Before we talk about the conditions of the Shahadah, we need to know the meaning of Shart (condition), so what is the meaning of Shart? The definition of Shart according to the Ulema of Usool is:

‘The presence of a certain matter depends on the condition’s fulfillment, and its negation necessitates the negation of the matter. However the mere presence of the condition (solitarily) does not necessitate the absolute presence of the matter.’

Shart is something pertaining to a matter so if one condition is not met then the Shahadah is incomplete. For example, if you do not pronounce the Shahadah then it is not present even if you were to fulfill all other conditions, in other words the fulfillment of all conditions necessitates all its presence. The Shahadah has pillars and conditions; if all are not met then it necessitates its absence.

Iqra – Pronouncing the words

Whoever says he is a Muslim, he must pronounce the Shahadah with his tongue and whoever never pronounced his Shahadah is not Muslim. We will bring evidence so that this condition has effect and we can appreciate the first condition of La ilaha illallah.

Reported in Bukhari,

“When Abu Taalib was entering his deathbed the Prophet (saw) came to his side and found Abu Jahl and Abdullah ibn Abie Ummayah al-Mughira. He (saw) said, ‘O my uncle! Say there is no god but Allah (swt) by which I will be able to testify for you in front of Allah (swt). Abu Jahl responded, ‘O Abu Taalib! Are you going to reject the religion of Abdul Muttalib?’ The Prophet (saw) continued to encourage his uncle to say the Shahadah until Abu Taalib said his final words to them, ‘He is on the religion of Abdul Muttalib,’ and rejected to say there is no god but Allah (swt). When this came to pass, the Prophet (saw) said, ‘By Allah! I will continue to beseech Allah (swt) for Abu Taalib’s forgiveness until I am ordered to do otherwise.’

Allah (swt) then revealed, ‘It is not fitting, for the Prophet and those who believe, that they should pray for forgiveness for Pagans, even though they be of kin, after it is clear to them that they are companions of the Fire.’ [Surah at-Tauba (9) :133] and Allah (swt) also revealed to the Prophet (saw), ‘You cannot guide whoever you so will, it is Allah (swt) who guides whom He wishes.’ [Surah Qasas (28):56]” [Agreed Upon]

This Hadeeth gives evidence to the condition of pronouncing the Shahadah by its words. Even though Abu Taalib believed Muhammad (saw) was the Messenger of Allah in his heart it was not sufficient for him until he pronounced the words with his tongue, this is why Muhammad (saw) was encouraging him to say ‘O my uncle! Say there is no god but Allah (swt) by which I will be able to testify for you in front of Allah (swt).’

This is the sunnah of Muhammad (saw) is to say to the one on his deathbed to pronounce La ilaha illal lah by its words.

So when Muhammad (saw) said this, his two uncles said to Abu Talib, ‘O Abu Taalib! Are you going to reject the religion of Abdul Muttalib?’

He (saw) kept repeating and hoping that Allah will guide him until Abu Talib’s last word was ‘I die on the deen of Abdul Muttalib.’ So he died on Shirk. He (saw) said, ‘By Allah! I will continue to beseech Allah (swt) for Abu Taalib’s forgiveness until I am ordered to do otherwise.’

It is important to mention that Abu Talib had a great role to play in the da’wah, so he (saw) didn’t want to forget that. He (saw) kept asking Allah (swt) to forgive him until Allah revealed the following verse,

‘It is not fitting, for the Prophet and those who believe, that they should pray for forgiveness for Pagans, even though they be of kin, after it is clear to them that they are companions of the Fire.’ [at-Taubah (9) :133]

So anyone who dies on Kufr and Shirk, it is haram to ask Allah forgiveness for him. Allah (swt) says,

‘You cannot guide whoever you so will, it is Allah (swt) who guides whom He wishes.’ [al-Qasas (28) : 56]

So the lesson we should learn is, despite all he (Abu Talib) did, such as help, support and protect the Prophet (saw) it did not benefit him. The matter of guidance is not in our hands, and the role of Muhammad (saw) is conveying the people to the straight path. Hidayah and Tawfiq is not from people, it is from Allah (swt) and the one whose hand controls hidayah is Allah (swt).

When Abu Talib passed away, Ali (ra) said ‘My misguided father has passed away.’ Ali (ra) spoke about his father in such a low way. Muhammad (saw) said to Ali, ‘Go and bury him’, he (saw) didn’t give him Janazah because Janazah is only for Muslims.

We can learn from this incident is that our allegiance is the aqeedah we carry and our heart is not upon those who disbelieve even if they are your father, uncle or brother.

Muhammad (saw) said,

“I have been commanded (by Allah) to fight the people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and they establish regular prayer and pay zakaah, then if they do that, then they save their lives and property from me except for Islamic laws and then their reckoning will be with Allah.” [Agreed Upon]

This hadith mentions the importance of pronouncing the shahadah, Imam Nawawi said,

“From this we understand that one of the conditions of Emaan is to pronounce the two testimonies of faith in addition to believing in them and believing in all that the Prophet (saw) came with.” Sharh Saheeh Muslim, Vol. 1 Pg. 212

Ibn Taymiyaah (rh) said,

“If one has capability to, but does not say the two testifications of faith he is a disbeliever by the unanimous agreement of all Muslims; and he is a Kaafir inwardly and outwardly according to the Salaf of the Ummah, their leaders and the Jumhour of the scholars.” Majmou’ al-Fataawa Vol. 7 Pg. 609

So when Ibn Taymiyyah mentioned Qudra (capability), why is that? So those who cannot speak have excuse. Obviously, the one who cannot speak we can do sign language or something similar to make him pronounce the Shahadah.

At the same time, we say if he says it then he is a Muslim and in the same way, if he does not say it then he is not Muslim. So, if we see Kufr (disbelief) manifest on his apparent actions then we declare him to be a Kaafir (disbeliever), and it is not necessary to look into his heart.

A man by the name of Jahm bin Sufwan said ‘Emaan is testification of the heart without the tongue and limbs’ He is misguided and not from the Jumhour Al Ulema. Jahm bin Sufwan preached, if you make haram into halal you are not Kaafir (disbeliever) until you say it is haram in your heart. This misguided sect does not believe in Kufr of action or speech.

The other extreme is the opposite of Jahm bin Sufwan, they are known as Karamiyah, They say ‘Emaan is testification of the tongue without the heart.’ This idea is a misguided concept and not from Islam. This idea teaches you to be a munafiq (hypocrite) similar to Jahm Bin Sufwan but the difference is the tongue to be the condition of Emaan and not the heart.

Ibn Taymiyyah (rh) said,

‘The Karamiyah are the followers of Muhammad bin Karaam who claim that Emaan is the testification and confirmation of the tongue without the heart.’ Majmou’ al-Fataawa Vol 7 pg 548

Despite the two differences people follow both of them without realising. We may think such ideas do not exist anymore, but many people follow these two sects, the people today may say they don’t like them, but in fact they follow them.

The Murji’ of today are in between these two deadly sects. For example, if you say so-and-so man is doing Kufr action or speech, he will reply, ‘have you seen his heart’, so he becomes Jahami and in the same way, if you say so-and-so man is an atheist communist, he will go to the aqeedah of Karamiyah and say, ‘he says la ilah ilal lah, so don’t call him kaafir.’

Today, we feel as though we live under two extremes, Jahamiyah and Karamiyah.

Look to our leaders, the scholars of Irja’ defend their Kufr Buwah (Explicit Disbelief) and turn a blind eye to all the Kufr laws they are establishing on our lands, and respond by saying, ‘Did our leaders say it is halal with their heart?’ ‘Did you open his heart?’ and they become Jahami in this matter.

And in the same way, they follow Karamiyah by saying ‘Our Leaders say la ilaha illal lah, so don’t call them Kuffar’, although he is an atheist communist, like Saddam Hussain.

So sometimes the people are following Jahamiyah and other times Karamiyah, and this is a dirty and evil way to follow the two opposites. This is the game of iblis (satan), and the scholars of Irja’ play this game with the Ummah.

So you cannot win with these people, they have brought two of the lowest level of madhabs (school of thought) and the most rotten manhaj (way) together, and it cannot get worse than this. These sects come under the guise of ‘Salafiyyah’ and ‘Ahlus Sunnah wal Jam’ah.’ However, Salafiyyah and Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah are free from their propaganda the way the wolf was free from the blood of Yusuf (as).

Is there anything which can replace the Shahadah as evidence of a person’s Islam?

Imam Qurtubi (rh) in his tafseer said,

“Emaan cannot exist except by declaring there is no god but Allah and nothing can be equivalent to it from the actions and statements except the prayer.”

Ishaaq bin Rahaway (rh) said,

‘(The scholars) have unanimously declared that if a person who is previously known as a Kaafir is seen to pray the prayers of the Muslim on time and regularly and no-one has heard from him the confirmation (of the Shahadah) by the tongue, that he is judged as someone with Emaan (i.e. he is Muslim). However, they did not judge likewise in the case of fasting or giving Zakaah.” Tafseer Jami’ Quran, Vol 8 Pg 207

The Ulema agree comprehensively on this unlike any other matter, and say, anyone you know is a Kaafir (disbeliever) and you one day find him establishing the Salah, even if you haven’t heard the shahadah from him, he is a Muslim. There is nothing that can exchange and more equivalent to the shahadah except Salah.

Muhammad (saw) said,

“Whoever prays our prayer, faces our Qibla and eats our slaughtered meat is a Muslim under the protection of Allah (swt) and His Prophet (saw).” Bukhari

This hadith explains that someone who prays is a Muslim and it is relevant to mention as well that the shahadah is uttered in the tashahud of the Salah.

Muhammad (saw) made disassociation from Khalid bin Waleed’s actions , when Khalid bin Waleed (ra) killed some Arabs after some of them shouted ‘Saba’na! Saba’na! (we have come out of one religion to another), they made a mistake because what they meant to say is Aslamna! (we have submitted i.e. become Muslim). You might ask, if the Shahadah and Salah are the only actions that enter someone into Islam then why did Muhammad (saw) reprimand Khalid bin Waleed for killing those Arabs?

There is a clear distinction in two matters regarding this incident:

1 If you hear something in the midst of fighting which brings doubt into your mind, you do not kill, like in the situation of Khalid bin Waleed (ra), some of the Arabs said, ‘Saba’na!’, Khalid (ra) should have investigated into the matter further until he cleared his doubts and this is why Muhammad (saw) reprimanded him.

In the battlefield your enemy may say, ‘Assalamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullah.’, You need to seek clarity and verify, it does not mean he has become Muslim at that time, all it means is that the sword is lifted from him until you seek clarity on the situation. You may ask, what do you mean by this? Allah (swt) says,

“O ye who believe! When ye go abroad in the cause of Allah, investigate carefully, and say not to anyone who offers you a salutation: ‘Thou art none of a believer!’ Coveting the perishable goods of this life: with Allah are profits and spoils abundant.” [an-Nisa (4) : 94]

2.  But if someone says, ‘Assalamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullah.’ in Darul Kufr (land of disbelief) you must act as if he is Muslim unless you see clear Kufr Buwah (Explicit Disbelief) manifest from him. It is dangerous to doubt Muslims and declare him Kaafir without proof, and making takfir on Muslim without proof is as though you have killed him, have made his blood halal and have broken the brotherhood, so takfir is not to be hurried. The Prophet (saw) said,

“If a man says to his brother, ‘O disbeliever!’ He has killed him.” Agreed upon

Qadi ‘Iyad (rh) said,

“Declaring the blood of those who pray-who are upon Tawheed to be permissible is a serious danger. The mistake in leaving one thousand Kuffar is easier than the mistake of shedding the blood of one Muslim.”

So, it is better to make mistake in Ijtihad by declaring a thousand people Muslim than to call one Muslim Kaafir. You might argue both are mistakes, so why make a distinction?

The distinction is that the mistake in ijtihaad on making one thousand people Muslim is less harm than making an error in ijtihad on declaring one Muslim Kaafir, because the mistake in making one thousand people Muslim will not harm him and is less harmful, whereas the mistake in making your Muslim a Kaafir is that you have made two devastating mistakes.

1. You have declared him Kaafir

2. You have made his blood halal and broken the brotherhood.

He (saw) also said,

“Killing a Muslim is greater in front of Allah (swt) than the destruction of the whole earth.”[Sunan Nisa’i]

You may ask, what if someone says the Shahadah but then says Salah is not Fardh (obligatory), how does he come back to Islam?

It is not the Shahadah that is the problem; rather it is what he said. He has become Kaafir by saying Salah is not Fardh, and the action that he denounced to make him leave the fold of Islam, is the action he must renounce to enter back into the fold of Islam again.

For instance, a leader rules by man-made law and on the other side he says the Shahadah, the Shahadah will not benefit him unless whatever took him out of the fold of Islam he must publicly renounce and declare disassociation to those actions that caused him to become an apostate and to pronounce the Shahadah again.

Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahab stated,

“Whosoever prays night and day to Allah (swt) and then goes to a grave and makes Du’a (petition) to the Prophet (saw) or the Awliyaa (those close to Allah), it is as if they have taken another lord besides Allah (swt) and they have rejected the Shahadah since the Lord is the only One who can be called upon for Du’a. The one who gives another man the status of the Prophet (saw) has disbelieved and his blood is lawful to be spilt; neither his repeating of the Shahadah nor his Salat will benefit him.” Ar-Risala Ash-Shaksiya, pg. 166 and Majmou’a at-Tawheed pg. 82

Regarding the one who says the Shahadah but worships graves it is as if he has two lords, because dua to the grave is Shirk and whoever elevates a man to the status of a Prophet his Salah and Shahadah will not benefit him. Consequently, the Shahadah and Salah is not sufficient for him until he declares disassociation from the worship of graves and giving other men the status of Prophets.

From thepathtoparadise.com