Declaration of Faith
“There is no deity except God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God”
Every Muslim knows that the key to Paradise is the statement, “There is no deity except God…”. Yet too many Muslims simply rely upon this statement and believe that as long as they have made this statement, nothing will harm them. They think they will be granted Paradise and achieve salvation from Hell because of this mere verbal statement of the Declaration of Faith.
There is no question that the mere saying of “I bear witness that there is no deity except God and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God” is not sufficient for salvation.
In fact, the hypocrite’s used to make this statement time and time again yet God describes them as liars and says that they shall abide in the lowest abyss of the Hell-fire.
This statement certainly is the key to Paradise but every key has ridges if you come with the key which has the right ridges the door of salvation will open for you otherwise it will not.
Below is a summary of the prerequisites of this great sentence, which is the fundamental principle of our religion.
It has three aspects A, B and C.
A. You have to pledge a covenant with God, the Majestic and Exalted on four points:
- A confession with your heart that the Creator of all that exists, the whole universe including the starts, the planets, the sun, the moon, the heavens and earth with all its known and unknown forms of life is God alone, He alone is the Organiser and Planner of all it’s affairs. It is He, who gives life and causes death, He alone is the one who sustains, and He alone is the Giver of security.
This is called the “Monotheism in the Lordship of God”.
- You have to make a confession with your heart that none has the right to be worshipped but God alone. Worship is of different kinds and all kinds of worship is for the Lord God alone, no one else, whether it be Prophet Muhammad, Prophet Jesus, Prophet Ezra, Angel Gabriel, cow, messenger, elephant, saint, idol, the sun, the moon, are not deserving of worship.
Pray to none but God, prostrate to none but God, invoke none but God, ask for help (from the unseen) from none but God, swear oaths by none but God, offer an animal as a sacrifice to none but God, give charity for none but God’s sake, fast for none but God, go on pilgrimage for none but God alone…
And do that which God and His last Messenger order you to do in God’s last scripture the Holy Koran and the legal ways, orders, actions and statements of the last Prophet and abstain from all that God and His Messenger have forbidden you from.
This is called “Monotheism in the worship of God”.
- You have to believe in all the perfect Names, Attributes and Qualities of God which He has stated in His Book (the Koran) or mentioned through His Messenger (Muhammad) without changing their meaning, ignoring them completely, twisting their meaning or giving resemblance of their meaning to created things (It is proven from the Koran that God has the quality of hearing and sight, that God has two hands and that He is present over His throne but His hearing and site, His hands and His being present over the throne are not like that of the created). He is the All-Knowing the All-Powerful. And do not name or qualify anyone else with His Devine Names and Qualities.
This is called the “Monotheism of the Names and Qualities of God”
- You have to make a confession with your heart that Muhammad is the Messenger of God and that none has the right to be followed after God but the Prophet Muhammad because he is the last of His Messengers and God has told us in His Book that whatever the Prophet gives us we are to take it and whatever he forbids us we are to abstain from it and He also tells us that if we really love Him (God) then we should follow the last Prophet and God will love us and forgive us our sins.
As for those other than the Prophet Muhammad then their statements are to be taken or rejected as to whether they are in accordance with the Book of God and the legal ways, orders, acts, statements etc. of the last Prophet or not because Devine revelation has stopped after the death of the Prophet Muhammad and will not resume except at the time of the descent of the Messiah Jesus son of Mary and he (Christ) will rule with justice according to the Islamic laws during the last days of the world as this has been mentioned in authentic narrations from the Prophet Muhammad.
B. It is essential to utter: “There is no deity except God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God”.
It has come in the statement of the last Prophet to his uncle at the time of the latter’s death: “O uncle, if you utter it, then I shall be able to argue on your behalf before God, on the Day of Resurrection.”
Similarly when a Companion of the Prophet embraced Islam he went to The Sacred Mosque and proclaimed it loudly in front of the disbelievers until they beat him severely.
C. It is essential that the limbs and all other parts and organs of ones body testify to it. So whoever has confessed this with his Lord, he shall not commit sins, like robbing, stealing, murder, illegal sexual intercourse, drinking alcoholic beverages, take drugs which numb the senses and harm the health, eat swine, taking advantage of an orphans property, cheating, lying, bribery, backbiting, earning money through illegal means etc. or otherwise the limbs and other parts of the body will testify against him on the Day of Resurrection that he was a liar in the words he pledged to God. In case he commits the above mentioned or other sins, he should know that it is a sin that obliges him to repent to God and ask for His Forgiveness.
With the confession of this great sentence a person enters the fold of Islam, It is essential for him to believe in God, all the Messengers of God, His Angels, His Revealed Scriptures, the Day of Resurrection/Judgement, fate i.e. whatever God has ordained of the good and the bad must come to pass and believe in all that God has told us in the holy Koran and through His last Prophet.
After this confession one has become a Muslim, he or she should take a bath/shower and then offer a two-unit prayer and act upon the five pillars of Islam, the Declaration of Faith, five daily Contact-Prayers, Compulsory-Charity, Pilgrimage to The Sacred Mosque in Mecca and the Fast during the month of Ramadan. And abstain from sins.
The acceptance of righteous deeds depends on two basic conditions which are they are for God’s sake alone, without show off or the desire to gain praise or fame etc. and the deed should be performed in accordance with the legal ways, orders, acts of worship, statements etc. of Muhammad the last of all the Prophets and the Messengers.
Peace and Blessings of God be upon all the Prophets and Messengers of God, especially our Leader Muhammad, upon his family, his Companions and his righteous followers.