Khutba on the Vital Nature of the Shahadatayn
الحمد لله، الحمد لله الذي جعل النطقَ بالشهادتين مفتاحَ الإسلام، والتصديقَ بهما الطريقَ الوحيدَ إلى الإيمان، نحمده تعالى ونستعينه، ونشكره تعالى ونستغفره ونستغيثه، نعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا ومن سيئات أعمالنا، من يهد الله فهو المهتد ومن يضلل فلن تجد له وليا مرشدا، ونشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، له الملك و له الحمد، يحيي ويميت، بيده الخير، وهو على كل شيء قدير، ونشهد أن سيدنا و مولانا محمداً عبده ورسوله، وحبيبه وصفيه، بلغ الرسالة وأدّى الأمانة ونصح الأمة، النبي الأمي الذي أرسله الله بالهدى والدين الحق، بشيرا ونذيرا بين يدي الساعة، صلى الله عليه وسلم وعلى آله وأصحابه ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.
أما بعد! فيا عباد الله اتقوا الله حق تقاته ولا تموتن إلا وأنتم مسلمون. يأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله وقولوا قولا سديدا يصلح لكم أعمالكم ويغفر لكم ذنوبكم. ومن يطع الله ورسوله فقد فاز فوزا عظيما. اتقوا الله فيما أمر وانتهوا عما نها عنه وزجر. قال الله تعالى في كتابه العزيز بعد أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم: شَهِدَ اللَّهُ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ وَأُولُو الْعِلْمِ قَائِمًا بِالْقِسْطِ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ وقال في آية أخرى، مُحَمَّدٌ رَّسُولُ اللَّهِ
Allah says in His Mighty Book, the translation of which is, “Allah bears witness that there is no god but Him as do the angels and the people of knowledge. There is no god but Him, the All-Mighty, All-Wise.” And He says elsewhere, “Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”
There are a pair of phrases that when they are uttered, totally transform the life of the human being, transporting him from one zone of existence to another. Before them he was blind and could not see, he was walking in absolute darkness. After them, everything about him is lit up and his eyes can discern even the smallest and most intricate details. Before them he was all but alone and with no support, after them he has billions of brothers and sisters and the support of the One to whom all power and all strength belong. Before them he had nothing but ignorance despite his apparent learning, after them knowledge and wisdom take up residence in his heart and intellect, before them existence was meaningless, after them every breath and every step takes on infinite meaning. Without them the way forward is blocked and impassable, with them not only is it open but comfortable transport is provided to ease you along the path. These two phrases are of greater worth to the human being than a lifetime of clever speech, than the entire life’s work of the most skilled and productive of authors. These words, alluded to in the aya above are the shahadatayn, ashhadu an laa ilaaha illa-llaahu wa ashhadu anna muhammadan rasuulu-llaah – “I bear witness that there in no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah”, when uttered with belief and conviction.
They are the words with which a person leaves behind kufr and takes on Islam, and there is nothing ceremonial or ritualistic about them. The first part disavows shirk – associating others with Allah and worshipping or acting on behalf of anything apart from Him, in other words the inward dimensions of the deen, while the second part affirms the outward and shows us how to realise that worship in a practical way. The first part distinguishes us from the atheists and idolaters while the second part distinguishes us from the Christians and Jews.
All action – and I mean all action even the best of it – is meaningless without them, for they are the key that opens up their acceptance and unlocks their benefit and reward. You could stand all night every night in prayer and give all your wealth away to the poor and needy, but if you have not uttered the shahadatayn to enter Islam, you will reap no benefits. And that is because, they are the first pillar of the final accepted Deen of Allah around which the entire affair revolves, and without which no act of worship is possible and no human being can fulfil his place in existence. Allah says,
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
the translation of which is, “I have not created men and jinn except to worship Me.” And worship must have an object and a form – the object being known by the first shahada and the form by the second.
Saying the shahada, becoming Muslim, represents a completely fresh start in life. Your slate is wiped clean – your previous wrongs are not just forgiven but it is as if they never existed, no matter how huge, no matter how numerous. A tremendous example of that is Hind bint Utba, the wife of Abu Sufyan, who was guilty of one of the worst atrocities before Islam, the mutilation of the body of Sayyidina Hamza, the uncle and beloved companion of the Prophet, after the battle of Uhud and the eating of his liver. But when she later said the shahada and became Muslim, that became water under the bridge and no mention of it was made by the Prophet or his Companions and she was accepted into their fold without protest or demur. In the eyes of Allah, and in terms of her reckoning, she had never done that deed. And the same is true for everyone who takes the shahada without exception, so long as they do so with sincerity and conviction.
The uttering of the shahadatayn, the act of becoming Muslim, is more than just changing your name, it is more than just changing your religion, rather it is a complete change in your approach to life. Every act, every word moving forward must be weighed by a new measure. No longer can your determination simply be material, selfish or worldly, but rather must be examined in the light of what Allah has ordained and His Messenger commanded. It is to their commands that you must be prepared to submit, not to your own whims and desires and ideas of what is best. For the truth of the matter is that Allah and His Messenger know better, as the Companions constantly affirmed whenever the Messenger asked them about any matter of importance. That is what it means to be Muslim, for Islam means submission. Allah says,
وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ وَلَا مُؤْمِنَةٍ إِذَا قَضَى اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَمْرًا أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهُمُ الْخِيَرَةُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْ وَمَنْ يَعْصِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلَالًا مُبِينًا
the translation of which is, “When Allah and His Messenger have decided upon a matter, it is not for any believing man or woman to have a choice in it. Anyone who disobeys Allah and His Messenger is clearly misguided.” By becoming Muslim, you undertake to make what Allah and His Messenger want your primary concern and adapt your life to reflect that. And it is their advice and their counsel that you seek before embarking upon any matter, for a guiding principle of this deen is that you do not do anything until you know Allah’s hukm on that matter. And if that hukm is unknown to you, then you must turn to the people of knowledge. Allah says,
فَاسْئَلُواْ أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
the translation of which is, “Ask the people of dhikr – the people of knowledge – if you do not know.” And even when you are faced with a choice of matters that both seem acceptable in the eyes of Allah, still you hand over the affair to Him and seek His guidance in finding the most suitable course of action. You make istikhaara, saying,
اللَّهُمَّ إنِّي أَسْتَخِيرُكَ بِعِلْمِكَ وَأَسْتَقْدِرُكَ بِقُدْرَتِكَ وَأَسْأَلُكَ مِنْ فَضْلِكَ الْعَظِيمِ فَإِنَّكَ تَقْدِرُ وَلا أَقْدِرُ وَتَعْلَمُ وَلا أَعْلَمُ وَأَنْتَ عَلامُ الْغُيُوبِ
“O Allah, I seek good through Your knowledge and I seek strength through Your strength, and I ask You by Your immense favour, for You have the power and I have none and You know and I do not, for You are the knower of all things unseen.” He knows what we are capable of better than we do ourselves and He knows what the future will bring while we do not. He is in an infinitely better position to direct us to an advantageous course of action.
To be Muslim is to recognise that fact and submit accordingly. And the shahadatayn are your contract with Allah that you will do just that. You have made a binding commitment, an oath to your Lord, to do all that He requires of you without question. And the bare minimum of that are the pillars of His deen – the prayer, zakat, fasting Ramadan and going on Hajj.
This utterance of the shahadatayn before witnesses is enough in order to enter into the fold of Islam and be treated as a Muslim, but in order to be mu’min you must have belief in your heart in all that it implies, both laa ilaaha illa-llah and muhammad rasulu-llaah.
Laa ilaaha illa-llah encompasses all of the Divine attributes with which our Lord is described – His existence which is pre-eternal and goes on for ever; His absolute independence; His being disconnected from everything in-time and in-space; His Oneness in His Essence, Attributes and Actions; And His having Life, Power, Knowledge, Will, Hearing, Sight and Speech. While Muhammad rasulu-llaah encompasses belief in all the details of the Message – the Quran being the Word of Allah, the Books that preceded it, the angels, the Last Day and the Next World, the Decree, and of course the Messengers themselves. Even your imaan cannot be complete without this, the second part of the shahada.
These two shahadatayn are the deen’s two halves and they cannot be separated or survive without each other. Half is the same as none. Those who believe in Allah without believing in the Messenger, such as the Christians and Jews, are just as much astray as those who do not believe at all, while those who claim to believe in the Messenger while associating partners with Allah, such as the Alawites and Druze, are equally misguided. So we ask Allah to make us people of the shahadatayn, people who affirm the Oneness of Allah and the station of His final Messenger in our hearts, on our tongues and with our limbs.
أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم ولسائر المسلمين من كل ذنب فاستغفروه إنه هو الغفور الرَّحيم
الحمد لله الحمد لله رب العالمين، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ورسوله، صلى الله وسلم وبارك عليه وعلى آله وصحبه، والتابعين وتابعي التابعين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.
أما بعد! فيأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله ما استطعتم واسمعوا وأطيعوا وأنفقوا خيرا لأنفسكم. يا عباد الله أوصيكم وإياي بتقوى الله وطاعته وأحذركم وإياي عن معصيته ومخالفته.
While the primary significance of the shahadatayn may lie in what they mean and what they represent, as well as in the fact that they are the first pillar of the deen by which the rest of the deen is unlocked and made accessible, and the rest of one’s life and deeds are made acceptable, their benefit and value does not stop there. The words themselves have a resonance and a weight in creation unlike any other.
Just one utterance of them with presence and conviction weighs more heavily in the balance than the rest of creation. The Messenger of Allah reported that Allah said to Musa,
لو أن السمواتِ السبعَ فِى كفة، ولا إله إلا اللهُ فى كفة، لمالت بهن (لا إله إلا الله)
“If the seven heavens were to be placed in one side of a scales and la ilaha illa Allah in the other, La ilaha illa Allah would outweigh them.’” And he also said,
يؤتى برجلٍ إلى الميزانِ ويؤتَى بتسعةٍ وتسعين سِجِّلا كلُّ سِجِّلٍ منها مدُّ البَصَرِ فيها خطاياه وذنوبُه، فتوضَعُ في كفة الميزانِ ثم تَخرُجُ بطاقةٌ مقدارُ الأنملةِ فيها شهادةُ أن لا إله إلا اللهُ محمدٌ رسول اللهِ فتوضَعُ في الكفةِ الأخرى فتَرجَحُ بخطاياه وذنوبِه.
“A man will be brought to the scales whereupon 99 scrolls containing his crimes and wrong actions will be brought forth, each one stretching out as far as the eye can see, and be placed upon one side of the scales. Then a small strip of paper the size of a fingertip will be brought out with la ilaha illa Allah written on it and will be placed on the other side of the scales. And that small strip of paper will outweigh all his crimes and bad actions.”
This is the result of saying the shahadatayn once, so how do you imagine the reward of those who say them many times, who fill all their available moments with them. They will have an immeasurable treasure as Ibn Ashir, the famous Maliki scholar and author the Murshid al-Muin, indicates when he says,
وهي أفضلُ وجوهِ الذكر فاشغل بها العمرَ تفز بالذخر
“It is the best form of dhikr
so occupy the moments of your life with it and you will obtain the treasure.” Those who recite the shahada often become its people and enter into its fortress. Their faces will be illuminated on the Day of Rising, brighter than the brightest of full moons, and they will be raised up above all their brethren and brought more close. None shall get what they get and none shall witness what they witness, for those treasures will only be for them. So let your tongues run moist with La ilaaha illa-llaah Muhammadun rasuulu-llaah until it becomes automatic and second nature to them. And never forget what it means or entails. If you are saying it with sincerity, then you will inevitably come to embody it, and every one of your limbs will act according to it. And you will do what Allah and His Messenger command in every aspect of your life and avoid what they prohibit. You will know what it means to be Muslim because you will be fully submitted. We ask Allah to make us those people and surround us with those people. And make the people of this city rank among those people. We ask that He continue to guide them to Islam and continue to fill this mosque with the sweet sound of shahadas being uttered by more and more of His slaves.
إِنَّ اللهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ، يَا أَيُهَا الذِينَ آمَنُواْ صَلُّواْ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُواْ تَسْلِيماً.
اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وَسَلِّمْ وَبَارِكْ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ. وَارْضَ اللَّهُمَّ عَنِ الْخُلَفَاءِ الرَّاشِدِينَ أَبِي بَكْرٍ وَعُمَرَ وَعُثْمَانَ وَعَلِيٍّ، وعن أم المومنين عائشة التي أمرنا الله في سورة النور أن ندافع عنها، وَعَنْ سَائِرِ الصَّحَابَةِ أَجْمَعِينَ، خُصُوصاً اِلأَنْصَارَ مِنْهُمْ وَالمُهَاجِرِينَ، وَعَنِ التَّابِعِينَ وَتَابِعِي التَّابِعِينَ وَمَنْ تَبِعَهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ.
اللَّهُمَّ اهْدِ وُلَاةَ أُمُورِ المُسْلِمِينَ لِمَا يُرْضِيكَ وَلِاتِّبَاعِ سُنَّةِ نَبِيِّكَ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَهُمْ عَلَى الصِّرَاطِ المُسْتَقِيمِ، وَأَصْلِحْهُمْ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ.
اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى شَيْخِنَا، وَعَلَى أَمِيرِنَا، وَعَلَى جَمِيعِ أُمَرَاءِ وَزُعَمَاءِ المُسْلِمِينَ.
اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى المُسْلِمِينَ فِي هَذِهِ المَدِينَةِ، وَوَفِّقْهُمْ لِمَا تُحِبُّهُ وَتَرْضَاهُ يَا أَكْرَمَ الأَكْرَمِينَ.
اللَّهُمَّ أَعِزَّ الإِسْلَامَ وَالمُسِْلمِينَ، وَاخْذُلِ الْكُفْرَ وَالْكَافِرِينَ، وَانْصُرِ المُجَاهِدِينَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللهِ. وَاجْعَلْ كَلِمََتَكَ هِيَ العُلْيَا وَكَلِمَةَ الْكُفْرِ هِيَ السُّفْلَى.
رَبَّنَا ءَاتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقَِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ.
إِنَّ اللهَ يَامُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَى، وَيَنْهَى عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ، يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَّكَّرُونَ، وَلَذِكْرُ اللهِ أَكْبَرُ وَاللهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ. وَقُومُواْ إِلَى صَلاتِكُمْ يَرْحَمُكُمُ اللهُ.