{"id":1622,"date":"2016-03-26T18:28:25","date_gmt":"2016-03-26T18:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/?p=1622"},"modified":"2018-03-27T02:09:46","modified_gmt":"2018-03-27T07:09:46","slug":"the-first-pillar-of-islam-the-muslim-profession-of-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/en\/the-first-pillar-of-islam-the-muslim-profession-of-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Pillar of Islam: The Muslim Profession of Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Imam Kamil Mufti<\/em><\/p>\n

All practicing Muslims accept belief in the \u2018Six Articles of Faith\u2019 and are obliged to follow the \u2018Five Pillars.\u2019 \u00a0They are:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Muslim profession of faith orshahada<\/i>.
\n2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ritual Prayer or salah<\/i>.
\n3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Obligatory Charity or zakah<\/i>.
\n4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fasting or sawm<\/i>.
\n5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pilgrimage or hajj<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The First Pillar<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Muslim Profession of Faith<\/h2>\n

The Shahada<\/i> is the Muslim profession of faith and the first of the \u2018Five Pillars\u2019 of Islam.\u00a0 The word shahada<\/i> in Arabic means \u2018testimony.\u2019 \u00a0The shahada<\/i>is to testify to two things:<\/p>\n

(a)\u00a0 Nothing deserves worship except God (Allah).
\n(b)\u00a0 Muhammad is the Messenger of God (Allah).<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 Muslims say this when they wake up in the morning, and before they go to sleep at night.\u00a0 It is repeated five times in the call to prayer in every mosque.\u00a0 A person who utters the shahada<\/i> as their last words in this life has been promised Paradise.<\/p>\n

Many people ignorant of Islam have misconceived notions about the Allah<\/i>, used by Muslims to denote God. Allah<\/i> is the proper name for God in Arabic, just as “Elah”<\/i>, or often “Elohim”<\/i>, is the proper name for God in Aramaic mentioned in the Old Testament.\u00a0 Allah<\/i> is also His personal name in Islam, as“YHWH”<\/i> is His personal name in Judaism. However, rather than the specific Hebrew denotation of “YHWH<\/i>” as “He Who Is<\/i>“, in Arabic Allah <\/i>denotes the aspect of being “The One True Deity worthy of all worship”<\/i>.\u00a0 Arabic speaking Jews and Christians also refer to the Supreme Being as Allah<\/i>.<\/p>\n

(a)\u00a0 Nothing deserves worship except God (Allah).<\/p>\n

The first part of this testimony states that God has the exclusive right to be worshipped inwardly and outwardly, by one\u2019s heart and limbs.\u00a0 In Islamic doctrine, not only can no one be worshipped apart<\/i> from Him, absolutely no one else can be worshipped along<\/i> with<\/i> Him.\u00a0 He has no partners or associates in worship.\u00a0 Worship, in its comprehensive sense and all its aspects, is for Him alone.\u00a0 God\u2019s right to be worshipped is the essential meaning of Islam\u2019s testimony of faith: L\u0101 \u2018il\u0101ha \u2018ill\u0101 All\u0101h<\/i>.\u00a0 A person becomes Muslim by testifying to the divine right to worship.\u00a0 It is the crux of Islamic belief in God, even all of Islam.\u00a0 It is considered the central message of all prophets and messengers sent by God – the message of Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Moses, the Hebrew prophets, Jesus, and Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon them.\u00a0 For instance, Moses declared:<\/p>\n

\n
“Hear, O Israel The Lord our God is one Lord.” (Deuteronomy 6:4)<\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Jesus repeated the same message 1500 years later when he said:<\/p>\n

\n
“The first of all the commandments is, “Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord.” (Mark 12:29)<\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u2026and reminded Satan:<\/p>\n

\n
“Away from me, Satan! \u00a0For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.” (Matthew 4:10)<\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Finally, the call of Muhammad, some 600 years after Jesus, reverberated across the hills of Mecca, \u2018And your God is One God: there is no god but He.\u2019<\/i>(Quran 2:163).\u00a0 They all declared clearly:<\/p>\n

\n
“Worship God! \u00a0You have no other god but Him.” (Quran 7:59, 7:73; 11:50, 11:84; 23:32)<\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But by a mere verbal profession alone, one does not become a complete Muslim.\u00a0 To become a complete Muslim one has to fully carry out in practice the instruction given by Prophet Muhammad as ordained by God.\u00a0 This brings us to the second part of the testimony.<\/p>\n

(b)\u00a0 Muhammad is the Messenger of God (Allah).<\/p>\n

Muhammad was born in Mecca in Arabia in the year 570 CE.\u00a0 His ancestry goes back to Ishmael, a son of Prophet Abraham.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 For Muslims, Muhammad brought the last and final revelation.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 In addition, Muhammad serves as the preeminent role model through his life example.\u00a0 The believer\u2019s effort to follow Muhammad\u2019s example reflects the emphasis of Islam on practice and action.<\/p>\n

From: Islamreligion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Imam Kamil Mufti All practicing Muslims accept belief in the \u2018Six Articles of Faith\u2019 and are obliged to follow the \u2018Five Pillars.\u2019 \u00a0They are: 1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Muslim profession of faith orshahada. 2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ritual Prayer or salah. 3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Obligatory Charity or zakah. 4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fasting or sawm. 5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pilgrimage or hajj. The First Pillar Muslim Profession of … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-five-pillars-of-islam"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/pillar-1.jpg","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/pillar-1.jpg",1280,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/pillar-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/pillar-1-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/pillar-1-768x432.jpg",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/pillar-1-1024x576.jpg",1024,576,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/pillar-1.jpg",1280,720,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/pillar-1.jpg",1280,720,false],"gform-image-choice-sm":["https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/pillar-1.jpg",300,169,false],"gform-image-choice-md":["https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/pillar-1.jpg",400,225,false],"gform-image-choice-lg":["https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/pillar-1.jpg",600,338,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"ASKM","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/en\/author\/askm\/"},"uagb_comment_info":2,"uagb_excerpt":"By Imam Kamil Mufti All practicing Muslims accept belief in the \u2018Six Articles of Faith\u2019 and are obliged to follow the \u2018Five Pillars.\u2019 \u00a0They are: 1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Muslim profession of faith orshahada. 2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ritual Prayer or salah. 3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Obligatory Charity or zakah. 4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fasting or sawm. 5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pilgrimage or hajj. The First Pillar Muslim Profession of…","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcT0IL-qa","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8590,"url":"https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/de\/jonathan-abdilla-ex-christ-canada\/","url_meta":{"origin":1622,"position":0},"title":"Jonathan Abdilla, Ex-Christ, Canada","author":"Site Admin","date":"06\/20\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Ich f\u00fchle mich geehrt, ein Muslim zu sein\u2026Und so f\u00fchle ich mich aus verschiedenen Gr\u00fcnden. Es gibt viele Normen in der Gesellschaft, in der ich lebe, die genau das Gegenteil dessen sind, wie Muslime es tun. Und als ich zuerst zu dieser Lebensweise kam, wusste ich nicht so genau wie\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "WARUM WURDE ICH MUSLIM"","block_context":{"text":"WARUM WURDE ICH MUSLIM","link":"https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/de\/category\/warum-wurde-ich-muslim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8672,"url":"https:\/\/www.ask-a-muslim.com\/de\/kommentare-der-wissenschaftler-ueber-die-wissenschaftlichen-wunder-im-heiligen-quran\/","url_meta":{"origin":1622,"position":1},"title":"Kommentare der Wissenschaftler \u00fcber die wissenschaftlichen Wunder im Heiligen Quran","author":"Site Admin","date":"06\/20\/2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Es folgen einige Kommentare von Wissenschaftlern[1] \u00fcber die wissenschaftlichen Wunder im Heiligen Quran. All diese Kommentare wurden von der Videoaufnahme Dies ist die Wahrheit \u00fcbernommen. 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