Part 5

completely, with no pressure or coercion, and without argument. This point was

made again when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,

ʺBy He in Whose hand is my soul, none of you has believed until his

desires are in accord with what I have come to you with.ʺ 30

29 This hadith appears in Imam Nawawiʹs Forty Hadith, number 41.

30 Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, 2/306

The fifth prerequisite is to denounce falsehood sincerely, doing this with

heartfelt conviction, so that the tongue follows the heart. Allah says:

"Alif. Lam. Mim. Do people imagine that they will be left (at ease)

because they say, ʹWe believeʹ, and will not be tested with affliction?

Surely We tested those who were before you. Thus Allah certainly

knows those who are sincere, and He certainly knows those who lie.

"And of mankind are some who say: ʹWe believe in Allah and in the

Last Day,ʹ when they believe not. They think they are tricking Allah and

those who believe, but they trick no one except themselves; but they do

not perceive this. In their hearts is a disease and Allah increases their

disease. A painful punishment is theirs because they lie." (2:8‐10).

In a sahih hadith, Muʹaadh ibn Jabal reports that the Prophet, may Allah bless

him and grant him peace, said,

"No one will say, ʺThere is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the

Messenger of Allahʺ, sincerely from his heart without Allah forbidding

Ibn al‐Qayim remarks that sincerity with regard to the words, ʹThere is no

god but Allahʹ, must depend on your compliance with, and acceptance of, the

obligations which this statement places upon you. These obligations are

represented by the Shariʹah, which itself is an elaboration of the declaration of

faith. It means that you believe in whatever Allah has revealed, that you follow

His commandments and avoid what He has forbidden. One who is truly sincere

in this belief will abide by it completely. The complete protection of the Shariʹah

is only assured by complete compliance with it. Likewise, complete security from

punishment only comes from complete obedience to it. 32

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,

31 Sahih Bukhari and Muslim.

32 lbn Qayim al‐Jawziya, at‐Tibyan fi Aqsam al‐Qurʹan, p.43.

"My intercession is for whoever bears witness that there is no god but Allah

sincerely, whose heart believes his tongue, and whose tongue believes his

"As for those who give lip service to the words, ʺThere is no god but

Allahʺ, but then follow Satan in disobedience and contentiousness, their

actions have made clear the emptiness of their words and the weakness of

"And who goes farther astray than he who follows his desires

without guidance from Allah?" (28:50)

"Do not follow desire so that it lures you away from the way of

The sixth prerequisite is singularity of devotion. This means that you

should purify your deeds by cleansing your intentions of all traces of reverence

"Surely pure religion is for Allah only." (39:3)

"And they are not ordered to anything else other than to worship Allah,

keeping the deen pure for Him, as men by nature upright." (98:5).

Abu Hurayrah reports that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant

ʹAllah raises up by my intercession whoever says, ʺThere is no god but

Allahʺ, from the depths of his heart with complete purity of devotion.ʹ 35

33 Al‐Hakim, al‐Mustadrak, 1/70; he said that its isnad was sahih, and ad‐Dhahabi confirmed him

34 Imam ibn Rajab, Kalimat al‐Ikhlaas, p.28.

35 Sahih Al-Bukhari, Kitab al‐ʹIlm, 1/193, (99).

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is reported by

ʹUtban ibn Malik in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim as saying,

ʹCertainly Allah has forbidden the Fire for anyone who says, ʺThere is

no god but Allahʺ, and who seeks by these words only the pleasure of

Two of the Prophetʹs companions report that he, may Allah bless him and

ʹWhenever someone says from his heart in singular devotion, his tongue

pure in belief, ʺThere is no god but Allah alone; He has no partner; His

is the dominion, His is the praise, and He has power over all thingsʺ,

Allah opens a path for this in the heavens and smiles 37 upon whomever

from among the people of the earth has said it, and it is the right of the

servant of Allah upon whom He smiles that his request be grantedʹ. 38

"Though performed in singular devotion to Allah, an act of worship is not

accepted if it is incorrectly done," writes al‐Fudhayl ibn ʹlyadh. "One performed

correctly, but not in singular devotion to Allah is not accepted either. Any act of

worship must be performed both in complete devotion to Allah, and correctly.

Complete devotion means that the act is for Allah alone. Correctly means that it

is performed according to the Sunnah." 39

Allah has given us a clear example of the contrast between absolute and

flawed devotion to Him in this ayah from the Qurʹan:

"Allah strikes a metaphor: A man who has several owners, quarrelling;

and a man belonging wholly to one man. Are the two equal in

Commenting on this ayah, Sayid Qutb says:

36 Sahih Muslim, Kitab al‐Masajid, 1/456, (263).

37 The Arabic, hatta yandhuru ʹalayhee, lit‐erally means: ʹuntil He looks at himʹ.

38 Imam ibn Rajab reports this in Kalimat al‐ Ikhlaas; al‐Albani remarks that it appears in al‐Jamiʹa

al‐Kabir, (2/477), where Yaʹqub ibn ʹAsim says, ʹTwo of the Prophetʹs companions told me ... etc.ʹ

This Yaʹqub is one of Imam Muslimʹs authorities. Ibn Hibban confirms this as well. If the isnad is

sahih, then the hadith is sound.

39 cf. Ibn Taimiyah, Iqtida as‐Sirat al‐Mustaqim, p.451.

"This example contrasts the servant whose devotion is to Allah alone with

the one whose devotion is shared out among many. The latter is likened to

a slave jointly owned by men who quarrel over him: to each of them he

owes a duty and each of them make demands of him. His situation totally

confounds him. He can find no way and no means to satisfy all of their

conflicting and contradictory demands. The former, however, has but one

master. He knows what he wants from him and does his duty to him, so

he finds the road clearly marked before him. Are these two the same? Not

at all: the man whose service is to one master benefits from the comfort

and security, peace of mind and certainty that unite his actions and his

goals with the means of achieving them; but the man with the quarrelling

masters is shaken by torment. He can find no way out; if he pleases one

the others are unhappy. The reality of the Unity of God is contained in this

example, as is the truth about its antithesis, polytheism. The heart of the

believer, rooted in the truth of Godʹs Unity, is a heart through which

guidance from Allah flows that is, inspired only by Him and dutiful to

The significance of this is that it indicates that singularity of devotion is

through singularity of purpose. As Allah says:

"Are (many) different lords better, or Allah the One, the Almighty?"

Islam requires submission to Allah alone; whatever else one has submitted

to in this way must be abandoned. This is the true significance of the words,

ʹThere is no god but Allahʹ, since whoever submits to Allah and to something

other than Him at the same time, has associated something with Allah. Allah

does not forgive this. Whoever fails to submit to Him has scorned His worship:

"Surely those who scorn worship of Me will enter Hell disgraced."

The seventh prerequisite is to love the declaration of faith, to love all that

it requires and all that it implies, to love all those who act upon it and who hold

to all that it stands for and to feel anger at whatever contradicts it. Allah says:

40 Sayid Qutub, Fi Dhilal al‐Qurʹan, 5/3049.

41 Muhammad Jamal ad‐Din al‐Qaasimi, Mahaasin at‐Taʹweel, 14/5138.

"And from among mankind are some who take for themselves (objects

of worship as) rivals to Allah, loving them as they should (only) love

Allah. And those who believe are stronger in their love for Allah."

"O you who believe! Whoever of you becomes a rebel against his deen,

(know that in his place) Allah will bring a people whom He loves and

who love Him, humble towards the believers, harsh towards the

disbelievers, striving in the way of Allah, and not fearing the blame of

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,

ʹThe sweetness of faith belongs to whoever may find himself in these

three states: that Allah and His Messenger are more dear to him than

any other thing; that he loves someone only for the sake of Allah; and

that he despises a return to disbelief after Allah had saved him from it,

as much as he would hate to be thrown into the fires of Hellʹ. 42

The signs of love for Allah are to give precedence to this love and to

suppress your desires: to conquer your desire for what angers your Lord and to

feel anger towards it; to ally yourself with Allah, His Messenger, and those who

are with them; to oppose whoever opposes Him; and to follow in the footsteps of

His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, accepting his

Ibn al‐Qayim said in a poem:

"The love of the Beloved must be unconditionally returned.

If you claim love yet oppose the Beloved, then your love is but a pretence.

You love the enemies of your Beloved and still seek love in return.

You fight the beloved of your Beloved. Is this Love or the following of

True devotion is nothing but total submission of body and soul to One

42 Sahih Al-Bukhari, Kitab al‐Iman, 1/60; Sahih Muslim, Kitab al‐Iman, 1/66.

43 Hafiz al‐Hakami, Maʹarij al‐Qubul, 1/383.

We have seen men claim to submit, yet their loyalties are many. They put

their trust here, and their hope there, and their love is without consequence.ʹ 44

44 Ibn Qayim al‐Jawziya, an‐Nuniyya, p.158.

Love and Hate and the Declaration of Faith

Love is the source of loyalty and hate is the source of opposition; it is by

this that both the heart and the hand are moved to act. Love inspires intimacy,

concern and help; hate provokes obstruction, enmity and rejection. Love and

hate are both related to the declaration of faith and constitute essential elements

in it. The evidence of this from the Qurʹan and the Sunnah is considerable.

As for the Qurʹan, consider the following ayat: