Shahada

The Shahada (Arabic: الشهادة‎ aÅ¡-Å¡ahādah  audio  "the testimony"; also aÅ¡-Å¡ahādatān (الشَهادَتانÙ', "the two testimonials")) is an Islamic creed declaring belief in the oneness of God and the acceptance of Muhammad as God's prophet. The declaration, in its shortest form, reads:

لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله

lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāh, muḥammadun rasūlu-llāh

There is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God.

Terminology

The noun shahādah (شَهادة) translates to "testimony", from the verbal root Å¡ahida (شَهِدَ) meaning "to observe, witness, testify"; in legal contexts, shahādah is a testimony to the occurrence of events, such as debt, adultery, or divorce. The Islamic creed is also called, in the dual form, Å¡ahādatān (شَهادَتانÙ', literally "two testimonials"). The person giving the testimony is called a shāhid ( شاهِد). The first statement of the shahada, lā ilāha illā-llāhu, is also known as the tahlÄ«la.

In another meaning, shahādah or, more commonly, istiÅ¡hād (إسÙ'تِشÙ'هادÙ'), means "martyrdom." The noun shahÄ«d (شَهيد) may mean "martyr."

Origin

The tahlila (the phrase lā ilāha illā-llāh) is Quranic, but its combination with the additional "Muhammad is the messenger of God" is of uncertain origin. It seems to have been in use by the beginning of the 8th century, based on the occurrence in the fragment of a bilingual papyrus dated to the reign of al-Walid I (86â€"96 AH, 705â€"715 CE). In this document, the Greek is given first:

Οὐκ á¼"στιν [θεός εἰ μὴ ὁ θεὸς μόνος], Μααμε[Ï„ ἀπόστολος θεοῦ]

Ouk estin theos ei mÄ" ho theos monos; Maamet apostolos theou,

followed by the Arabic equivalent.

The 9th-century Sahih al-Bukhari attributes a longer variant of the statement to Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas, who upon hearing the muezzin is said to have uttered:

Ašhadu an lā ilāha illā-llāh waḥdahu lā šarīka lahu, wa ašhadu anna muḥammadan ʿabduhu wa rasūluhu.

"I testify that (there is) no god except God; One is He, no partner has He, and I testify that Muhammad is His servant and messenger."

This longer version is also known as the kalimat ash-shahādah ("word of testimony") and counted as the second of the Six Kalimas in modern Pakistani tradition.

This longer variant, i.e. inserting the claim that God is "alone, without partner", is also found in Arabic writing on the Anglo-Saxon gold dinar coined by Offa, copied from a non-extant Abbasid dinar dated AH 157 (AD 773/4), indicating that by that time this longer phrase had risen to the status of a kind of standard "creed". The coin faces read:

obverse: lā ilāh illā-llāh waḥdah lā šarīk lahu

reverse: muḥammad rasūl llāh; interspersed with the inscription OFFA REX.

In Twelver Shia Islam, the shahada is expanded with the addition of a phrase concerning Ali:

وعليٌ وليُÙ' الله

wa ʿalīyyun walīyyu-llāh

"and Ali is the wali ("friend", "viceregent") of God".

An early variation of this phrase is found inscribed at Bab al-Futuh built by the Fatimid minister Al-Afdal Shahanshah (d. 975). The inscription reads:

لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له محمد رسول الله علي ولي الله

bismi-llāhi-r-rahmāni-r-rahīm lā ʾilāha ʾilā -llāh waḥdahu lā sharīk lahu muḥammad rasūlu-llāh ʿalī walī allāh

"In the name of God the Merciful the Compassionate, there is no god but God the One, no partner has he, Muhammad is the Messenger of God, Ali is the walī of God").

Recitation

Recitation of the shahādah is the most common statement of faith for Muslims. In Sunni Islam, it is counted as the first of the Five Pillars of Islam, while the Twelver and Ismaili Shi'a connect it to their respective lists of pillars of the faith. Non-Muslims wishing to convert to Islam do so by a public recitation of this creed.

The shahada has been used as a shibboleth in Islamic terror attacks to separate Muslim from non-Muslim civilians (in order to kill the latter but not the former), e.g. in the 2013 Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya.

Use on flags

The shahada is frequently found on modern Islamic flags. The Wahhabi religious movement used the shahada on their flags from the 18th century. In 1902 Abdulaziz Abdulrahman Al-Saud, leader of the Al Saud and the future founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, added a sword to this flag. From this derives the modern flag of Saudi Arabia, introduced in 1973. The Flag of Somaliland (introduced in 1991, current design 1996) bases its design on the Saudi flag.

Between 1997 and 2001, the Taliban used a white flag with the shahada inscribed in black as the flag of their Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The various jihadist flags used by Islamic insurgents since the 2000s have often followed this example. The shahada written on a green background has been used by supporters of Hamas since about 2000. The 2004 draft constitution of Afghanistan proposed a flag featuring the shahada in white script centered on a red background.