The First Pillar
Muslim Profession of Faith
The Shahada is the Muslim profession of faith and the first of the
‘Five Pillars’ of Islam. The word shahada in Arabic means ‘testimony.’
The shahadais to testify to two things:
(a) Nothing deserves worship except God (Allah).
(b) Muhammad is the Messenger of God (Allah).
A Muslim is simply one who bears witness and testifies that "nothing
deserves worship except God and Muhammad is the messenger of God." One becomes a
Muslim by making this simple declaration.
It must be recited by every Muslim at least once in a lifetime with a full
understanding of its meaning and with an assent of the heart. Muslims say this
when they wake up in the morning, and before they go to sleep at night. It is
repeated five times in the call to prayer in every mosque. A person who utters
the shahada as their last words in this life has been promised Paradise.
Many people ignorant of Islam have misconceived notions about the Allah,
used by Muslims to denote God. Allah is the proper name for God in Arabic, just
as "Elah", or often "Elohim", is the proper name for God in Aramaic mentioned in
the Old Testament. Allah is also His personal name in Islam, as"YHWH" is His
personal name in Judaism. However, rather than the specific Hebrew denotation of
"YHWH" as "He Who Is", in Arabic Allah denotes the aspect of being "The One True
Deity worthy of all worship". Arabic speaking Jews and Christians also refer to
the Supreme Being as Allah.
(a) Nothing deserves worship except God (Allah).
Finally, the call of Muhammad, some 600 years after Jesus, reverberated
across the hills of Mecca, ‘And your God is One God: there is no god but
He.’(Quran 2:163). They all declared clearly:
"Worship God! You have no other god
but Him." (Quran 7:59, 7:73; 11:50, 11:84; 23:32)
But by a mere verbal profession alone, one does not become a complete Muslim.
To become a complete Muslim one has to fully carry out in practice the
instruction given by Prophet Muhammad as ordained by God. This brings us to the
second part of the testimony.
(b) Muhammad is the Messenger of God (Allah).
Muhammad was born in Mecca in Arabia in the year 570 CE. His ancestry goes
back to Ishmael, a son of Prophet Abraham. The second part of the confession of
faith asserts that he is not only a prophet but also a messenger of God, a
higher role also played by Moses and Jesus before him. Like all prophets before
him, he was a human being, but chosen by God to convey His message to all
humanity rather than one tribe or nation from among the many that exist. For
Muslims, Muhammad brought the last and final revelation. In accepting Muhammad
as the "last of the prophets," they believe that his prophecy confirms and
completes all of the revealed messages, beginning with that of Adam. In
addition, Muhammad serves as the preeminent role model through his life
example. The believer’s effort to follow Muhammad’s example reflects the
emphasis of Islam on practice and action.