Talk:Shahada

Illah

I've noticed that in the archives people seem to be arguing quite a bit about how to translate 'illah'. Can I point out that its cognate with El, which is the Biblical word usually translated simply as God (with a capital G)? Anthony on Stilts (talk) 17:50, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

I'd also like to mention that the History section seems very short, and not really about history. Surely something so important to so much of Islam must have some sort of complex history, not necessarily the Shahada itself, but certainly its usage; flags of modern nations are, well, very modern. Anthony on Stilts (talk) 17:54, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

'Shahada' is 'testifying'

& 'not declaration' as alleged in the text in Wikipedia's article "...Shahada is the Muslim declaration...". The word 'declaration' is '(إعلان) or transliterated 'Aelaan' ' in Arabic. Ilaila (talk) 07:59, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Cite it. Source it. Add it. Be bold! Peter Deer (talk) 19:53, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Shahada in the Qoraan

is present in two separate 'Ayaats'(or signs)(of God{that He exists}) or verses & is mentioned once only, & is gotten by conjoining them together:

(Q:48:29)(محمد رسول الله)(Q:_:_)(فأعلم أنه لا اله الا الله)

translated as:

(So know verily there is no God except Alllah)(Q:_:_)(Mohammad is Alllah's Messenger) (Q:48:29) Ilaila (talk) 13:49, 18 November 2009 (UTC) this is the main religon belief —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.111.110.36 (talk) 02:17, 15 September 2010 (UTC)

'Shahada' is more of 'Testifying by Ghaib' than 'Witnessing'

is the first of the fives tenets of the First Part (called 'Al-Islam') of the Religion of Islam as per the Hadith related by Omar & headed as 'This is Jibreel (Angel Gabriel) who has come to teach you your religion' (as per Ahl AsSunnah), the rest being (2)Salat (the Ritual 5 Obligatory Prayers of a day), (3)Saum (Obligatory Fasting of Month of Ramadhan), (4)Zakat (Obligatory Charity) & (5) Hajj (Obligatory Pilgrimage to Makkah once in a lifetime). As per Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 'to testify' means '1a: to make a statement on personal knowledge or belief' while 'to witness' means '1: to testify to: ATTEST' while 'to attest' means '1a: to affirm to be true or genuine, specif: to authenicate by signing as a witness'. Witness has a connotation of 'reporting of what one has seen' unless it is used to mean '2: one that gives evidence specif: one who testifies in a cause or before a judicial tribunal'. Testifying is more accurate than witnessing as no human being since Adam in his mortal life has seen God (it is not that God is not seeable but that mortal state cannot withstand the majesty of God without evaporating out of existence). The Qoraan says (Q::6:103)(لا تدركه الأبصر) translated (The gazes do not reach Him)(Q:6:103) (because of distance from His Throne to Earth or if near to Him as His Messenger upon Ascension because He has two veils around Him as in Hadith: One of 'Fire' [( this fire is a different fire: a flame with light but without heat & does not burn {another type of fire not of this world: a fire out of this world & not of the Hell-fire which is pitch black} & which Moses (Q:20:10-47) saw coming out of a tree{-trunk} (Q:28:30); when on his journey back to Egypt with his family from Madain he noticed at a distance a fire & went there to get a flame or guidance to his way in journey, thinking mistakenly that it would be a camp gathering around a fire or something like that but when he reached there he got a strange surprise: could not see anyone but could see a flame coming out of the tree{-trunk} lighting everything around it but strangely not burning the tree & then in his very first 'invisible' (ie. hearing but not seeing) encounter with God, he heard in an audible sound words coming from the flame "O Moses! Verily indeed I am your Rearer"(Q:20:11-12) & "Verily indeed I am Alllah, there is no God except Me"(Q:20:14) & related in another Sura: "Verily I am Alllah, the Rearer of the Worlds"(Q:28:30). Moses could hear first-hand with his own ears God's voice from His Throne through that flame in the tree & could talk back to Him through the flame (analogous to modern telephone before the tv telephone) but could not see God physically. This encounter made Moses wanting & very eager to see God physically with his very own eyes & this is what he asked God to which God replied: "You {with your body in this mortal state} will not be able {to withstand} {to} see{ing} me {without burning to a cinder {as mortal matter cannot withstand God's Majesty}} so He gave a real example to Moses saying: "Look at that mountain if it can withstand my showing Myself to it then you will be able to see me {& when God showed Himself to the mountain - it is said in an Hadith that God showed less than a finger-tip of Himself to the mountain & the mountain evaporated with a loud report & the rushing air because of the vacuum created caused} the Moses {to fall} fell down unconsciously & when he came back to senses said verily I know now {the reality that God cannot be seen in this mortal life} & I repent to God {for my unreasonable request}(Q:_:_) & when Bani Israel made the same request to God conditioning their believing in Him to upon seeing Him (Q:2:55-56), as lesson for their unreasonable demand, He sent upon them a lightening which struck them & killed them & then He resurrected them there {as a sign to them of Him being God as God can bring back to life only originally else upon God's permission only as Prophet Ibrahim (Q:2:260) (birds back to life as he wanted to see with his own eyes how God brings dead back to life), or Prophet Jesus (Q:3:49) (he was given permission to turn clay birds to real birds & bring dead back to life & cure leper, as his sign of prophethood) or Dajjaal the Anti-Christ who will appear as the biggest test (will be given permission by God to bring dead back to life) as mentioned in Hadith.] & another of 'Light" to protect the mortal universe from evaporating into non-existence, so the Prophet talked to God behind the two veils like Moses, could hear God but could not see Him, (when he was given the 5 daily prayers or Salat of Islam) & this is confirmed in Aisha's authentic Hadith "whoever says that Mohammad saw God has lied". It is not that God is not seeable. God is seeable in the immortal world, the Hereinafter, the next world to come as confirmed in Ayat: (وجوه يؤمئذ ناضرة الى ربها ناظرة)(Q:75:22-23) translated as: (Faces on that day aglow, at its Rearer agaze)(Q:75:22-23) & in Hadith to his companions the Prophet said : You will see your Rearer in the next life, as you see the sun or the moon in this life. 'Ghaib' (غيب) is (مصدر) (or verbal noun) of triliteral-root verb (غاب) (or 'he was absent'), there is no equivalent word in English, here it means 'UnWitnessed' (ie. by one's senses though present & existing)(as in 'عالم الغيب' 'Aalim AlGhaib' (the Knower of the Unwitnessed - A God's name) ( (opposite of 'witnessed')(شهادة)(as in 'عالم الشهادة' 'Aalim AsShahada' (the Knower of the Witnessed - A God's name), as stated in the Qoraan: (الذين يؤمنون بالغيب)(Q:2:3) & translated as (Those who believe by the Not Witnessed)(Q:2:3) If Ghaib is referred to as 'unseen' or 'unobserved' then other senses except seeing are discounted. So 'unwitnessed'(by all senses) gives a more fuller meaning than 'unseen' or 'unobserved'(by one sense of sight only). However Ghaib can be also referred to as 'mystery' in its dictionary meaning as '1a: a religious truth that man can know by revelation alone & cannot fully understand'.

Other than the 6 mentioned in the Qoraan:(1)Soul(Q:17:85), (2&3)Life & Death(Q:67:2)&(Q:23:80), (3)the Barzakh (the Interim) (Life of)(Q_:_:_)(From behind them is Barzakh until the day they are resurrected), (5)Jinn(Q:7:28) & (6)Magic(Q:_:_)(What we have sent down at Babul {Babylon} upon two angels), there are 6 mysteries in Islam called 'Six Tenets of Belief' (in the Ghaib or the Mystery), forming the Second Part (called 'Al-Eimaan' or the 'Belief') of the Religion of Islam as per the Hadith related by Omar & headed as 'This is Jibreel (Angel Gabrael) who has come to teach you your religion', one has to profess his belief in them before he can become Muslim & which one is automatically considered to profess when one pronounces the Shahada at the time of one's conversion to Islam (or reversion back as everyone is born on the nature of Islam & the parents diverge them to another religion as per Hadith except Muslims never need to pronounce Shahada in their life as they remain on Islam since the beginning except as a part of the Tashahod in the last Rakaah of the Salat as an obligatory condition of it or as per Sunnah in the middle Tashahod at the end of the second Rakaa of 3 or 4 Rakaa Salat or as per Sunnah in God's remembrance or Dhikr as per Hadith "I & the Prophets before me the best what we have said is La ilah ilalllah" or as part of voluntary Wird (ritual remembrance or Dhikr) as per Sunnah after obligatory Salat or part of day or at observance of a calamity as per Hadith of the Prophet "Whoever says La ilah ilalllah he entered (will enter) Paradise"(Prophet has used past tense to confirm certainty) & in another Hadith: "Whoever said last of him La ilah ilalllah he entered (will enter) Paradise")("Mohammad-ur-Rasoolilllah"{Mohammad is the Messenger of God} ie. the second Shahada or the second part of Shahada is the sub-set of the first Shahada or the first part of Shahada (because Shahada consists of two Shahadas or two parts of it) : Belief in (1)God,& (2)His Angels, & (3)His Messengers, & (4)The Other Day (The HEREAFTER which includes the resurrection, the judgment & the reward into Paradise or Hell-fire), & (5)the 'Qadar' (or the Predestination by Him) of Good ,& (6)the 'Qadar' (or the Predestination by Him) of Evil. All these remain mysteries except to the extent they are clarified in the revelation. God is a mystery except to the extent His attributes are clarified in the revelation. Angels are mystery except to the extent their attributes are clarified in the revelation. Even the closest person to the Prophet, his wife Khadija could not see the Angel Gabriel. As related in an Hadith, at the very beginning of the start of the revelation, the Prophet for the second time could see the angel in his room which he saw the first time few days earlier at the Hira Cave at the Mount Noor when the angel appeared suddenly from nowhere asked him to read when the Prophet informed the angel that he did not know how to read embraced him, pressed him & released him - this whole process was repeated three times each time the Prophet giving the same reply - the third time being the hardest as the Prophet could not breathe & feared for himself, then the angel read to him the opening verses of Surat (No.96) Al-Aalaq & disappeared to nowhere with no trace as he had appeared suddenly from nowhere with no trace, this very first unexpected unprepared-for surprise direct encounter ever in his senses shook the Prophet to his very bones & he was the most shaken up ever he would be in his life; to verify that it was a good being, intelligently the Prophet's wife removed her garment from her shoulder then asked the prophet whether he could see him any more he said: "no", then she returned her garment over her shoulder back & asked the Prophet again & he said: "yes I can see him now" but she could not (could be compared to holographic image (2nd shape) which could be seen by some but not by others). This established to her that it was a good being which was confirmed by her uncle Noufal, scholar of previous revealed scriptures in Makkah, to be angel Gabriel, as per the Prophet's description to them of what he saw. The third time Angel Gabriel appeared to him shortly there of when he was walking in the street of Makkah at noon time in his original shape with 600 wings (1st shape)(to acquaint the Prophet with the reality of the matter so that the Prophet will take up the charge of messengerhood with the knowledge of reality of the matter & he will not be in the dark) when the Prophet lifted his head up, the angel appeared sitting on a chair filling all the horizon from East to West & North to South & which frightened the Prophet second time. The fourth time Angel Gabriel appeared (apparently in 2nd shape), to stop the Prophet from dropping himself from a hill to end his life - a human common knee-jerk reaction to end a dilemma by removing its root cause - because the prophet was in a very confused psychological state at that time because of the strange unexplained events which had suddenly started happenning to him & apparently he was not sure what was happening to him, confirming for the first time saying: "O Mohammad! You are Alllah's Messenger", to console him & give clarity & purpose of the strange unexplained events happening to him: ie. I am God's angel contacting you to deliver God's message to the people. Nor any one of the companions saw any angels except fleeting glimpses as in some Hadith when the angel appeared in the form of Prophet's most handsome companion (دحية الكلبي)Dahiya AlKilbi (3rd shape) (apparently so as not to frighten others), so the angel was mistaken by others for the prophet's companion, & apparently this is the shape he appeared during each Ramadhan in Madinah to verify the revealed Qoraan with the Prophet. Only once ever, as mentioned in the Hadith hereinabove, did Gabriel come in broad daylight in front of the companions but this was in the shape of a stranger man (shape no.4) and that while during his presence there they were not aware that he was an angel in the form of a man, though as related in the Hadith they were surprised at the contradictions: that as a traveler there were no signs of travel appearing on him ie. disheveled clothes & dusty hair, as he had fresh white clothes & well-groomed hair & he was not from Madinah as none of them knew him being a small city all the dwellers knew each other, & he appeared suddenly from nowhere & disappeared suddenly to nowhere, & they had noticed that his questioning of the prophet was strange that he would pose a question then await for the Prophet's reply & then confirm it as he knew the answer to it, normally the people would only put question to the Prophet to which they did not know the answer, why he put question to the Prophet to which he knew the answer. They only knew the truth after he was gone when the prophet told them that it was Angel Gabriel who had come to teach them their religion. These fleeting encounters are now in the mist of time & are a mystery now. The fleeting revelation of the God's books is a mystery. The first revelation in the cave in the darkness of night is a mystery now. The rest of the revelation no one saw being given to the Prophet, it is a mystery. All the revelation came during only when the Prophet was awake, so there was no revelation while he was asleep. What the companions saw as related occasionally in Hadith that at the time of the revelation when something was to be revealed the Prophet would go into a trance, his body would become very heavy, his complexion would redden, his forehead will perspire profusely even in cold weather, & a buzzing sound like buzzing of bees will be heard around the Prophet's head by the people around him, apparently Angel Gabriel in transparent form (shape no.5) when not visible to anyone around him would connect with the Prophet to reveal him the verses ordered by God to be revealed from the Guarded Tablet. The Prophet has commented that this was the hardest of the form of revelation to him & that at the beginning of this type of revelation, he would hear a bell ringing, so he would know that a revelation to him was imminent. In another type, when the angel will appear to him as visible being as in cave Hira, would read to him & he would hurry to recite after the angel by moving his mouth hurriedly as narrated by Abbas & from which God stopped him as related in the Qoraan. The Messengerhood is mystery. The fleeting 23 years of the message & the life of the Prophet is mystery now. What we have in front of us is a book of revelation, the only book of a revelation or any religion with a litmus test: (1)More Guided(Q:_:), (2)Unexcellable (Q:13:12-14)&(Q:17:28)with its accompanying Bayan (Q:_:_), (3)the Superb Best Code of Manners(Q:68:4)(Q:33:21)(The Prophet said:"I was sent {by God} to perfect the noble manners (مكارم الإخلاق)(Makarim Al-Ikhlaaq)" as related in an Hadith) or the Clarification (by the recorded Hadith of the Prophet) towards best deeds (Q:67:2)as a promise from God (Q:_:__) to (1)Final Complete Justice that an iota of wrong of this world will not be left unrighted in the next (Q:99:7-8),(Q:4:31&40)(Q:3:195) & (2)Paradise for the Obeyers of God (as in Hadith)&(Q:23:1-11).

The Third Part (called 'Al-Ehsaan' or the 'Beneficence' (in the Worship) has one tenet only:

(أن تعبد الله كأنك تراه فإن لم تراه فإنه يراك) translated as 'to worship God as you are seeing Him, even though you do not see Him, verily He is seeing you'. Ilaila (talk) 19:40, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Requesting sources on "Islamic Flag"

I have removed the description of what is supposedly an "Islamic Flag". The changes were reverted and is still in violation of WP:NOCITE. The unsourced material is:

"An Islamic Flag, known as the 'Flag of Islam' ('Alam al-Islam) or 'Flag of Shahada' ('Alam al-Shahada)"

And:

"White flags with black lettering symbolically represent 'Dar al-Salam/Islam' and Black flags with white lettering symbolically represent 'Dar al-Harb/Kufr"

Please read the pages linked below before adding unsourced material:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:NOCITE#Unsourced_material http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Burden_of_evidence --Kray0n (talk) 17:16, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

Shahada vs. Kalima

Is there a difference between Shahada and Kalima(h)? The way the articles are written now, they both seem to refer to the same thing: the phrase "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah". If there is a distinction, it's not made clear. Could someone clarify it so that it's understandable to non-Muslims? (Or if they are the same, merge the articles.) -- 128.104.49.67 (talk) 16:06, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

The phrase "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah" is the Kalima. The Shahada is "I testify that there is no god but Allah, and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah". The flags referenced in this article all include the Kalima, not the Shahada – apparently confusing the two is a common error for non-Muslim vexillogists. --GCarty (talk) 18:41, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Farah

Has anyone noticed that a reference is given a book by Farah (1994), but not other bibliographic information is given? Where did this citation come from? - Jefflithe —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jefflithe (talk • contribs) 01:38, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Nabi vs Rasul

Ive changed the word Nabi to Rasul to better describe the prohet, my reason being that while every prohet is a Nabi not every prohet is a Rasul, so this better describes Mohammed (PBUH)86.149.27.190 (talk) 02:43, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

Why was the word Rasul remove from the prohets name,it does not change the article it just gives a more accurate discription, you allow the word nabi to be used which is accurate to describe a prohet but not a messenger. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.138.107.71 (talk) 00:28, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

WP:PBUH - Islamic honorifics should generally be omitted from articles, except where they are part of quotations. Green Giant (talk) 02:13, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

Jesus is...

Since Januari 22 the paragraph History sais: "The earliest form of the Shahada was "Lā 'ilāha 'illā Allāh, `Īsā rasūl Allāh" meaning "There is no god except Allah, Jesus is the messenger of Allah".". It would be nice if some source be mentioned for this rather bold statement. KoenB (talk) 06:41, 23 January 2011 (UTC)

That's a really interesting point; do you have links to any academic/scholarly books proving that this was an early form of the Shahada? MatthewVanitas (talk) 06:59, 23 January 2011 (UTC)

A better translation

..would be "There is no diety worthy of worship than God and mohammed is his messenger". The current translation is a bit recursive. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.216.173.15 (talk) 02:26, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Moving editorial comment from article here

comment left by User:109.171.137.211

Please use for shia full name..Shia asna Ashari... and second thing is its incomplete kalema from shia asna ashri...because "La ilaaha illalha, Mohham-madur rasullallaah, Alian wali ullah, Waa sio rasullullah" now thats completed by Qur'aan

not my post, just transfering it here. MatthewVanitas (talk) 12:59, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

Analysis of the calligraphy

The part where the flag of Saudi-Arabia and the other flag are analyzed have to be re-written. Each flag needs his how paragraph because now it's hard to read.--Tomvasseur (talk) 10:55, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

There is no god but Allah

Instead of translating the Arabic text as "There is no god but God ..... " it should be "There is no god but Allah ..... " This is because according to Muslim belief the name of God is Allah. you cannot translate the name and translate it to be god with a capital "g" — Preceding unsigned comment added by Laphanga (talk • contribs) 11:41, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

I say the correct translation is: "There is no god, there is only Allah"

Because of the following:

My knowledge of islam says that Allah is not a entity according to western beliefs, Allah is not a deity, not "a" god, but Allah is the energy, the life force, the entity that is the creator. Saying There is no god but allah means that Allah is a god, "a" god, and all other gods are not so.... While saying "there is no god", " but only allah" means that there is no such thing as god or gods, but there is instead Allah, and Allah is a different type of thing than the notion of "god", Allah is different than the idea of "god" or "God" or whatever, the inventor of the shahada must know this, and know about the idea of deity and gods.. If "la ilahe illallah" Does in fact mean "La ilaha" NO GOD, "ILLALLAH"=ONLY ALLAH, then it is definitely the correct translation. The correct translation can not be "there is no god but god" as this would translate as "LA ILAHE ILLAILAH" or somthing similar. Arabic uses ILAH for deity, and the other is ALLAH. They are different.

LAILAHEILLALLAH has a second meaning as well:

SHIRK is a sin because having a second god is denying the fact of the NATURE of ALLAH.. NOT because it is inappropriate to compare Allah with an "other" god, but because the CONCEPT of ALLAH is completely different from other "gods", but because there is ***ONLY*** ALLAH, in other words, there is NOTHING *OUTSIDE* of ALLAH, there is ONLY allah, Allah is the only thing that exists.

You must separate western idea of god to understand the deeper concept of Allah. Allah is the creation force and is NOT a "god", and Allah is the only thing existing, (More similar to the concept of God said the word, word was with god and the word was god) This means that also you are a part of Allah, but having a second god is not possible and denies the unity of god. As in western tradition there can be smaller gods, Allah is the concept where there is ONLY ONE SINGLE god and it is all that exists.. NOT like there exists you and humans and the universe and god, but god is one, the same god is both the universe everything, you me and everything in it. Thank you for your time.

Odarcan (talk) 00:45, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

The "See also"

Most links in the "See also" section lead to the article itself (redirection). I don't know Wikipedia's policy on this, but is it really supposed to be so? Could they be expressed in some other manner? --88.112.41.113 (talk) 14:27, 21 January 2012 (UTC)