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Date:26-04-17
   Basic Tenets of Faith        Belief        (Unity of) Divinity

The Meaning of Ash-Shahaadataan

Question(12):

What is the meaning of Ash-Shahaadataan:La Ilaaha Illallaah and Muhammad Rasoolulaah. ?

Answer:

The Shahaadah (testimony) that La Ilaaha Illallaah and that Muhammad Rasoolullaah (Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah) is the key of Islaam. Entering the fold of Islaam is impossible without them. That is why the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم ) commanded Mu’aadh ibn Jabal ( عليه سلم ) when he sent him to Yemen that the very first thing he should call them to is the

Shahaadah: La Ilaaha Illallaah, Muhammad Rasoolallaah. 25
As far as the first part comprising the testimony that La Ilaaha Illallaah, it means that the person must assert with his tongue and in his heart that there is nothing that is worshipped rightfully except Allaah, The Mighty and Majestic. This is because the word Ilaah26 means Ma’looh (that which is worshipped out of love, magnification, deification, and longing), and Atta-alluh means (deification), signifying that: None deserves to be worshipped except Allaah Alone. The sentence: La Ilaaha Illallaah comprises a denial and an affirmation. As for the denial it is: “La Ilaaha: None has the right to be worshipped,” and as for the affirmation, then it is: “Illallaah: Except Allaah.” The term “Allaah” is a substitute (gr. Badal) for the unspoken predicate of La, because in the sentence there is a term which is understood in meaning but not stated in words and it is haqq (rightfully). So, the complete sentence is La Ilaaha Haqq Illallaah: There is nothing that is worshipped rightfully except Allaah. So, this Shahaadah is an attestation with the tongue following the belief with the heart that there is nothing that is worshipped rightfully and deservingly except Allaah, The Mighty and Majestic. It comprises the sincere and pure dedication of worship to Allaah Alone, and the denial of any worship for everything besides Him. The realisation of completion of the meaning of the sentence with the unstated word (predicate) haqq (rightfully), clarifies the answer for the following question  ften raised by many people: How can you say that there is no Ilaah except Allaah despite the fact that there are “gods” worshipped besides Allaah? Also, Allaah calls them “gods: Aaliha” and those who worship them call them “gods”. Allaah, The Most Exalted and The Most High, Says:

( فَمَا أَغْنَتْ عَنْهُمْ آلِهَتُهُمُ الَّتِي يَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ مِنْ شَيْءٍ لَمَّا جَاءَ أَمْرُ رَبِّكَ )(هود:101)

So their gods which they invoked besides Allaah, could not avail them when there came the Command of your Rabb [to destroy them]. [Qur’aan, soorat Hood (11): 101].

He, The Exalted, also Says:

: ( وَلا تَجْعَلْ مَعَ اللَّهِ إِلَهاً آخَرَ)(الاسراء: 39)

And set not up with Allaah any other Ilaah [god] [Qur’aan, soorat al-Israa’ (17): 39].

(وَلا تَدْعُ مَعَ اللَّهِ إِلَهاً آخَرَ)(القصص: 88)

And invoke not any other Ilaah [god] along with Allaah. [Qur’aan, soorat al-Qasas (28): 88].

So, how could it be possible to say that none has the right to be worshipped except Allaah when other deities are confirmed besides Allaah, The Mighty and Majestic, and when all of the messengers said to their people:

: ( اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مَا لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرُهُ )(الأعراف: من الآية59)

Worship Allaah Alone, you have no other god besides Allaah (who deserves your worship). [Qur’aan, soorat al-A’raaf (7): 59].

The answer to this question will become clear when we recognise the unstated term to complete the meaning of the statement La Ilaaha Illallaah. So we say: “These Aalihah (gods) which are worshipped besides Allaah are gods, but they are false and futile gods. They are not true gods and do not possess anything from the right of divinity as proven by the Saying of Allaah, The Most High:

(ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الْحَقُّ وَأَنَّ مَا يَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِهِ الْبَاطِلُ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الْعَلِيُّ الْكَبِيرُ) (لقمان:30)

That is because Allaah, He is the Truth (the true God who deserves all worship) and those gods that the Mushriks invoke besides Him are futile and false, and that Allaah is The Most High, (above everything) The Most Great. [Qur’aan, soorat Luqmaan (31): 30].

Additional proof is in the Saying of Allaah, The Most High:

: (ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الْحَقُّ وَأَنَّ مَا يَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِهِ الْبَاطِلُ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الْعَلِيُّ الْكَبِيرُ) (لقمان:30)، ويدل لذلك أيضاً قوله تعالى : (أَفَرَأَيْتُمُ اللَّاتَ وَالْعُزَّى) (19) (وَمَنَاةَ الثَّالِثَةَ الْأُخْرَى) (20) (أَلَكُمُ الذَّكَرُ وَلَهُ الْأُنْثَى) (21) (تِلْكَ إِذاً قِسْمَةٌ ضِيزَى) (22) (إِنْ هِيَ إِلَّا أَسْمَاءٌ سَمَّيْتُمُوهَا أَنْتُمْ وَآبَاؤُكُمْ مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ بِهَا مِنْ سُلْطَانٍ )(النجم: 19-23) 
Have you then considered, (O Mushriks) al-Laat, al-’Uzzaa, and the other one Manaat, the third of them?27 How do you prefer for yourselves the male offspring and then falsely attribute females,28 (something that you hate for yourselves, to Allaah?) This is a division most unfair! They (their idols) are but names which you and your forefathers have invented. Allaah has sent down no authority for that. [Qur’aan, soorat an-Najm (53): 19-23].

Furthermore, the Saying of Allaah, The Exalted, concerning Prophet Yoosuf ( عليه سلم )is yet another proof:

(مَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِهِ إِلَّا أَسْمَاءً سَمَّيْتُمُوهَا أَنْتُمْ وَآبَاؤُكُمْ مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ بِهَا مِنْ سُلْطَانٍ) (يوسف:40)
 
You do not worship besides Allaah except idols that you call gods and which you and your forefathers have invented names for them. Verily! Allaah has sent down no proof for that. [Qur’aan, soorat Yoosuf (12): 40].

Therefore, the meaning of La Ilaaha Illallaah is: None has the right to be worshipped except Allaah, The Mighty and Majestic. As for those things which are worshipped besides Allaah—like: Messengers, Angels, Awliyaa’ (friends of Allaah), stones, trees, the sun, the moon or other things—then the divinity which their worshippers claim for them is not a reality, i.e. it is false and futile. The true Godship is that of Allaah, The Mighty and Majestic.

25 The testimony that none has the right to be worshipped except Allaah and that Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم ) is the Messenger of Allaah is a single pillar of Islaam even though it consists of two complementary parts. The first part [Laa Ilaaha Illallaah] necessitates that all acts of worship must be sincerely devoted to Allaah alone. The second part [Muhammad Rasoolullaah] obligates that all worship must be done in accordance with the way of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم ). Therefore, no worship will be accepted unless it fulfills the obligations of both parts.
26 Ilaah is of the measure fi’aal in the sense of the measure maf’oo meaning ma’looh.

27 These are names of some of the idols worshipped by the pagan Arabs.
28 They claimed that the angels are the daughters of Allaah. It is also said that they considered al-Laat, al-’Uzzaa and Manaat as female partners to Allaah. Far removed is Allaah above what they attributed to Him. [See ash-Shawkaanee’s Fathul Qadeer (Jeddah, KSA: Daar al-Andalus al- Khadraa’, 1st ed., 1415/1994)], p.108.

 

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