Understanding the Testimony of Faith

The Arab idol-worshippers understood what the testimony “there is no god worthy of worship except Allah” required of them. When the Messenger invited them to say it, they refused arrogantly because they recognized that its meaning opposed their religious practices.

They took partners with Allah and worshipped others besides Him. Their practices included:

• Calling upon others besides Allah
• Seeking help from others besides Allah
• Making vows to others besides Allah
• Offering sacrifices to others besides Allah
• Other similar means leading to idol worship

Because they understood the Arabic language, they knew that accepting the testimony required them to shun these idolatrous acts. They could not sincerely affirm its meaning while continuing to direct such worship to others. Their refusal therefore did not arise from ignorance of what the words meant; they understood their necessity but would not abandon the partners they had taken with Allah.

Most Muslims today present a different problem. Muslims of differing schools of thought, methods, and beliefs already pronounce the testimony. They are not primarily in need of being called merely to say its words, because they already say them. Rather, they are in dire need of understanding this noble statement correctly.

The fundamental contrast is therefore striking: the first Arab idol-worshippers understood the testimony’s implications but arrogantly refused it, whereas most Muslims today bear witness to it without fully grasping its correct meaning. Pronouncing the words is not the same as recognizing that they demand the rejection of worship, supplication, vows, seeking help, and sacrifice directed to anyone besides Allah.

Interpreting the testimony “there is no god worthy of worship except Allah” as merely “there is no Lord but Allah” is inadequate. The polytheists already believed that Allah alone created the world without any partner. When asked about creation, they acknowledged Allah as its Creator: the Qur’an reports that when they were asked who created, they answered, “Allah.” Yet this belief did not benefit them.

Their error was not that they believed in several creators. They believed that the Lord was One, while also believing that the objects of worship were many. They set up rivals and associates to be worshipped alongside Allah. Their acknowledgement of Allah’s lordship therefore existed together with worship directed to others.

These practices could be given impressive names, but they remained worship of other than Allah. The polytheists attempted to justify taking others besides Him by saying that these objects of worship served as intermediaries: they claimed that they worshipped them only so that they might bring them nearer to Allah in position.

The testimony demands more than recognizing one Lord and Creator. It requires a person to be free from worshipping anything besides Allah. The polytheists understood that this was what the words required, and for that reason they refused their implication while continuing to direct worship to multiple objects.

A person may affirm that Allah is the sole Creator and still contradict the testimony through worship of others. Correctly understanding Tawheed therefore requires distinguishing between acknowledging Allah’s lordship and making worship exclusively for Him.

Pronouncing “there is no god worthy of worship except Allaah” is not presented as an unconditional substitute for acceptance of its meaning. Shaykh al-Albani states that if someone still refuses while saying it, then that person is not a Muslim either outwardly or inwardly. Mere sounds on the tongue cannot make refusal into faith.

His judgment concerning the majority of Muslims today is different: he regards them as Muslims and cites the Prophet’s statement, “And if they say it, their honour, their life, properties are sacred and protected, in truth, and their reckoning is with Allaah.” Their profession therefore carries worldly consequences: their honour, lives, and property are protected. At the same time, their final reckoning is not placed in people’s hands; it belongs to Allaah.

This protection should not be turned into the further claim that everyone who pronounces the testimony necessarily understands or correctly believes it. Al-Albani says that many Muslims utter what they do not believe: they say “there is no god worthy of worship except Allaah,” yet do not correctly believe its meaning. Thus, outward treatment and the state of a person’s belief must not be confused. The cited protection applies to the Muslims he is discussing, while the person who continues in refusal is expressly excluded.

The duty of Islamic callers is therefore not fulfilled by hearing the words and leaving their meaning unexplained. They must connect their call to the testimony itself, first giving a clear summary of its meaning and then an appropriate, necessary explanation. This instruction also includes sincerity to Allaah, the Most High, the Mighty and Majestic, in every type of worship.

The balance is precise: Muslims are not stripped of their protected standing merely because many have a corrupt understanding, and their reckoning is left to Allaah. Yet their misunderstanding must not be ignored. They are to be taught what the testimony means so that its outward profession is joined to correct belief rather than remaining words that the heart has not truly accepted.

The saving benefit of the testimony depends upon sincerity from the heart. The Prophet stated that whoever dies having borne witness that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah sincerely from his heart will have his body prohibited from touching the Hellfire. Another narration promises that such a person will enter Paradise.

The promise of entry into Paradise does not necessarily mean freedom from every difficulty or punishment. A person may be punished according to his disobedience and sin, yet his final destiny will be Paradise. There is therefore a distinction between eventual salvation and the claim that no punishment will touch a person at all. The text presents the guarantee of Paradise as possibly being fulfilled after punishment has occurred.

This promise is not attached to words spoken by the tongue alone. If a person says, “there is no god worthy of worship except Allah,” while faith has not entered his heart, the statement gives him no benefit in the Hereafter. If Muslims possess power and authority, his outward profession benefits him in worldly life by granting safety from fighting and being killed, but that outward benefit does not by itself establish salvation before Allah.

For the testimony to benefit a person in the Hereafter, he must first understand its meaning and then believe correctly in that meaning. Understanding alone is not sufficient. It must be joined with faith, so that the heart accepts what the tongue professes. Only by linking correct understanding with sincere belief does a person become a true believer.

Intellectual recognition of the truth is not enough by itself. Many Jews and Christians among the People of the Book knew that Muhammad was a truthful messenger in what he conveyed concerning his message and prophethood. Allah says:

“They know him like they know their own sons…”

Quran 2:146

Yet this knowledge did not benefit them before Allah. It stood as a witness against them because they did not believe in the prophethood and message to which he called. Knowledge must therefore be joined to faith and obedience. Allah says:

“Know, that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah and ask forgiveness for your sins.”

Quran 47:19

When a Muslim says, “There is no god worthy of worship except Allah,” he must connect these concise words with detailed knowledge of their meaning. If he knows, trusts, and believes, then the testimony is not merely an utterance of the tongue. The Prophet stated:

“Whoever says, ‘There is no god worthy of worship except Allah,’ it will be of benefit to him one day.”

This means that the testimony, when accompanied by knowledge of its meaning, saves a person from eternal punishment in the Hellfire. Its establishment also requires righteous actions to be perfected and disobedience to be ended in accordance with it. It protects from major shirk and, when established with what it requires, is a condition of faith involving both the actions of the heart and outward actions, according to many of the people of knowledge.

This saving benefit does not mean freedom from every punishment. A person may remain under the will of Allah and enter the Fire as a just reward for disobedience, wrongdoing, or neglect of obligatory actions. Yet Allah may pardon him, and the good testimony ultimately saves him through Allah’s favour.

By contrast, one who pronounces the testimony without understanding or believing its meaning gains no benefit from it in the Hereafter. Its benefit may be only temporary, such as outward protection while living under Islamic rule. The testimony’s lasting benefit therefore depends upon knowledge joined to trust, belief, obedience, righteous action, and protection from major shirk.

The call to Tawheed must be a central focus in every society. At the very least, there must be a true Islamic formation that strives realistically and rapidly toward the goal so many Islamic groups repeatedly proclaim: the realization of an Islamic society.

This goal also includes establishing Muslim states that truly rule according to what Allah revealed wherever such rule is absent. Yet groups and divisions cannot achieve the goal for which they gather and strive merely by speaking about it.

They can reach it only by beginning with what the Prophet began with. Therefore, the effort to reform society and establish truly Islamic rule must begin with the call to Tawheed.