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Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Why Muslim testify the 2 Kalimah Syahadah?




This confession of 2 kalimah syahadah or testimony of faith ruling derived from ijma'(consensus) of the fuquha ulama(jurisprudence scholars) through ijtihad. They came to a consented conclusion by applying the methodology of Ijtihad(diligent independent reasoning) by using analogical deduction(qiyas) from verses from the Quran, such as: QS 4:135, 21:22, 28:70 etc

"O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah , even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives."(QS 4:143)

In QS 21:25, Allah reminded us that it is a common revelation to all Prophets from Adam to the last prophet, our beloved Prophet Muhammad SAW about tauhid(oneness of God). Thus, the borne of the first syahadah, which is 'Lailahaillah'. But the problem is, there're also other religions that have the same doctrine of tauhid like the unitarian christian, the sabien, sikhism etc.

"And We sent not before you any messenger except that We revealed to him that, "There is no deity except Me, so worship Me."(QS 21:25)

The difference between them and us is that they don't believe in the last Prophet, Muhammad SAW. This alone has created much problem in uniformity of the believers and conformity of the syariah. Even though they and us share and have the same tauhid(acknowledging the Oneness of God with full sincerity of heart belief), the laws and orders in each and every religions are different.

This is why the fuquha ulama of the past came to a consented agreement(ijma') that it is obligatory to have faith in both the 2 kalimah syahadah(kalimah tauhid and kalimah rasul) in order to qualified oneself to become a muslim. And the minimum order is by confession, saying it out loud with a minimum of two witness. From here onwards, the confessed person will be rightfully guided to become a proper muslim. (the kalimah rasul was based on QS 33:40, khatam an-nabiyyin or "Seal of the Prophets")

"Muhammad is not the father of [any] one of your men, but [he is] the Messenger of Allah and last of the prophets. And ever is Allah , of all things, Knowing."(QS 33:40)
As you can see here, the confession of 2 kalimah syahadah is a jurisprudence decision by islamic scholars and not a decree by God. Therefore, how can something made up by human has the power to cleanse the past sin of a person. The forgiveness of pass sin by Allah comes later when a person has truly 'believed', meaning they had 'repented' and made the big leap of faith, or hijrah(QS 5:39, 39:53, 66:8 etc).

"Whoever repents after his wrongdoing and reforms, indeed, Allah will turn to him in forgiveness. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful."(QS 5:39)
These are the 'hadith ahad' beside the Quranic verses mentioned above, which the fuquha scholar used and based on to ijtihad(diligent independent reasoning) for the ruling of 'testimony of faith' by confessing the 2 kalimat syahadah:

On the authority of Abdullah ibn Umar ibn Al-Khattab who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah(pbuh) say:

Islam has been built on five pillars: testifying that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, performing the prayers, paying the Zakah, making the pilgrimage to the House, and fasting in Ramadan.(HR Bukhari & Muslim - compiled by imam al-Nawawi in his collections of 40 hadith)

Allah's Messenger(pbuh) said, "I testify that there is no god worthy of worship but Allah and that I am the Messenger of Allah. Any servant who meets Allah with those two testimonies, having no doubt in them, will enter Paradise." (HR Muslim, vol. 1, p. 20, #41, narrated Abu Hurayrah)


(this is only the summarized version, just to give an understanding of the originality of the testimony of 2 kalimah syahadah - most muslim misconceived that it is a direct order from God)

Say, "O Allah , Owner of Sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will and You take sovereignty away from whom You will. You honor whom You will and You humble whom You will. In Your hand is all good. Indeed, You are over all things competent."(QS 3:26)



Wallahu'alam

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