IslamicSolutions.Com

Muslim Search for Identity

But why?

Why do Muslims keep forgetting these important lessons about the very core of their identity and culture? And why do they seem to be wandering the vistas of life and history forever looking for answers to questions that must be imprinted in their souls like the print of Sajdah-marks shines brightly from the foreheads of many of them.

That is what happens to people who allow ignorance, narrow-mindedness, selfishness and incompetence to ascend to their leadership. And that is what happens when lust for power, position, name, fame, recognition and personal gain and advantage infuse and drive the thoughts, motivations and actions of that leadership.

The name in the Qur’an for all these things grouped together is Hawaa. Even that the Muslims manage to misunderstand or forget. They call it “base desires.” And they mean by it such terrible things as lust for sex and such other things.

Whereas Hawaa is a catch-all term that stands for a wide range of deviances in the human psyche and character that passes for normal by most moral and social scales, and yet which is at the root of all sorts of problems and ailments that afflict individuals and societies, both Muslim and non-Muslim.

Muslims Know Their Shahadats

Yet, in a strange way, no one among Muslims questions or doubts the fact that for anyone to be a Muslim, the two Shahaadatain or the set of twin testimonies or evidence must be in place – the two declarations or proclamations of faith as they are sometimes referred to.

One Shahaadat is about God Almighty: La Ilaaha Illallah – the declaration or announcement or proclamation that there is no God but God.

The other is about God’s last messenger to his creation: Muhammad Rasulullah. Or a variation thereof such as Anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluhu – the declaration or proclamation or announcement that Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, is a slave and messenger of Allah.

Muslims at some abstract level fully understand that those are the two basic facts you are asserting or proclaiming or conveying or announcing or testifying to when you say you are a Muslim. They know the twin-testament of their faith.

They also know that is what makes you a Muslim.

In other words, that is what it means to be a Muslim. That means, if you have hesitation about these twin facts or would balk at declaring or announcing them to the rest of the world – unless of course you fear for your life or something like that – then you are not a Muslim.

This, however, was the easy part of the Shahaadatain.

The difficult part is figuring out the implications and modalities of the expression Shahaadat itself. By modalities I mean the exact behaviors, operations and means and mechanisms using which these twin-Shahadats are delivered in actual practice.

Everything about You Must Provide the Shahaadat

If you are looking for a quick answer from me, here it is: Shahaadah means the way you live all your life in this world, individually as well as collectively, personally as well as socially and institutionally.

That means every aspect of a Muslim’s personal, social, economic, cultural and political life must testify, bear witness, provide testimony, proclaim and convey to the rest of the world that God is the only God and Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, is his last and final messenger to his entire creation.

Every cell in your body, every breath you take and every single one of your actions on earth must provide evidence and testimony to those two facts and to your deep and abiding faith in and commitment to them.

Your individual actions must bear such witness and give such Shahaadat. Your relations with your wife, husband, children, parents and other relatives must provide such evidence. So must your treatment of your neighbors and your dealing with your colleagues at work and your business partners.

At a more collective level, so must your courts and parliament; your cabinet and your various government agencies; your military, business and financial and industrial institutions.

So also must your sports organizations and activities; your cultural institutions and entertainment events; and your professional life at all levels as well as your leisure pursuits.

In other words, the first requirement of Shahaadat is that every aspect, part and dimension of your life, both individual and collective, must bear that witness and provide that evidence.

Shahaadah, thus, is the declaration and proclamation, in private as well as in public, of your entire body, mind and soul, and of every single aspect and dimension of your life and society and culture, of the truth of what you are asserting, stating or bearing witness to and providing testimony and evidence about.

Shahaadat Must Use the Nicest Means

Islam is the divine name for doing everything the best possible way such that it will guarantee you and everyone else the best possible life in this world as well as in the next world.

Therefore, the second requirement of Shahaadat is that the testimony and evidence you provide – the declaration and proclamation you make – must include every lawful, legitimate and peaceful means at your disposal.

Making sure all the time that those are the nicest and most wonderful means you can think of. Because, that is what Islam is all about. Islam is about living life in the nicest and most wonderful way possible both for you and for everyone else in this world.

It must include the best and finest forms of speech, communication and expression, just as it must include the best and finest forms of action, behavior and conduct.

How Humans Communicate

Human beings communicate in all sorts of different ways. Sometimes they do so by saying something, whereas on other occasions they do it by remaining silent and not saying anything.

At times they scream from the rooftops. At other times, they speak in the quietest of whispers. Sometimes they are gentle and soft and coo like a dove. At other times, they screech and bark in the harshest of voices and tones and roar like a lion.

Sometimes their communication is through words, and sometimes it is through gestures and body language. Sometimes they communicate personally one on one or in small and large groups, whereas some other times they communicate using all sorts of media and technologies to all kinds of large audiences.

In the same way, humans also communicate through the clothes they wear; the houses they build; the businesses they run; and through a wide range of other things they do or do not do.

Thus, human behavior is also a most powerful form of communication. Thus, war is powerful communication, just as activities for peace are also important forms of human expression and communication.

The Shahaadah you say you bear, therefore, must be in all these forms and at all these levels. It must include personal and media communication, and it must include all other forms of human expression and action.

Adhaan and Iqaamah: Daily Drill of Shaadatain

Thus, the two most important requirements of Shahaadah are that your testimony must occur in every aspect and level of your individual as well as collective life and that it must include all forms of communication, expression and action within the bounds of legality, morality and decency.

This is the lesson that the Muslims are taught 10 times a day: five times during Adhaan and five times during Iqaamah.

Adhaan is generally loud and from a high place such as a minaret. Consider it calling out or Shahadah from the rooftop. In many places these days the Adhaan is called using a loudspeaker or an amplifying device of some kind.

Iqaamat is softer and quieter, delivered inside the portals of the Masjid in a more personal and intimate way.

One is public, as public as it can be, while the other is a bit more private.

What a beautiful reminder of the Shahaadah Muslims must bear! No less than ten times a day.

Muslims Do Proclaim Tauheed and Risaalat from and Inside the Mosques

And the first of the two things about which you must bear witness and testimony and the truth of which you must announce, proclaim and convey to the entire world is Tauheed, the essence of which is: There is no God but God.

And the second is Risaalat: Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, is God’s messenger to the entire world.

When you consider the institutions of Adhaan and Iqaamah in Muslim societies and communities, there is reason for Muslims to take heart. There is reason for them to feel good. Muslims do proclaim to the world the truth of Tauheed and Risaalat at least ten times a day.

This is true at the level of individuals, communities and, in many cases, also of societies.

And Muslims do so at least in relation to Salaah or worship and at least using the form of public and private communication that Adhaan and Iqaamah provide.

But they do so mostly within and from the confines of the mosque or Masjid.

The World Awaits the Muslim Testimony outside the Mosque

In the meantime, the world awaits the Muslim testimony, which has been a long time in coming.

What is sad and disheartening is that the testimony of most Muslims stops at the doors of the Masjid and does not carry over to other places involving their lives, just as it is limited to their Namaaz or Salaat and does not cover all other aspects and parts of their lives.

What is most disheartening is that most Muslims not only limit their proclamation and testimony to the formal Shahaadatain of Adhaan and Iqaamah, but many of them do not even understand the broader implications of their own twin-testament of Ashhadu allaa ilaaha illallah and Ashhadu anna muhammadar rasulullah.

But Islam comes with its own remedy to these situations. Rather than allowing hopelessness to reign, Islam asks those who know and who understand to teach and remind those who do not know and do not understand.

What an amazing arrangement of system service and system maintenance! What a miracle of built-in safeguards and mechanisms for the protection, progress and perpetual regeneration of the system of Islam through the centuries and in all kinds of places around the world!

Talk about feedback, homeostasis and equilibrium.

The Qur’an says: Fa-dhakkir innamaa anta mudhakkir.

Paraphrase: So, remind them, that is your job: to tell people.

Allahu Akbar! What a miracle!

What an amazing system of thought, belief and behavior this Deen of Islam is! How can it be a human creation? How can it be considered merely a hapless hotchpotch of historical accidents or opinions of interested individuals laboring under the crippling limitations of space, time and their own unique cultural context and specificities?

More on the Implications of Shahaadatain

So, what do we understand when we say the following: “I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, is the messenger of God”?

Is it clear to us that what we are actually saying when we say “Ash-hadu” is all of the following: “I provide truthful testimony; it is my carefully considered judgment, belief and conviction; this is my most sober and serious testament; I give full, complete and honest evidence; I solemnly declare and proclaim; I categorically state and announce that there is no God but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, is the messenger of God?”

Are we entirely clear in our mind that that is what we are saying? Are we fully aware that we are making all these sober, serious and solemn statements, assertions, proclamations and declarations?

I suspect all too many of us are not.

And then how many of us think about the implications and consequences, for ourselves as well as for others, of the statements, assertions, declarations and proclamations we are making?

I am afraid not too many of us do.