Tashahhud

رسوله و عبده محمّداً انّ اشهد و الله الاّ الٰه لا ان اشهد

محمّد آل و محمّد على صلّ اللّهمّ

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah

and Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

O Allah! Send blessings on Muhammad and his progeny.

Among the obligatory parts of prayer is tashahhud which is recited in the second and last rak‘ahs of prayer. In the tashahhud we testify and bear witness to the Oneness of Allah and the apostleship [risālah] of His Prophet, Hadrat Muhammad (ṣ). Although we have testified again and again to these two facts in the adhān and iqāmah, those testimonies were at the time of the approach of the prayer and this testimony is at the end of the prayer.

There is wisdom behind all these repetitions. It is because man is easily subjected to negligence and forgetfulness, easily forgetting the Owner of the blessings. These sentences are like a rope that protects the ship of humanity from the waves of events.

The slogan of tawḥīd

“Lā ilāha illāllāh” is the first slogan of all the prophets (‘a).

“Lā ilāha illāllāh” is the testimony that all those who possess knowledge along with the angels do acknowledge:

﴾ شهِدَ اللَّهُ أَنَّهُ لا إِلَهَ إِلا هُوَ وَ الْمَلاَئكَةُ وَ أُولُوا الْعِلْمِ ﴿ “Allah bears witness that there is no god but Him—and [so do] the angels and those who possess knowledge.”[1]

“Lā ilāha illāllāh” is the sentence that every Muslim hears at birth, with which he will be buried and which will be recited at his grave [talqīn].

“Lā ilāha illāllāh” is the most beloved of sentences to God and the heaviest of deeds on the Scale.[2]

“Lā ilāha illāllāh” is the formidable fortress of God in which whoever enters is safe from His wrath:

“عَذابي مِنْ اَمِنَ حِصني دَخَلَ فَمَنْ حِصني الله اِلاَّ اِلٰهَ لا” “Lā ilāha illa’llāh is My fortress; so, whoever enters My fortress is safe from My wrath.”[3]

“Lā ilāha illāllāh” is the demarcation between kufr and Islam. Any unbeliever [kāfir] who recites it enters the fold of Islam. The Prophet (ṣ) criticized the Muslim who did not pay attention to one of the enemy soldiers when the latter recited “lā ilāha illāllāh” and killed him, saying: “With the utterance of this statement, anyone is safe even though we do not know whether he does so sincerely or not.”[4] 

“Lā ilāha illāllāh” is the slogan of the Muslims at the time of passing the Ṣirāṭ on the Day of Resurrection.[5]

We read in history that Abū Jahl said to the Prophet (ṣ): “Shall we abandon the 360 idols and accept One God? We are willing to utter 10 sentences but not this statement.” But the Prophet (ṣ) said: “It is this statement that will give you glory and power and will give you superiority over other communities.”[6]