Laa Ilaaha Illallah - There is no god but Allah. This statement
(of faith) has two pillars.
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The first: “There
is no god” is to deny that the true divinity (the right of worship) belongs
to other than Allah.
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The second: To affirm that Allah alone is worthy of
being worshipped.
Allah (swt) said:
“And when Abraham said to his father and
his people: ‘I totally disown what you worship’.” (43: 27).
It is not enough to only
worship Allah, but this worship must be reserved exclusively to Him. The
Unicity (Tawheed) is only valid when
we proclaim that Allah is unique while disavowing polytheism and its followers.
It is reported that “The key to paradise” is: “There is no god but Allah.” However, do
all people who pronounce it deserve that all the gates of Paradise are opened for
them? Is the statement “There is no god
but Allah” not the key to paradise? This is definitely the case, but each
key has teeth. So if you bring a key that has teeth (with the correct teeth), that
door shall be opened to you, otherwise it will not be opened for you.
There are narrations
from of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) in many Hadiths that define what the teeth of
the key are. Like in one of the sayings of the Holy Prophet (pbuh), it is
stated: “He who says ‘There is no god but
Allah’ with “sincerity”...
or “while
having this conviction in his heart”... or “while saying it truly in his heart”
etc.
These Hadiths and others set as a condition to gain entry to paradise,
knowledge of “There is no god but Allah”;
which shows that we must remain constant in this statement of faith till death.
And there are other Hadiths which prove that we must submit to the meanings it
contains within it. In the light of all evidences, scholars (of Islam) have
deduced conditions that must definitely be fulfilled in the absence of barriers
preventing the person from putting these into practice so that “There is no god that Allah” becomes
really the key to paradise.
The following are the teeth of this (paradisiacal)
key:
(1) Knowledge (Ilm): Such knowledge which is opposed
to ignorance.
(2) Certainty (Yaqeen): In other words, to have firm
conviction in the meaning of that term because it does not admit neither doubt,
nor hesitation, nor uncertainty; instead you must have firm conviction.
(3) Acceptance (Qabul): When you have learned with firm
conviction, that knowledge must generate certain effects by acceptance of what
is involved in this expression by the heart and tongue.
(4) Submission (Inqiyaad); a perfect submission to the
oneness of Allah: This submission is the cornerstone and the apparent implementation
of the faith. This is realized by putting into practice what Allah (swt) ordains
and abandoning what He forbids.
(5) Veracity (Sidq): By pronouncing this testimonial
(of faith) with a veracity/truthfulness that excludes all lies (or falsehoods),
because he who pronounces with it his tongue while his heart is in denial is a
hypocrite. Allah (swt) says about the hypocrites: “They
say with their tongues that which is not in their hearts.” (48: 12).
(6) Love (Muhabbah): He must give priority to
what Allah loves, even if it is contrary to his passions, to ally with those
who ally themselves to Allah and His Messenger and have aversion to the enemies
of Allah and those of His Messenger.
(7) Sincerity (Ikhlaas): Hazrat Muhammad (pbuh) said: “Verily Allah has forbidden hell for the one
who says: ‘There
is no god worthy of worship except Allah’ while seeking only the
countenance of Allah.” (Bukhari).
May Allah have mercy on
you and fill you with His blessings, and may you succeed with firm belief to
build a strong faith in the profoundness of your hearts to reflect the Sahih al Islam,
both in your hearts and in your actions to consolidate the Islamic society that
is pleasing to Allah in every way. Ameen.
--Friday Sermon of 23
October 2015 ~(09 Muharram 1437 Hijri) delivered by the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim (atba) of Mauritius, while on a visit abroad- in the Comoros Islands.