CREED. The Muslim Creed, or Kalimatu’sh shahadah (shortly Kalimah) is the well known formula : –
I testify that there is no deity but God, and Muhammad is the Apostle of God.”
It is the belief of Muslims that the first part of this creed which is called the naf I was ishut, namely, There is no deity but God,” has been the statement of belief of every Prophet since the days of Adam, and that the second portion has been changed according to the dispensation; for example, that in the days of Moses it would be “There is no deity but God, and Moses is the Converser with God.” In the Christian dispensation, it was “There is no deity but God, and Jesus is the Spirit of God.”
Jabir relates that Muhammad said “the keys of Paradise are bearing witness that there is no deity but God.”
The recital of the Kalimah or Creed, is the first of five pillars of practical religion in Islam: and when anyone is converted to Islam he is required to repeat this formula, and the following are the conditions required of every Muslim with reference to it: –
1. That it shall be repeated aloud, at least once in a life-time.
2. That the meaning of it shall be fully understood.
3. That it shall be believed in “by the heart.”
4. That it shall be professed until death.
5. That is shall be recited correctly.
6 That it shall be always professed and declared without hesitation (Sharku ‘l-Wiqayah)
I testify that there is no deity but God, and Muhammad is the Apostle of God.”
It is the belief of Muslims that the first part of this creed which is called the naf I was ishut, namely, There is no deity but God,” has been the statement of belief of every Prophet since the days of Adam, and that the second portion has been changed according to the dispensation; for example, that in the days of Moses it would be “There is no deity but God, and Moses is the Converser with God.” In the Christian dispensation, it was “There is no deity but God, and Jesus is the Spirit of God.”
Jabir relates that Muhammad said “the keys of Paradise are bearing witness that there is no deity but God.”
The recital of the Kalimah or Creed, is the first of five pillars of practical religion in Islam: and when anyone is converted to Islam he is required to repeat this formula, and the following are the conditions required of every Muslim with reference to it: –
1. That it shall be repeated aloud, at least once in a life-time.
2. That the meaning of it shall be fully understood.
3. That it shall be believed in “by the heart.”
4. That it shall be professed until death.
5. That is shall be recited correctly.
6 That it shall be always professed and declared without hesitation (Sharku ‘l-Wiqayah)
Based on Hughes, Dictionary of Islam
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