Our “Kalmah Shada” in action or practice. The first pillar of Islam is the ‘Kalmah Shada’ which we are taught, is a verbal profession of faith. This is the greatest gift that the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, has brought down to us from Allah, The All Wise.
With the name of Allah most Beneficient ever Merciful
Just these few words of the ‘Kalmah Shada’ translates into a code of conduct or an all-embracing formula to achieve success in this worldly life and the hereafter.
Our ‘Kalmah Shada’ is not about worshipping Allah alone only, when it comes to our prayer, but it is also about the way we approach and tackle every aspect of life. It must not be mere words but these words must be translated into action.
For starters it teaches us to solely depend on Allah, The Sustainer. Take a lesson from the animals. They never hoard food yet, every day, billions of animals get their sustenance by the Grace of Allah, The Provider.
Therefore we must never think that ‘I worked hard and I earned it‘ or that I have the qualifications that brought me my sustenance but instead we must always think that Allah, The All Encompassing has provided us either directly or He has given us the health, the opportunity and the means to earn.
Without these boons we would not be able to earn. Islam teaches us to control our greed and not to hoard and instead to spend in charity.
We must never fear that Allah, The Eternal, would not be able to take care of us if we spend all our wealth in His path.
When Hazrath Abu Bakar (RA) brought in his charity, the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, asked him ‘what he had left for himself and his family’ and he replied that I have left Allah and His Rasool, peace be upon him, for them.
This, basically, is practising the ‘Kalma Shada. ‘ He depended on no one and nothing else but Allah and His Rasool, peace be upon him. He never placed his trust in material possessions but he placed his trust in Allah, The Provider.
The Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, said that this is an example of someone having complete faith.
“Such is Allah, your Lord! there is no other, cannot be and will never be One worthy of Worship but He, the Creator of all things; therefore worship Him, for He is the Disposer of all affairs.” Al Quran 6:102
Secondly, when we pray we must never think that we are pious and that we are entitled to ‘jannath.’ This is just like depending on our ability to earn instead of depending on Allah, The All Mighty.
We all commit sins and most of the time we do not even realise that we are committing sins. No matter how much we pray or how much we serve humanity we must never develop pride and think well of ourselves or think that we are entitled to paradise.
Instead, we must place all trust in Allah Subhanatallah and hope and pray for his Mercy and guidance. Can you see that this is in tune with our ‘Kalmah Shada’: depend solely on Allah, The Absolute, for everything.
Salih’s (AS) warning and guidance to his people: “My people! Worship Allah, you have no One worthy of worship other than He. It is He Who brought you forth from the earth and made you dwell therein. So seek protection of Him and turn to Him in repentance. Verily, my Lord is nearby, Responsive (to prayers).”” Al Quran 11:61
Thirdly, we must fear no one; we must fear nothing.
If Allah, The Most Powerful, wills that we live, then even if an atom bomb falls on our head we would survive and if he wills that we die then even an ant could kill us.
An air hostess fell a good few kilometres from a ruptured plane and she survived. Hamman; a proud, wealthy man suffered and finally died when a tiny insect entered into his body.
That group of Muslims that stood at Badar practised this. They were a small, ill equipped band of people facing a mighty army yet they firmly stood their ground; they placed their trust in Allah, The Protector and His Messenger, peace be upon him.
This kind of attitude is practising the “Kalima Shada”, no one and nothing else but Allah and His Rasool, peace be upon him.
“To Allah belong the hidden realities of the heavens and the earth. To Him all matters stand referred. So worship Him and put your trust in Him; for your Lord is not at all unmindful of what you do.” Al Quran 11:123
Fourthly, look at everyone with the same eye, be he rich or be he poor; be it male or be it female; be he black or be he white; be he educated or be he uneducated.
Never suck up to a wealthy man nor shun the beggar or think inferior of someone from another race group etc.
“Say, “O people of the Scripture! Let us agree to a proposition common to us both that we worship none but Allah and, that we associate no partner with Him and that some of us shall not hold others as lords besides Allah.’…” Al Quran 3:64.
Each and every one of us is a creation of Allah, The best of Creators, and by looking down on some people we are in essence looking down on Allah’s creation.
Respect everything and everyone because everything is from Allah. We must never resort to bribery, lying or stealing to get out of a situation but instead we must stay firm in our convictions.
Hazrath Bilal (RA) is a perfect example of this; he differed from his wealthy master and no matter how much he tortured him, he never wavered from his faith.
This worldly life is a test. We are most definitely going to face different situations where our faith will be tested. When we pass these tests we must never credit ourselves. Even passing these tests is a favour and a blessing from Allah, The Most Merciful.
Ebrahiem’s (AS) prayer: “Our Lord! Make us both submissive servants to You (alone), and (raise) from our progeny a community (preaching virtue and) submissive to You, and show us our ways of worship and turn to us with mercy, for only You are the Oft-Returning (with compassion), the Ever Merciful.” Al Quran 2:128
The ‘Kalma Shada’ teaches us to focus on Allah, The Omnipresent, at all times and in everything we do. No other activity must take precedence over this and no occupation must distract us from this.
We obviously need to do the things that life demands of us but we must never make these things the focus of our lives. We must be moderate in our eating, living conditions, working, entertainment etc.
Even while engaged in these activities we should keep Him in mind and conduct our affairs in a manner that would please Him. Can you see that our aim in life must be only Allah, The Ultimate.
Starting off every activity with the name of Allah Subhanatallah inculcates within us Allah consciousness at all times.
As human beings our ‘nafs’ or egos would always want us to be on top. We love to show off about our achievements, our possessions, our children, our piety etc. We have this subtle way of making our achievements known to others.
Not only does this distract us from remembering Allah but this is totally against this ‘kalima’ of ours. We are doing things to make a name for ourselves and it amounts to worshipping ourselves. All praises belong to Allah Subhanatallah only.
There are a few exceptions that Allah, The Magnificent, makes when it comes to service. He also commands us to serve our parents, His Messengers, His Friends (Aulia Allah) and to serve humanity. This entails respecting, revereing, loving and aiding these people, for the sake of Allah.
So although the Quranic verses mention Allah only we have included obeying “His Messenger”. This is not contradictory because the name of Muhammad Salallahu Alayhe Wasallam also appears in this ‘Kalmah Shada”. Allah guides us by His Chosen ones and in essence, obeying them is obeying Allah.
Loving and worshiping Allah, Our Lord, should therefore not make us into proud, stern, judgemental, hard hearted, violent people but instead it should make us into humble, loving, caring, soft hearted, forgiving, well-mannered people that have good relationships with everyone.
We must be good to others for the sake of Allah, The all Encompassing, and this too is worshipping Him alone.
There is yet another lesson we can learn: Just as there is so much to learn from this ‘kalima’ so too everything in Islam has meaning. We must not reduce our religion to dogmas but we should contemplate over everything so that we could derive the maximum benefit out of it by incorporating these lessons into our lives. End.
Peace and salutations be upon Allah’s Messengers who are responsible for guiding humanity throughout time. Ameen.
Published by Anjuman e Waris e Mohammedi. 2015.
The Anjuman e Waris e Mohammedi was founded by Dr/Hakim Hazrath Khwaja Sayed Shareef Ahmed Ali Shah RA (lovingly known as Hazrath Poona Wale Shah Saab RA).
Author: Mohamed Hassan Gaffoor WhatsApp; +27 84 910 1486