What the shahada means

The shahada has two halves. The first is about Allah: who deserves your worship. The second is about the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, whose example shows you how to live that worship. This lesson looks at both halves, and at what they ask of you in daily life.

La ilaha illallah: worship belongs to Allah alone

Take the first half word by word. La means no. Ilaha means a god, anything that is worshipped. Illa means except. Allah is the One God. So the sentence holds a no and a yes: no to worshipping anything else, and yes to worshipping Allah alone.

So know, [O Muhammad], that there is no deity except Allah and ask forgiveness for your sin and for the believing men and believing women. And Allah knows of your movement and your resting place.

Quran 47:19 (Saheeh International translation)

This was never a new message. Allah tells us that every messenger before the Prophet Muhammad carried the same call:

And We sent not before you any messenger except that We revealed to him that, "There is no deity except Me, so worship Me."

Quran 21:25 (Saheeh International translation)

Worship in Islam is wide. It includes prayer, and it also includes calling on Allah for help, trusting Him, hoping in Him, and thanking Him. In every prayer, when you recite Surah Al-Fatiha, you say it yourself:

It is You we worship and You we ask for help.

Quran 1:5 (Saheeh International translation)

Muhammadun rasulullah: following his example

The second half says that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Allah chose him to deliver the Quran and to show people how to live by it. His way of doing things is called the Sunnah. When you learn how to pray, fast, or treat your neighbors, you learn it from his example.

There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day and [who] remembers Allah often.

Quran 33:21 (Saheeh International translation)

At the same time, he is a human being and a servant of Allah. Muslims love and honor him, and they never worship him. He said:

Do not exaggerate in praising me as the Christians exaggerated in praising the son of Mary, for I am only His slave. So, call me the slave of Allah and His Messenger.

Sahih al-Bukhari 3445

This is why some authentic wordings of the shahada say Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluh: Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger. You will see this wording in the remembrance below. Both wordings come in authentic hadith.

What it asks of you, day to day

The shahada is not a weight to carry. It is a direction to face. First, it means you can call on Allah directly, in your own words, at any time. You need no go-between. Allah says:

indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me.

Quran 2:186 (Saheeh International translation)

In practice, it also asks a few simple things:

• Worship Allah alone. Your prayers, your hopes, and your trust belong to Him.

• Learn the Prophet's way little by little: how he prayed, how he spoke, how he treated people. Nobody learns it all at once.

• Say the shahada often, and mean it.

The Prophet taught a short remembrance to say when you hear the caller to prayer. It gathers the whole meaning of the shahada, and it is a lovely habit to start:

The Prophet said that whoever says this on hearing the caller to prayer will have his sins forgiven (Sahih Muslim 386).

A fresh start

When the companion Amr ibn al-As (may Allah be pleased with him) came to accept Islam, he held back his hand and asked to be forgiven first. The Prophet told him that Islam wipes out all (sins) that preceded it (Sahih Muslim 121). The good you did before Islam is not lost either. When Hakim ibn Hizam (may Allah be pleased with him) asked about the charity and kindness he had done before Islam, the Prophet said:

You have embraced Islam along with your past good deeds.

Sahih al-Bukhari 1436 and Sahih Muslim 123

Next, you will meet the pillars of faith: the core beliefs every Muslim holds, as the Prophet taught them.