Part 4

tell them that there is no god but Allah and that he is the Messenger of

Allah. Once they had accepted this, the security of their money and their

lives was assured and they became accountable to Allah alone.ʺ

16 Risaʹil fi ʹAqaʹid al‐Islam, Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab, eds. Rashid Rida, p.35.

18 Ar. Kalimat at‐Taqwa : Wa ʹalzamahum kalimat at‐taqwa wa kaanu ʹahaqqa bihaa wa

ʹahlahaa. (Qurʹan 48:26): ʹAnd imposed upon them the word of self‐restraint, for they were

worthy of it and meet for it.ʹ (Pickthall). Muhammad Asad translates this term as ʹthe word of

God‐consciousnessʹ and notes that it implies that ʹtheir consciousness of God and of His all‐

pervading power enabled them to bear the ʺstubborn disdainʺ of their enemies with inner calm

and sincerity.ʹ (Asad, The Message of the Quran, p.790, Gibralter, 1980). Its translation as ʹfearʹ

above is most appropriate due to the context of al‐Qahtaniʹs discussion.

19 107‐198 AH; Imam Shafiʹi said of him, ʹWere it not for Imams Malik and ibn ʹUyaynah, the

learning of the Hijaz would have been lost.ʹ Imam Ahmad said, ʹI have not seen anyone more

knowledgeable in the Sunnah than ibn ʹUyaynah.ʹ

ʺWhen Allah was satisfied with their sincerity, He commanded His

Prophet to order them to pray. He ordered them to do this and they did it.

By Allah, if they had not done this their first act would not have helped

ʺWhen Allah was satisfied with the sincerity of their prayers, He told His

Prophet to order them to migrate to Madeenah. By Allah, if they had not

done this neither their first act nor their prayers would have helped them.ʺ

ʺWhen Allah was satisfied with the sincerity of their hearts in this, He

commanded them to return to Makkah to fight their fathers and their

brothers until these said the Word which they had said, established the

same prayer and joined the same migration. He commanded them to do

this and they did it. One of them even came with the head of his father

and said, ʹO Messenger of Allah, here is the head of a leader of the

disbelievers.ʹ By Allah, if they had not done this their first act, their

prayers and their migration would not have helped them.ʺ

ʺWhen Allah was satisfied with the sincerity of their hearts in this, He told

His Messenger to order them to complete the rite of Tawwaf and to shave

their heads in humility, which they did. By Allah, if they had not done this

their first act, their prayers, their migration and their combat with their

fathers would not have helped them.ʺ

ʺWhen Allah was satisfied with the sincerity of their hearts in this He told

the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to take a part of

their money by which to purify themselves. He commanded them to do

this and they did, giving much and giving little. By Allah, if they had not

done this their first act, their prayers, their migration, their combat with

their fathers and their tawwaf would not have helped them.ʺ

ʺWhen Allah was satisfied with the sincerity of their hearts which were

now in harmony with the nature and limits of faith, He said to them:

"This day I have perfected your deen for you and have completed

My blessings to you, and have chosen for you as your deen al‐

20There is an inconsistency in the account here. The text says ʹIf they had not done this neither

their first act nor their prayers would have helped them.ʹ As Shaykh al‐Qahtani points out in a

footnote, this wording is odd. Logically it should say ʹhad they not done this their first act would

not have helped them.ʹ This alternative is more clear and has been used above. The discrepancy is

probably due to a scribeʹs error. (Trans).

ʺWhoever abandoned any part of faith was a disbeliever as far as we were

concerned. If this was from neglect we would correct him, but he would

be lacking in our eyes. This is the Sunnah. Relate it on my behalf to

whoever may ask you about it.ʺ 21

21 Al‐Shariʹa, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al‐Hussain al‐Ajari, p.104

The Prerequisites of the Declaration of Faith

The importance of the declaration of faith has nothing to do with the

number of its words, nor indeed with its memorisation. How many people have

acknowledged it and lived according to it yet still could not tell you how many

words it contains? How many people have learned these words by heart to rattle

them off as quick as lightning, but still fall into many things that contradict

them? Success is only by the hand of Allah. 22

In the first century of the Hijra someone asked Wahab ibn Munabbah

whether the words, ʹThere is no god but Allahʹ, were the key to paradise.

ʹCertainly,ʹ he said, ʹbut of course every key has teeth, so if you come with one

that has teeth, the door will open, but if you donʹt, it won't.' 23 The teeth of this

key are the prerequisites of the declaration of faith.

The ulamaʹ consider that the declaration of faith depends on seven

The first of these prerequisites is knowledge of what the declaration of

faith negates and of what it confirms. It negates ignorance. Allah says:

"So know (O Muhammad) that there is no god but Allah." (47:19)

"Except whoever bears witness to the truth knowingly." (43:86)

This witnessed truth is tawhid, or Divine Unity, which pervades the

heart as you declare the kalima; and lastly:

"Allah (Himself) is Witness that there is no god but Him ‐ and (so are)

the angels and the people of knowledge ‐Who sustains His creation

with justice; there is no god but Him, the Almighty, the Wise." (3:18).

In Sahih Al-Bukhari, as in Sahih Muslim, there is a hadith, reported by

22Maʹaarij al‐Qubul, Hafiz al‐Hakami, 1/377.

23He reported hadith from Abu Hurayrah, Abu Saʹid, Ibn Abbas and Ibn Umar among others. He

came from Yemen and died in 110 AH. This hadith is reported in Al-Bukhari, in an appendix to

Kitab al‐Janaʹiz with regard to someone whose last words are, ʹThere is no god but Allahʹ, 3/109.

"The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,

ʺWhoever dies in the knowledge that there is no god but Allah, shall

The second prerequisite is the complete denial of uncertainty. This means

that whoever pronounces the declaration of faith must be completely and utterly

sure that it is the truth. Faith must be based upon certainty and not upon doubt 25 .

"Surely the (true) believers are only those who believe in Allah and His

Messenger and then do not doubt, but struggle with their wealth and

their selves in the way of Allah. These are the sincere." (49:15).

ʹThe Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,

ʺI bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that I am the

Messenger of Allah. No one will come to Allah with these words, never

doubting any of it, without entering paradise. ʺ 26

ʺNone will come to Allah with these words, never doubting any of it,

In another hadith, also reported by Abu Hurayrah, the Prophet, may

Allah bless him and grant him peace, says,

ʺWhoever you find beyond this room, who bears witness with firmness

in his heart that there is no god but Allah, give him glad tidings of

According to al‐Qurtubi, simply pronouncing the declaration of faith is

not enough; you must also be certain of it in your heart. This contradicts the

doctrine of the extremist Murjiʹa sect who say that by simply saying these words

24 ibid. 1/378. See also Al‐Jamʹ al‐Fareed, p.356.

26 Sahih Muslim, Kitab al‐Iman, 1/56, (27)

27 Sahih Muslim, Kitab al‐Iman, 1/60, (31).

you have established an adequate foundation for faith. Their own arguments

contradict one another. In fact, this position is known to destroy whoever

supports it, because it requires him to condone hypocrisy and to ascribe true

faith to hypocrites and this is a negation of faith.ʹ 28

The third prerequisite is to accept inwardly, and to declare openly,

whatever the declaration of faith requires. Allah tells us that some of those who

came before accepted it and and knew success, while others rejected it and

"And even so We sent not a warner before you (O Muhammad) into any

township but that its luxurious ones said: ʹSurely we found our fathers

following a religion, and we are following in their footsteps.ʹ (And the

warner) said: ʹWhat! Even though I bring you better guidance than what

you found your fathers following?ʹ They answered: ʹSurely we are

disbelievers in what you bring.ʹ So we requited them. Then see the

nature of the consequence for the rejecters!" (43:23‐25).

"Then shall We save Our Messengers and those who believe in the

same way (as before). It is incumbent upon Us to save the believers."

"For when it was said to them, ʹThere is no god but Allah,ʹ they were

scornful, and said: ʹShall we forsake our gods for a mad poet?ʹ" (37:35‐

The fourth prerequisite is to abandon oneself to what the declaration of

faith implies, namely, complete surrender to Allah:

"Turn to your Lord repentant, and surrender to Him." (39:54)

"Who is better in religion than he who surrenders his purpose to Allah

28 Shaykh Abdar‐Rahman ibn Hasan, Fath al‐Majid, p.36.

"Whoever surrenders his purpose to Allah while doing good, he has

truly grasped the firm handhold." (31:22).

The ʹfirm handholdʹ means to completely understand and accept the

declaration of faith. In the words of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant

"None of you has believed until his desires are in accordance with what

I have come to you with." 29

This refers to the perfection of your obedience and of your desire to obey.

"But no, by your Lord, they will not believe (truly) until they make you

the judge of what is in dispute between them, and find within

themselves no dislike of what you decide, and submit with full

Ibn Kathir points out that in this ayah Allah makes an oath upon Himself

and swears that no one has believed until he accepts the authority of the Prophet

in all matters. This is the truth that the believer must apply to himself both in

public and in private. This is why He says in the ayah:

"and find within themselves no dislike of what you decide, and submit

That is, ʹthey accept your judgement in their hearts and find no difficulty

in themselves in following what you have decided.ʹ Thus they submit to it