The testimony or the Shahadah , from one angle, is the declaration of the two foundations or the building blocks on which the whole corpus of Islam is based while from the other, it is one's announcement of ascribing to the two beliefs which create a distinction between Islam and all the other religions of the world. Seen from the first perspective, the Shahadah is more basic and fundamental than the Qur'an. All the significance that the Qur'an holds in the Muslim faith is based solely upon the Muslim belief that the person who delivered the Qur'an was a true messenger of God - which is one of the announcements of the Shahadah . It is the belief in true Prophethood of Muhammad (pbuh), from which flows all the other parts of the corpus of Islam whether it be the five daily prayers or fasting during the month of Ramadan or belief in the Qur'an as a book revealed by God or any other directive of the Shari`ah . Seen from the second perspective, the two parts of the Shahadah when taken in combination make a comprehensive philosophical distinction between the followers of Islam and those of all the other religions of the world. The belief structure of Islam is comprehensively distinguished from all other religions of the world through these two points entailed in the Shahadah . Keeping the foregoing points in perspective, it should be clear that the Shahadah is not based on or derived from the Qur'an and, on the contrary, the position of the Qur'an is based on the Shahadah . Therefore, any attempt to find the basis and support of the Shahadah in the Qur'an is absolutely absurd. With the foregoing point in mind, let us now take a look at the arguments that you have cited: The author writes: First and foremost, because it is the only Testimony authorized by God in the Quran. "God bears witness that there is no god except He, and so do the angels and those who possess knowledge. Truthfully and equitably, there is no god but He, the Almighty, Most Wise." 3:18 The words (there is no god but God), which in Arabic are ( La Ilaha Ila Allah ), are the exact words which God Himself utters, also the angels and those who possess knowledge. To add any words or names to the Testimony given by God, is like saying that the Testimony given to us by God is incomplete, or that God forgot the second half of the Testimony!!! Needless to say, God NEVER forgets ....... !!! Aal Imraan 3: 18 is not a statement of the comprehensive testimony of Islam but is, in fact, a testimony of Tawheed - i.e., the oneness of God - which is a part of the comprehensive testimony of Islam. The author writes: God's Greatness is far beyond human understanding, so much so that we are not to associate anything or anybody with the name of God. "You shall worship God alone, do not associate ANYTHING with Him." 4:36 "Say (O Muhammad), "I am no more than a human like you, being inspired that your God is One God. Those who hope to meet their Lord shall work righteousness, and never associate ANYBODY with the worship of their Lord." 18:110 Note the words: "do not associate ANYTHING" and in another other verse we read: "do not associate ANYBODY" ........ this is to emphasis that we should not put the name of ANYTHING nor ANYBODY next to the name of God. This, in my opinion, is an argument which has neither understood the meaning of the phrase 'associating anything to God' nor of the second part of the Shahadah . The phrase 'associating anything with God' implies holding someone equal to God. It does not, in any way, hinder the combined declaration of the oneness of God and the prophethood of Muhammad (pbuh) in the Shahadah . The author writes: According to the Quranic definition (2:285), the concept of Al-Iman (Belief/Faith) comprises belief in the following items: God His Angels His Scripture His messengers Belief in all four items is required for a person to be a believer, however there is no testiment required of the believer except for the first of these items (God). This argument should adequately clarify the flaw in the author's contention. The author has failed to see that even though the verse has not mentioned the Day of Judgment as an essential element of Muslim belief, yet no one, in his/her right frame of mind, can doubt that it, in fact, is an essential element of Islamic faith. Thus, even though the belief in the Day of Judgment is not expressly mentioned in the referred verse, yet it is the natural corollary of this element of belief that is mentioned in the immediately following verse. As for the author's statement " Belief in all four items is required for a person to be a believer, however there is no testiment required of the believer except for the first of these items (God)", because the author has failed to substantiate his opinion, there is no need to comment on it. The author writes: There are those who try to justify their inclusion of the name of Muhammad in their Testimony by saying that when the Qur'an was revealed and Muhammad was sent by God, the Jews rejected him as a true messenger of God, and thus they say that they testify that Muhammad is the messenger of God to proclaim their acceptance of him, as opposed to the Jews and Christians who rejected him. This argument is clearly flawed. It is clear that the Jews and Christians also reject the Qur'an as being the true word of God, hence and if these Muslims are sincere in merely wanting to proclaim their belief in what the Jews and Christians have rejected, then they should (by the same logic and motives) utter an additional testimony to say: 'There is no god but God and the Quran is the word of God' .... but do they? Why aren't any of these Muslims uttering such a testimony to declare their acceptance of the Quran? Even though I do not ascribe to the stated opinion, yet I would like to remind the author that the belief that the Qur'an is the word of God is secondary to the belief in the prophethood of Muhammad (pbuh). It is because the Muslims believe Muhammad to be a true prophet of God and because Muhammad (pbuh) has informed them that the Qur'an is a revelation of the one God that the Muslims hold Qur'an to be a revealed word of God. Thus, belief in Muhammad's prophethood is not only more basic than but is also a requirement of the belief that the Qur'an is a revelation of God. The Shahadah only declares the more basic and the more fundamental of the two beliefs. The author writes: In reality, their disguised motive is one of idolising Muhammad and placing his name alongside God's name in everything. The stated allegation is absolutely baseless. The author writes: Indeed, God invites us to believe in the Quran, believe in Muhammad, and also believe in all the angels, Scripture and other messengers. As mentioned, God does not command us to testify to any of these. The only Testimony sanctioned by God is dedicated to the name of God Almighty ALONE. The reason for that is that the articles of belief (Belief in God, the angels, scripture and messengers) are matters for the heart. However, the uttering of the Testimony is an ACT OF WORSHIP, and and since all our religious practices and worship must be dedicated to God alone (6:162), thus the Testimony must ipso facto be dedicated to the name of God alone. The Shahadah is not a part of 'worship', as the author contends, but is, in fact, the declaration of one's faith - which, in times of oppression, may amount to or even surpass an act of worship. Furthermore, whether or not the Qur'an has commanded us to testify to the prophethood of Muhammad is not relevant for proving the author's point. The author's contention can only be considered seriously if he can prove that the declaration of one's belief in the prophethood of Muhammad (pbuh) is against the express directives of the Qur'an. The author writes: When we look at the five pillars of Islam, we note that the Testimony always comes first. After the Testimony comes the Salat, the Zakat, the Hajj and Fasting Ramadan. Each one of these pillars is an ACT of WORSHIP. Together they constitute the pillars of the religion of Islam. When we do our fasting for example, who do we fast for? God or Muhammad? It is for God alone. When we observe the Salat who do we worship God or Muhammad? When we do our Hajj who do we dedicate it for? And similarly, when we give Zakat who do we do it for? for God or for Muhammad? Consequently, the Testimony, being the first and most important Act of Worship, should also be for the name of God alone. The author, in my opinion, is mistaken in giving Shahadah the status of worship. In one of my earlier articles, I have explained the 'Five Pillars' of Islam as under: These 'five things' are generally known as the 'Five Pillars' of Islam. These 'five pillars' are the observable distinctive features of the followers of the Islamic faith from those of all the other creeds. The first among these pillars relates to the declaration of one's faith, as prescribed by Islam, in the One God and His prophet, while the remaining four relate to the purely religious or worship rituals of Islam. The author writes: Also in the following verse we are told to dedicate all our religion ( Shahadah , Salat, Hajj ...etc) to God alone: "We sent down to you this scripture, truthfully; you shall worship God, devoting your religion to Him alone. Absolutely, the religion shall be devoted to God alone. Those who set up idols beside Him say, "We idolize them only to bring us closer to God; for they are in a better position!" GOD will judge them regarding their disputes. God does not guide such liars, disbelievers." 39:2-3 We note that the words "religion shall be devoted to God alone" are repeated twice. If one has truly appreciated the position of the prophet as the sole source of information regarding God's laws, then one would have no problem in understanding that the declaring a person to be a messenger of God and then following him in all matters of religion is not against, but is a requirement of 'devoting one's religion to God alone'. The author writes: The fourth reason why the correct Testimony must contain the name of God and no one else is the fact that we are commanded in the Quran not to make ANY distinction between any of God's messengers: "The messenger has believed in what was sent down to him from his Lord, and so did the believers. They believe in God, His angels, His scripture, and His messengers: "We make no distinction among any of His messengers." They say, "We hear, and we obey. Forgive us, our Lord. To You is the ultimate destiny." 2:285 Muhammad is indeed the messenger of God , but so is Abraham , Moses , Jesus, David and all the others. We should not make special preference for Muhammad because we are told in the Quran that he is only God's servant and he is not any different from any of the other messengers of God. The mention of Muhammad (pbuh) in the Shahadah is not with the purpose of declaring his supremacy over the other prophets of God nor with the purpose of creating a distinction between the various prophets of God, but with the sole purpose of declaring that the adherents of Islam - in contrast to all the religions of the world - believe in the one true God and the prophethood of Muhammad (pbuh). It is because of the belief in the prophethood of Muhammad (pbuh) that Muslims are prohibited from creating any distinction between the prophets of God or of ascribing absolute supremacy to any one of the prophets of God over the others. The author writes: If they are just uttering the name of Muhammad in order to testify to his messengership (as they claim) why don't they ever say: "There is no god but Allah and Moses is His messenger" !! Moses too was the messenger of God, why do they not testify to that? The answer to this objection has already been given in the previous paragraph. Regarding Surah Al-Munafiqoon 63: 1, the author writes: We note that the verse starts with the words "bear witness" and ends with the same words, so why does God use the word "knows" in the middle of the verse? Why did God not say (God bears witness that you are His messenger)? Since nothing in the Quran is a coincidence, we must indeed be alerted to God's deliberate choice of the word "knows". Could it be that God is telling us that the Testimony He prescribed for us does NOT include these words? For surely if God said (God bears witness that you are His messenger) then this would have constituted an integral part of the Testimony. The fact that God declines from saying 'bear witness that you are His messenger' and instead says 'knows that you are His messenger' confirms that the only lawful Testimony authorized by God is for the name of God alone (3:18), and that all other testimonies are false and are acts of idol worship. A simple translation of the referred part of the Surah Al-Munafiqoon follows: When these hypocrites come to you, they say that they bear witness that you are a messenger of God - and while God knows that you are indeed His messenger - God bears witness that these hypocrites are indeed liars. A good understanding of this verse shall show the irrelevance of the author's observations about it. The reason why the Qur'an does not say that "God bears witness that you are His messenger" is because the verse does not relate to the issue of establishing Muhammad's prophethood, but is, in fact, related to uncovering the lies of the hypocrites. 'God knows that you are indeed His messenger' is in fact a parenthetical clause to qualify the judgment that follows. Without this parenthetical clause, the sentence that follows: 'but God bears witness that these hypocrites are liars' could have been construed to imply the negation of the content of the declaration of the hypocrites. However, with the inclusion of this clause the last part of the verse can only be interpreted as a negation of honesty and sincerity in the declaration of the hypocrites. In this context, it would have been completely out of place to say that 'God bears witness that you are His messenger'. It is also interesting to note that had the Qur'an or Islam prohibited bearing witness regarding the prophethood of Muhammad (pbuh) and had it restricted its followers to testify only about the oneness of God, then the testimony of the hypocrites mentioned in Al-Munafiqoon 63: 1 would have been mentioned as an act of outright rejection of Islamic directives, rather than hypocrisy. I hope this helps. Regards, Moiz Amjad October 4, 2002 Answer published by Moiz Amjad