The shahada

The shahada is pronounced: "Ash-hadou an la ilaha illa-Llah, wa ash-hadou anna Mouhammadan rassoulou-Llah": I testify that there is no deity worthy of worship besides Allah, and I testify that Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah. It is pronounced once, with sincerity and conviction. Pronouncing it in Arabic is recommended, but not required: the new Muslim can begin in his own language and learn Arabic afterwards.

The text of the shahada

The shahada (the testimony) is the formula that brings one into Islam. Here it is in three writings:

أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لا إِلٰهَ إِلّا اللّهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللّهِ

Transliteration: Ash-hadou an la ilaha illa-Llah, wa ash-hadou anna Mouhammadan rassoulou-Llah.

Translation: "I testify that there is no deity worthy of worship besides Allah, and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."

This testimony is not a late invention: the Quran says of the scholars and the angels that they testify that there is no deity but Allah (Quran 3:18), and it orders the Prophet (peace be upon him) himself: "Then know [O Prophet] that none has the right to be worshiped except Allah" (Quran 47:19). To testify to it is the highest of acts of faith.

The shahada: the meaning word by word

• Ash-hadou: "I testify", I declare it with certainty, from the bottom of my heart and with my word.
• An la ilaha: "that there is no deity": one denies that anything else deserves worship (money, persons, idols, desires).
• Illa-Llah: "besides Allah": one affirms that Allah alone is Creator, provider and worthy of all worship. It is tawhid, the oneness of Allah.
• Wa ash-hadou anna Mouhammadan rassoulou-Llah: "and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah": one accepts his message, the Quran and his way (the Sunna), and one takes him as a guide.

The shahada is therefore a negation and an affirmation: one empties the heart of all worship directed toward other than Allah, then one fills it with the worship of Allah alone and the following of His messenger.

The seven conditions of the shahada

The classic Chourout la ilaha illa-Llah (The conditions of "no deity besides Allah") by imam al-Hazimi lists seven conditions, without which the testimony does not produce its full effect:

• Knowledge (al-'ilm): knowing what one denies and what one affirms in pronouncing these words.
• Certainty (al-yaqin): a conviction that no doubt comes to contradict.
• Sincerity (al-ikhlas): a pure testimony, with no worldly aim.
• Truthfulness (as-sidq): that the tongue says what the heart believes.
• Love (al-mahabba): loving this testimony and all it implies.
• Submission (al-inqiyad): accepting the duties that flow from it.
• Acceptance (al-qabul): not rejecting, out of pride or habit, what Islam teaches.

For the new Muslim, these conditions describe a path rather than an entrance exam: one strengthens them by learning and practising, starting with the sincerity that presided over your conversion.

How to pronounce the shahada?

• With sincerity: conviction in the heart is the central condition. A formula recited mechanically, without believing, does not bring one into Islam.
• Understanding it: reread the meaning above before pronouncing it.
• Aloud or quietly: both are valid. Aloud, it is a more solemn moment and can be attested by your relatives.
• Once suffices. Choose a calm moment, when you will not be interrupted.
• In your language or in Arabic: Arabic is recommended and the transliteration above allows you to say it correctly from the first day; the translation in your own language remains valid.

What the shahada changes at the very instant

From the sincere pronunciation, you are Muslim. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to Amr ibn al-As: "Do you not know that Islam erases what preceded it?" (Sahih Muslim 121). All your former sins are erased: you begin with a clean record.

All that remains is to learn: follow the complete path to becoming a Muslim, starting with the first steps after conversion.