FIRST PILLAR OF ISLAM; SHAHADAT
All practicing Muslims accept faith in the ‘6 Articles of Faith’ and are obliged to follow the ‘5 Pillars.’ They are:
1. Muslim profession of belief or shahadat.
2. Ritual Prayer or namaz.
3. Obligatory Charity or zakat.
4. Fasting or roza.
5. Annual Pilgrimage or hajj.
Muslim Profession of Faith or Shahadat The Shahadat is the Muslim profession of belief and the primary of the ‘Five Pillars’ of Islam. The word shahadat in Arabic means ‘testimony.’ The shahadat is to testify to two things:
(a) Nothing deserves worship except ALLAH Almighty.
(b) Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is the Messenger of ALLAH Almighty.
A Muslim is the one who bears witness and testifies that "nothing deserves worship except ALLAH Almighty and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is the messenger of ALLAH Almighty." A person becomes a Muslim by making this easy declaration.
It should be recited by every Muslim with a complete understanding of its meaning and with an agreement of the heart. Muslims utter this when they wake up in the morning, and before they go to sleep at night. It is repeated 5 times in the call to prayer in every masjid. A person who utters the shahadat as their last words in this life has been promised jannat.
(a) Nothing deserves worship except ALLAH Almighty.
The initial part of this testimony states that ALLAH Almighty has the exclusive right to be worshipped, by one’s heart and limbs. In Islamic principle, no one be worshipped apart from Him, no one else can be worshipped along with Him. He has no partners or associates. Worship, in its complete sense and all its aspects, is for Him alone. A person becomes Muslim by agreeing and testifying to the divine right to worship. It is the root of Islamic belief in ALLAH Almighty, even all of Islam. It is considered the essential message of all prophets and messengers sent by ALLAH Almighty.
But by a simple verbal profession alone, one does not become an absolute Muslim. To become a complete Muslim a person has to fully carry out in practice the instruction given by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as ordained by ALLAH Almighty. This brings to the second part of the testimony.
(b) Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is the Messenger of ALLAH Almighty
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was born in Makkah in Arabia in the year 570 CE. The second part of the confession of belief asserts that He is not only a prophet but also a messenger of ALLAH Almighty. Like all the prophets before him, He was a human being, but chosen byALLAH Almighty to convey His message to all humankind rather than one nation or tribe from among the many that exist. For Muslims, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) brought the last and final revelation.
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