Shahadah or Bearing Witness
Declaring God to be our god
Traditionally converts to Islam go through a ceremony where they “take their Shahadah” to declare that there is no god except Allah (God in English). Most also declare that the prophet Muhammad is His messenger.
What does the Quran tell us about the Shahadah or Shahaadah? The following verse explains:
GOD bears witness that there is no god except He, and so do the angels and those who possess knowledge. Truthfully and equitably, He is the absolute god; there is no god but He, the Almighty, Most Wise. (The Quran 3:18)
“LAA ELAAHA ELLA HOO” (There is no other god besides Him).
When we use this as our Shahadah we use God’s own words. What can be better than that?
However, tradition among most Muslims has them adding the prophet Muhammad’s name to their Shahadah. Unfortunately this is in direct contradiction to verses in the Quran like:
Say, “We believe in GOD, and in what was sent down to us, and in what was sent down to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, and the Patriarchs; and in what was given to Moses and Jesus, and all the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction among any of them. To Him alone we are submitters.” (Quran 2:136 — bolding added)
This verse is repeated in 3:84. The following verse delivers the same message:
The messenger has believed in what was sent down to him from his Lord, and so did the believers. They believe in God, His angels, His scripture, and His messengers: “We make no distinction among any of His messengers.” They say, “We hear, and we obey. Forgive us, our Lord. To You is the ultimate destiny.” (Quran 2:285 — bolding added)
The above verses are quoted from Rashad Khalifa’s translation of the Quran into English. But the following verse has been translated by Yusuf Ali:
To those who believe in God and His apostles and make no distinction between any of the apostles, we shall soon give their (due) rewards: for God is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. (Quran 4:152 — bolding added)
Yusuf Ali’s translation clarifies that this principle of not making distinction among God’s messengers comes to us from God Himself and has not been misinterpreted from the Arabic.
Perhaps we might say that we can add the names of all the prophets and messengers thus avoiding making a distinction. However, the next verse makes this impossible:
We have sent messengers before you — some of them we mentioned to you, and some we did not mention to you…. (Quran 40:78)
Verse 4:164 gives us the same message.
When I first became a Muslim, I was told that I needed to add Mohammed’s name to the Shahada. At the time I didn’t know better, and I did so. However, there is no way I would do so now because I know what the Quran says. I would not want to take any chance of offending God by making a distinction among those whom He sent with His message.
This story completes the series on the essential practices of Islam. If you enjoyed this story, you might like the others in this series:
