"Below we'll explore the first and most important Pillar of Islam: Al-Shahada.
In the previous article of this series, I talked briefly about each of the Pillars of Islam. These are the Shahada (The Testimony,) Salat (The Daily Prayers,) Zakat (Almsgiving,) Fasting in Ramadan, and Hajj (The Pilgrimage.)
I promised I'll talk about each of them in a more detailed way. In this article, I'll talk about the first Pillar: Al-Shahada.
The first and most important Pillar of Islam is to make the Testimony of true Monotheism:
أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله"
"وأشهد أنّ محمداً رسول الله
I bear witness that there is no God but Allah,
and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
Saying these words with the intention to follow their meaning makes you a Muslim. The Shahada means submitting to the will of God and following his Messenger Prophet Muhammad.
It's widely accepted that you have to become a Muslim you have to say the Shahada in Arabic. You can do so alone, but most new Muslims are encouraged to announce their conversion in the presence of other Muslims, preferably in a place of worship.
If you don't express your Shahada with your heart, you're not considered a Muslim, and therefore any act of worship you do becomes spiritually meaningless.
For example, some non-muslims fast with Muslims during Ramadan, but don't expect spiritual rewards from doing so.
In my opinion, having this be the foundation of the Islamic Faith is very interesting. Just say these words and you'll be seen as a Muslim brother (or Sister) as long as you don't contradict them with your actions (by worshipping other Gods or denying his Messenger.)
Shahada was the hardest thing for the disbelievers to accept in the life of Prophet Muhammad, not because they don't believe in God, (they acknowledge Allah as their creator,) but because their whole society was built on Polytheism and Islam's monotheism would destroy their way of life.
Early Muslims were persecuted by the polytheists until the victory of Allah, and God was worshipped alone in Arabia.
I see this phenomenon even in some born Muslims in our time, they believe in God, but they live their life as if they worship other beings like celebrities and/or Idols. That's why, having this as the most important Pillar of Islam is very interesting to me.
Next time, we'll discuss the second pillar of Islam: The Daily Prayers (Salat.) These posts took longer than I expected to make but I'm enjoying them so far. Thanks for reading.
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