truthful Shahada, the matter for us to repeat it all day long does not really make any sense, sounds like I want to convince Allah that I believe that there no God but Him, which is ridiculous, the reason I'm saying that is simply there is no direct order from Allah to do such Shahada regarding His God status, even when the prophet had issues with the arrogant humans He declared that Allah is the worthy of all witnesses:

Sub group (B) above can be read in the following verse:

Say: What thing is the weightiest in testimony? Say: Allah is witness between you and me; and this Quran has been revealed to me that with it I may warn you and whomsoever it reaches. Do you really bear witness that there are other gods with Allah? Say: I do not bear witness. Say: He is only one Allah, and surely I am clear of that which you set up (with Him).
[The Quran ; 6:19]

قُلْ أَيُّ شَيْءٍ أَكْبَرُ شَهَادةً قُلِ اللّهِ شَهِيدٌ بِيْنِي وَبَيْنَكُمْ وَأُوحِيَ إِلَيَّ هَذَا الْقُرْآنُ لأُنذِرَكُم بِهِ وَمَن بَلَغَ أَئِنَّكُمْ لَتَشْهَدُونَ أَنَّ مَعَ اللّهِ آلِهَةً أُخْرَى قُل لاَّ أَشْهَدُ قُلْ إِنَّمَا هُوَ إِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ وَإِنَّنِي بَرِيءٌ مِّمَّا تُشْرِكُونَ (19)


The second group of Shahada verses relate to human affairs:

O ye who believe! When death approaches any of you, (take) witnesses among yourselves when making bequests,- two just men of your own (brotherhood) or others from outside if ye are journeying through the earth, and the chance of death befalls you (thus). If ye doubt (their truth), detain them both after prayer, and let them both swear by Allah: "We wish not in this for any worldly gain, even though the (beneficiary) be our near relation: we shall hide not the evidence before Allah: if we do, then behold! the sin be upon us!
[The Quran ; 5:106]

يِا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ شَهَادَةُ بَيْنِكُمْ إِذَا حَضَرَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ حِينَ الْوَصِيَّةِ اثْنَانِ ذَوَا عَدْلٍ مِّنكُمْ أَوْ آخَرَانِ مِنْ غَيْرِكُمْ إِنْ أَنتُمْ ضَرَبْتُمْ فِي الأَرْضِ فَأَصَابَتْكُم مُّصِيبَةُ الْمَوْتِ تَحْبِسُونَهُمَا مِن بَعْدِ الصَّلاَةِ فَيُقْسِمَانِ بِاللّهِ إِنِ ارْتَبْتُمْ لاَ نَشْتَرِي بِهِ ثَمَنًا وَلَوْ كَانَ ذَا قُرْبَى وَلاَ نَكْتُمُ شَهَادَةَ اللّهِ إِنَّا إِذًا لَّمِنَ الآثِمِينَ (106)

-> It is really strange that we were taught that the Shahada is the most important requirement to be a Muslim and must be said all day long, as well in the hadith we have been taught that if the Shahada is our last words then we go straight to the garden which surely does not make any sense, yet in the above verse we see at the moment of death Allah is advising us to make a totally different Shahada that relates to our human affairs.

5) The whole Quran does not have just one incident of ordering the verbal Shahada that there is no God but Allah I even assumed that this is the required Shahada", however later on I was being fed that the required Shahada must have this part Mohammad Rasool Allah", this indeed raised my eye brows, but I said if it is an order from Allah, why not, but the problem I found is this, declaring that there no God but Allah all day long was never ordered in the Quran, how come I will find the second part of declaring Mohammad Rasool Allah all day long?, sure it must not exist if the first does not exist.

6) By looking at all the verses where the words La Ilah Ila...appeared we will discover the following results:

1) لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا , "La Ilah Ila...", "There is no God but...", 37 times

2) لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ, "La Ilah Ila Hu", "There is no God but Him", 30 times

3) لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنَا , "La Ilah Ila Ana", "There is no God but Me", 3 times

4)لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهَُ, "La Ilah Ila Allah", "There is no God but Allah", 2 times

5) لَّا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنتَ, "La Ilah Ila Anta...", "There is no God but You", 1 time

6)لا إِلِهَ إِلاَّ الَّذِي, "La Ilah Ila alazi...", "There is no God but The One Who...", 1 time

IN NON of these 37 times we read "Mohammad Rasool Allah" after any of the above

But what I found very amazing is: "La Ilah Ila Allah" was repeated twice in the Quran, one of them is in sura 47, the sura name is "Mohammad", therefore you expect that "Mohammad Rasool Allah" appears after "La Ilah Ila Allah" in this sura the least, and again it never happened.

How come this Shahada (that has been taught to us by humans who are vulnerable to Satan) which is the most important pillar to be a Muslim be even close to the truth while Allah NEVER EVER told us about it?, it was not even something that needed further explanation by the prophet, simply the Oneness of Allah need no explanation

The Shahada on the other hand contradicts this Oneness of Allah, because simply Allah does not need humans to give witness of His God status Kafa Bellah Shahida" , He only wants us to believe in Him as the only God who created us and who sent many prophets to warn us of the Day of Account, as well it contradicts the Oneness of Allah by associating a human name next to the suppose to be the Shahada for the one God, that human was also created by Allah and will also give account on the JD, it is important to ask, why declaring the prophethood of the other prophets is not included in the suppose to be Shahada?, we don't need to pay much attention to their relation with Allah because this is really between them, we only need to follow those prophets who will also give account like us exactly, so why is the name of one of those great prophets should be said after Allah unique name all day long?, WHAT DOES IT PROVE?

The only authority for the Shahada came from the hadith, this makes me wonder, does Satan figured out that it is really hard to make a Muslim Kafir by rejecting the last warning of Allah" as He does with a Christian or any other religion, so it is more appropriate for the Muslims to make them Mushrikoon, and sure he figured out that it is hard to convince the Muslims that Mohammad is another God, so the least he managed to do is to convince us to say the name Mohammad next to Allah Name all day long, his only way in was the hadith, sure he figured out that he can't do it through the Quran as he did with the other scriptures, we also should be considering the action of Omar when he heard Abu Hurairah saying the Shahada in public that it is shirk, we also should consider that Abu Hurariah can't be taken for granted as an honest person I don't say that he was a dishonest man", the Quran never mentioned his name any way, in fact the Quran suggested the opposite that humans will never know what is inside other humans, therefore I can't take the order of Shahada that sounds like clear cut shirk considering 39:45" from Abu Hurairah as another Authority, as taking it from him is another clear cut case of shirk, wow, the Shahada is indeed DOUBLE SHIRK in one sentence, isn't Satan very generous?, for shirk sake, bloody he is.

There is no doubt that Allah is not shy to praise Mohammad in the Quran, in fact Mohammad was praised big deal in the Quran, but why the Shahada which is reciting Mohammad name next to Allah name all life long" WAS NEVER MENTIONED IN THE QURAN EVEN ONCE?

Let's look at the suppose to be the 5 pillars of Islam:

1) Shahada comes at no 1 (NEVER EVER MENTIONED and only Authorised by Abu Hurairah)
2) Salat (Mentioned zillions of times by Allah)
3) Zakat (Mentioned zillions of times by Allah)
4) Fast (Mentioned quite a few times by Allah)
5) Hajj (Mentioned quite a few times by Allah)

Why the no 1 Shahada was never mentioned ONCE in the Quran?

How about looking at logically, does saying a creature name along with its creator all life long is SHIRK?

If it even sounds like shirk not 100% shirk", would that be enough reason that IT WAS NEVER MENTIONED IN THE QURAN ONCE?

Salam

[Alen]

Salam.

Patience my sisters and brothers, patience, eventually we will arrive at the point where we will know all that we need to know.

This is what i learned.

The 1. pillar .... which one is it?
I think it's much more important that we follow and practice it in real life.

I mean, we know that The God is One, that nothing and no one is to be associated with Him, right?
Okay, we know that The God is not human, did not give birth, was not born, is eternal, has no beginning or ending, lives His own Eternal life and does whatever He wants.

God is The One.

There is much to write about The God.
Salam.

[The]

okay bro...u ve raised quite a few interesting points..however to start with...i think neither the sunnis nor the shiites insist that there should be a verbal shahada...(yes i have come across zealots on sunni-shiite forums/chatrooms or on pms/ims who have asked me to proclaim the shahada...but i think these are merely feeble attempts to seek a way out of a dialogue rather than an established sunni/shia practice! (-: )

# to be honest i m not sure i ve got the point u r making, so i ll wait till u educate me a bit on this! (-:

[AhmedBahgat]

[AhmedBahgat]

[The]

# know what bro...i agree with u....i see them mostly engaged in praising the prophet or ali and the 11 imams (in case of shiites)...yet rarely do i see them showing the same fervor when it comes to hamd of god! they just sit passively and amost mehanically repeat allahuakbar or subhanallah..yet when it comes to praising the prophet or 12 imams they are animated and intense...i dont know what to make of it!

# as for the salat part...well bro....salat is 1 aspect of islam which still confuses me...i ll get back on this in the future...hopefully! (-:

[Razia]

Salam All,

I want to thank my real brother Saleem for emailing me the Shahada post and inviting me to this forum.

I read the shahada post. Quite thought provoking. But one thing is not correct we never keep on reciting it whole day. And there is along list of prophets how can each name be included. ANY WAY EVEN IF THIS IS THE CASE who is going to save the UMMAH from this gumrahi (wrong path). Nobody will listen to this as the whole ummah has opt for easy life. No pondering or thinking which Allah has menntioned so often in quran. But at least there are people who are blessed with such wisdom and are sharing it with others. Jazakallah.

[AhmedBahgat]

[AhmedBahgat]

[Razia]

Hello,

Thanks to brother Ahmed Bhagat for kind welcome and taking me in your forum.I sure hav queries which i'll send later.

Salam