Shahada

In order to reinforce this belief into their own soul and minds, prayers are said five times per day, praising both Allah and Mohammed Sallalahu-alayhi-wasalam. The declaration as it reads is: There is no god but God and Muhammed Sallalahu-alayhi-wasalam is the messenger of God. These are the two alone, although Mary and Jesus are revered also. But Allah is One, and not a trinity such as Christianity would have it.

However Shahada is much more than just belief. It is also the creed by which Muslims live and exist. Although there are five pillars of Islam each is equally as important as each other and therefore forms the whole of the right to existence and being of an individual person. The Emperor Akbar declared it on his coins too: There is none worthy of worship but God and Mohammed is the prophet of God.

The main point that Shahada tries to impart is the Oneness of God or Allah, and the acceptance of Muhammed Sallalahu-alayhi-wasalam as His prophet and deliverer of messages. It is similar to Christianity in this thought, but Christianity refutes the existence of Muhammed Sallalahu-alayhi-wasalam and takes Jesus and The Holy Ghost as their Hands of God. In both Christianity and Islamic religion, Mary is not a key player, but she is very revered all the same. Jesus is taken as God’s Son but His role is a little less than Muhammed’s Sallalahu-alayhi-wasalam in the scheme of things with Islamics.

By using Shahada as their creed Islamics vow and declare Allah or God is One, although they have never seen Him and as Mohammed is the only person who has seen God face to face, it stands to reason that he should deliver Allah’s wishes and wants. Whereas God sent His Only Son to suffer for people’s sins, Allah simply returned Mohammed to his home, filled with messages for the rest of Mankind.

This would be easy for most people to understand usually, but unfortunately it is not. Although God and Allah are interchangeable because They are the same Entity, after that it becomes rather unclear to the spectator on what comes next. In the Islamic Religion, Jesus has an important part, but neither as Allah’s right hand, nor does the Holy Ghost have a defined place. In both religions, Mary is worshipped much as she is now, as the Mother of the World of Women, not just only as the Mother of Jesus.

Shahada is a simple statement, affirming the belief that Allah is One, not several, although the other two parts are there in a smaller value. Mohammed, being the only person who has ever seen Allah face-to-face, was charged with the delivery of messages and instructions which are to be followed, much like Jesus was. The simple acceptance of this is what the Islamic creed is.

The Al-Shahada is more than just a declaration and a promise to obey Mohammed the Prophet. It also teaches that the Origin of everything and of all the creatures is One.  With its Second Part, it also inducts people into the belief that the Path to the Truth will forever bring people to enlightenment on their way.

With the knowledge that Mohammed is Allah’s messenger, it makes a man or a woman think about Mohammed’s words and explanations and asks them to follow this path. When a person has got accustomed to this and accepts it wholly, then another level of knowledge is ready to be opened and this is that Mohammed is really a compiling of all the knowledge that had gone before and brings in the teachings of Jesus, Moses and Abraham, adding to all of the wisdom that had already been to earth. This part can be a little confusing, even to the practising Islamic person.

The word Al-Shahada is an Arabic word made from a root and a verb, of which the verb can have various meanings. In this case  the verb is used in the state of “ to witness” and in the Al-Shahada first begins with the “ash-hadu” which indicates the person saying it is” witness to” the fact that Allah is One and Mohammed is His messenger.