In answer to the video "What is your favorite Shahada???"
The Quran and the traditions put great emphasis on the eminence of the prophets as epitomizing spiritual uprightness, all the while making sure that no ambiguity exists as to their servitude to the One God worthy of worship.
Nothing encapsulates that notion more than the shahada which places God as the only entity worthy of worship, side by side with Muhammad who is nothing but His messenger.
The Quran requires from the prophet in turn, to declare belief in God and the past prophets equally 2:285. The Shahada is a testimony in which the fundamental principles that concentrate all tenets of the Book are mentioned. It isnt meant at listing all the tenets of Islam, but at mentioning the aspects that encapsulate them most. This is very similar to the Biblical notion of the "10 sayings", erroneously rendered 10 "commandments" in Christian Bibles. These 10 sayings encapsulate the entire 613 mosaic commandments revealed at Sinai for the Jewish people. In the case of the shahada, the fundamental tenets mentioned are; belief in only one entity worthy of worship, Allah, and obedience to His messenger Muhammad. The first part stresses uncompromising monotheism. That part is stated in the negative rather than the positive. This is because the true challenge is not to believe in a single creator but to cleanse oneself of partnering with Him, whether it is another deity, worldly authority, or personal desire. The second part of the shahada stresses belief in all that was brought by that divinely appointed human being, as well as adherence to the community established through him. If these 2 components are understood and accepted, one has uttered the complete testimony to Islam.
Of course a hypocrite or liar can testify outwardly without inner conviction 49:14-17,63:1. Their disregard and lowly opinion for that which they claim belief in, does not however diminish anything of its truth and value so long as God is testifying to the truth. Even if the most noble witnesses attest to the truth of those principles, God remains the supreme and most valuable witness, because He is the highest standard of Truth
4:166"But Allah bears witness by what He has revealed to you that He has revealed it with His knowledge, and the angels bear witness (also); and Allah is sufficient as a witness".
The Quran hardly has a page which does not address the central religious issue of striving in God's way through trials of ease and hardship, where one will have to assert his will freely and choose to act within the limits of Allah. This hard struggle will go on, uninterrupted until the day where all will return to Him 84:6 and the road to the highest places is sometimes compared to an uphill climb 90:4-18, or as Jesus says to a tight path leading to a narrow door Matt7:13-14. This verse 90:4 does not speak of evil or of a wicked human nature, it is referring to the difficulties that will come in man's life as an inevitable consequence of him being a volitional creature, as stated in the following verses
90:8-10"Have We not given him two eyes, And a tongue and two lips, And pointed out to him the two conspicuous ways?"
Elsewhere the Quran eloquently uses the image of life being a vast ocean upon which man is constantly trying to remain afloat, and the manner to do so is given as spiritual strengthening through righteous deeds
73:1-10,29:2-3"Do men think that they will be left alone on saying, We believe, and not be tried? And certainly We tried those before them, so Allah will certainly know those who are true and He will certainly know the liars".
This purification process is necessary for a soul's success in the Hereafter 87:14. The success will only be possible when one, out of conviction stands before God in an attitude called ihsan
4:125"And who has a better religion than he who submits himself entirely(in ihsan) to Allah? And he is the doer of good (to others) and follows the faith of Ibrahim, the upright one".
This is the purest definition of Islam -willful servitude to God- and no other way is acceptable to Him. Mere declaration isnt enough, one must be able to withstand the requirements of that obedience despite the moments of hardship and ampleness, until his last breath 3:102. The key to that successful end is to have the quality of sabr/steadfastness and constancy, epitomised by the greatest prophets and the manner in which they endured the trials of life while maintaining spiritual uprightness in words, intentions and deeds not once, but throughout their lives, striving to maintain it as a prominent spiritual trait 16:127,13:28.
The importance of being entirely submitted to God is emphasized in past scriptures too 2Chron30:8,Job22:21. After the prophet Muhammad, submission to God entailed accepting His revelations and laws which have reached their ultimate form with the Quran. Of course some may hypocritically submit without sincere belief and the Quran repeatedly speaks of, and exposes this behaviour
49:14"The dwellers of the desert say: We believe. Say: You do not believe but say, We submit; and faith has not yet entered into your hearts..".
The prophet said
"Faith/iman consists of more than sixty branches (i.e. parts). And Haya (This term "Haya" covers a large number of concepts which are to be taken together; amongst them are self respect, modesty, bashfulness, and scruple, etc.) is a part of faith."
The early Muslims in particular who were threatened by the phenomenon of religious hypocrisy, distinguished between one that enters Islam and one that implements it with sincerity
"I asked, "O Allah's Messenger! Why have you left that person? By Allah I regard him as a faithful believer." The Prophet commented: "Or merely a Muslim."
Iman literally means "to feel secure". It entails complete trust, in a religious context, to God besides Whom there is no protector. The word is most appropriate considering the objective of the religion, which is to build a relationship between the individual and his Creator. Through pondering on the signs surrounding the individual, external and internal, as well as the divine revelation, one progressively increases in iman 4:136,47:17,48:4 until a level of submission is reached that entails a detailed and entire dedication of one's life to that new system
43:69,2:208"O you who believe/alatheena amanu, enter into submission one and all".
Iman and that ultimate level of submission therefore express themselves through one's deeds
49:15,2:25"And give glad tidings unto those who believe and do good works; that theirs are Gardens underneath which rivers flow" 14:31"Say to My servants who believe/alatheena amanu that they should keep up prayer and spend out of what We have given them secretly and openly before the coming of the day in which there shall be no bartering nor mutual befriending".
Allah also describes the high status of Muhammad and his companions, and then ends 48:29 with
"Allah has promised those among them who believe and do good, forgiveness and a great reward".
The phrase "among them" is highly significant and shows that even among these high ranked people, the honour and respect with Allah depends on real, concrete deeds, and most of all steadfastness and constancy on the straight path
16:110"Definitely, your Lord unto those who have migrated after being persecuted, then they struggled and patiently persevered; verily your Lord, after that, is forgiving Merciful"3:136"As for these, their reward is forgiveness from their Lord and Gardens beneath which rivers flow; therein they will abide forever. How blissful will the reward of (such) workers/aamilin be!".
The basic principle that the spiritual felicity does not depend on name or nomenclature, that no one can get honour with Allah except by true faith in, and total servitude to Him throughout one's life is reiterated many times
20:112,33:29,2:112"whoever submits his self entirely to Allah and he is the doer of good, he has his reward with his Lord".
The submission to Allah is therefore the merging of the correct belief, with the correct deeds
29:7,35:10"To Him do ascend the good words; and the good deeds, lift them up".
The shahada itself is not found mentioned in a single Quranic verse. But the repeated axiom throughout the Book of what constitutes correct faith is belief in Allah and unconditional obedience to His messenger. Although one is free to add any other tenet within the testimony, like the prophethood of a specific individual such as Jesus or Noah, or belief in the previous books, or the entities of the unseen such as the angels, the testimony of faith would remain incomplete if belief in Muhammad's prophethood isnt expressed. It would still leave many principles of the Book as unattested for. As well it would give the ambiguity that one has not fully adhered to the community established by Muhammad, or that Muhammad is a true prophet. On the other hand to testify to Muhammad's divine appointment, automatically entails belief in all that is propounded in the message he brought, which includes every single principle and tennet of the Book, indiscriminate honoring of all of God's prophets of whom Muhammad is part of, as well as adherence to the Islamic community. That is why one may only add specific testimonies of faith once the 2 main components have been uttered and accepted. Some may choose adding an aspect in relation to a previous belief system, such as Jesus being nothing but a prophet of God so as to stress one's dissociation from trinitarian Christianity, as is typically done by a former Christian.
In every day speak Muslims very often utter one or another aspect of the shahada in an isolated manner. A Muslim will often express that God is the only deity worthy of worship in a discussion, or that Muhammad is the messenger of God. It is even seen in all types of arts and engravings, past and present. This does not mean that a partial or incomplete shahada is being expressed. Nothing in any of those art works hint at or claim to be declarations of faith.
Jesus taught his followers the testimony of faith similar to the Muslim shahada
Jn17:3"And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent".Once again, 2 basic components for a clear testimony of faith, uncompromising monotheism on one side and adherence to a community established by a divinely appointed human being, distinct from the One God who sent him. That community must accept Jesus' leadership only, reorienting their past emotional and spiritual affiliations for new norms they are expected to live by
Lk14:26"If any man comes to me and does not hate his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers and sisters, and yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple".The Quran, when referring to the most honourable experiences of the prophet still calls him a slave, such as in the context of his chosenness, possessor of a miracle and taken on the israa and miraj 2:23,17:1,18:1. Therefore the Quran continuously stresses the prophet Muhammad being a slave of Allah like any Muslims 7:194, not possessing the keys of the unseen except what Allah granted him 7:188 and him being nothing but a warner and giver of glad tidings.
The issue of aqeedah/aqida is one that developed between the 8th-10th century by the likes of ibn Hanbal, abu Hasan al Ashari, al Shafi'i, al Maturidi or al Ghazali. These are the schools that have survived within sunni Islam. However, historically there have existed many more schools than these. Even today, there are minority schools within Sunni Islam, as well as major schools of thought outside of Sunni Islam. The scholars who formulated their aqeedah, felt the need to answer questions raised by new adherents to Islam with different cultural backgrounds and by non-Muslim critics, as the empire spread far beyond Arabia. A aqida or creed, takes the well established aspects of belief/iman, as stated in the Quran 2:177,4:136 such as God's oneness, resurrection, angels, books and prophets, and expounds upon each aspect in details. Sunnis have included qadar/predestination as a sixth point in light of the hadith of Gabriel
"Inform me about Iman (faith)." He (the Prophet) answered, "It is that you believe in Allah and His angels and His Books and His Messengers and in the Last Day, and in fate (qadar), both in its good and in its evil aspects".
Having the correct aqeedah consists for a large part of practicing Tawhid. Tawhid means Allah is One in His Lordship and no one has the power over the creation but Him. He is One in the right to be worshipped. He has Names and Attributes unique to Him. The prophet and the companions did not have to establish detailed creeds as they did not have to contend with the questions and doubts raised after their time. Not a single scholar or adherent to a particular creed negates those points, from Sunni to Shia. So, although the aqeedah of the prophet and the companion was very concise, the later scholars of Islam developed extremely detailed formulation of it. A Aqeedah became more like a lengthy argumentation in light of a particular scholar's philosophical, intellectual, vocabulary tools at hand. The vast majority of the points discussed in a aqeeda do not explicitly go back to the prophet or the companions, but are the result of a particular scholar's deductions, hence the divergences in aqeedas. One therefore doesnt need to agree on every single point of a scholar's articulation of the pillars of belief, if one is able to show that the point one disagrees with doesnt necessarily follow the premise, just as scholars disagreed among themselves on those details. The fact is throughout the centuries there were nuances on the fine points of aqeeda among scholars of the same school. The detailed articulations of the pillars of belief did not lead any Muslim group to deviate from worshiping one entity, to several, as happened to Christianity. Christians went as far in the development of their creeds that they had to invent new vocabulary, including the notion of "persons" to mask the reality of the tri-theism they fell into. The divergences between schools pertain, among other things to whether the descriptions of certain of God's attributes likes eyes and hands, should they be understood literally, metaphorically or one of the two depending on context and language? Does qadar cause human deeds directly by affecting human will, indirectly by causing freewill to exist or sometimes one or the other depending on context? As to the hadith on the 72 sects, the part stating that only 1 will be admitted to heaven is highly controversial in its isnad and even contradicts the plain meaning of many Quranic passages about the resurrection and judgement, where each individual will be raised alone to account for his own beliefs and actions.
Aqeeda differences are nothing like the differences in creeds within the Christian Church tradition for instance, where differences affect the nature of God, the hierarchy of the godhead, human nature, or the hereafter. For example does the holy spirit issue from the father or from both the father and son (who was "begotten" by the father)? What is the relation of humans with divine grace, do Christians become partakers or not of the divine nature? Will the dead go through a purgatory in the afterlife? Is sin a hereditary condition making all humans totally depraved, and that initiated with Adam or did his descendants inherit the state of mortality?
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