| Shahada |
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| The Shahada requires certain beliefs and actions of the person declaring it to verify the statement and be accepted... It is not enough to say the words alone. 1. The person declaring Shahada must have knowledge of its meaning. 2. The person must have certainty that he believes the words. 3. The person must accept what the words mean. 4. The person must say the words truthfully. 5. The person must only worship Allah, and believe only Allah should be worshipped. 6. The person must fulfill the act of worship. (Salah, Zakat, etc) 7. The person must love the worship of Allah. |
| Things that negate the Shahada: 1. Shirk. This is the major one. A person who dies in a state of shirk will not be forgiven by Allah. There are many forms of shirk to beware of, such as, making dua to anyone other than Allah, slaughtering an animal in a name other than Allah, and wearing and believing in amulets. A person may be forgiven shirk if he repents (before death). 2. To deny the finality of the prophethood of Prophet Muhammad(PBUH). The second part of the Shahada says Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. He is also the final messenger of Allah. Some sects believe in prophets or a prophet that supposedly came after Muhammed(PBUH). He is Allah's final messenger and to deny this will nullify Shahada. 3. Deny the Sunnah. The Quran says the Prophet was sent to teach us the Book (Quran) and the Wisdom (Sunnah) and the two can not be separated. Belief in one demands belief in the other. Some ways of denying the Sunna are: disregarding Islamic law and making jokes or ridiculing Islam. 4. Hating any aspect of Islam. Someone may say, 'I really love Islam... except that men are allowed four wives.' This way of thinking denies Allah's teaching and negates the Shahada. 5. Becoming involved in sourcery. Sourcery includes many areas: palmistry, reading tea leaves or coffee cups, fortune tellers, astrology, and anything similar. 6. Believing a person does not have to follow Islam to enter Paradise. If you hear a person say "Well i believe if someone believes in God, and does good deeds, and tries to be a good person, they will go to Heaven." This belief will cause the Shahada to become invalid. The Quran tells us that anyone who accepts a religion other than Islam (or Islam's beliefs) he will not belong to Paradise. 7. Turning away from Islam, by not learning it or acting upon it. This is someone who declares to be Muslim yet doesn't make the effort to pray, learn to pray, or follow other teachings of Islam. This does not include a Muslim who constantly and consistently tries to follow Islam but falls short because of human imperfection. If the person repents of his known shortcomings, the Shahada is not nullified. These are only some of the things that may cause the Shahada to become invalid. Some Islamic scholars have listed up to 400 items, so this is just a general overview. These points are from a lecture of Shaykh Ali at-Timimi. |
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