Auron ka hai Payaam aur, mera Payaam aur hai, / Ishq key dardmand ka tarz-e-kalaam aur hai! (Iqbal)
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 Risaalah 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.
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?
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.
BEARERS OF THE BANNER OF TRUTH
Muslims are the bearers of truth and good news to the world – to all of humanity, regardless of race or religion. The world may not know this, and the Muslims themselves may not realize this, but they are.
Muslims are the people who are duty-bound to bring to the world the twin-truths of Laa Ilaaha Illallah and Muhammad Rasulullah – Tauheed and Risaalat, respectively.
And these two truths – “There is no God but Allah!” and “Muhammad is the messenger of God!” – are the nucleus of human existence on earth. They constitute the essence of human life in this world – and in the next world.
They are the twin keys that can lay open the secrets of the universe to the world of human experience. For, they are the ultimate truths about the universe and creation. About reality, that is.
That means this world of ours has a maker and master. And that master is God. Almighty! Glory, glory, glory to him!
Hallelujah!
Subhaanal Malikil Quddoos!
Paraphrase: Glory to the King, the Holy!
GOD AND HIS MESSENGER
A Connection between Heaven and Earth. In a sense, this is an abstract statement. By that I mean it pertains to the part of reality that is hidden from our senses. It belongs to the domain that the Qur’an refers to as Ghaib – the Unseen and the Unknown.
That means in the ultimate analysis the belief in the truth of this statement will have to come from inside you. Does or does not God exist, the final choice is going to be yours. It is you, all by yourself, who will have to make up your mind – on your own – one way or the other.
Nothing you see or experience in the world is going to give you one hundred percent certainty either way. Nothing will give you testable, verifiable, incontrovertible, irrefutable proof, beyond a shadow of doubt, as scientists would say, about the existence or non-existence of God.
At some point in your life and in the course of your search, you will have to close your eyes and say: Yes, I believe! He is out there and I know it. Nothing will make me believe otherwise.
That final and categorical assertion will have to come from deep down in your own soul.
It also means Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, is the connection between God in heaven and human beings on earth. May God Almighty bless him and all the other prophets and messengers of God such as Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Solomon, David and Joseph. That is what it means to say: Muhammad Rasulullah!
COMBINING ABSTRACT WITH CONCRETE
This second declaration has elements of both the abstract and concrete in it. It is the connection between heaven and earth.
To the extent it refers to God and to Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam’s divine messengership and prophethood, it belongs to the realm of Ghaib that lies beyond the purview of our senses.
But when the focus shifts to the earthly facts and realities of Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, as a historic individual who occupied certain known space-time coordinates in this world, this statement falls squarely within the realm of the visible and the verifiable.
It becomes the property of human experience.
That means no reasonable person can deny that Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, existed in this world 1400 years ago as surely and certainly as you and I exist today. It also means that no one can seriously doubt or question the validity of the fact that he did all the wonderful things that historical records indicate he did.
As a result, this particular aspect of this statement belongs to the world, not of Ghaib, but of what the Qur’an calls Shahaadah – that is, the visible and manifest world; a world that you can see with the naked eye as it were; a world that is open to investigation and verification using our senses.
It means a world whose presence or absence and the details of whose nature and character in this world can be attested and testified to by our own senses, logic, analysis, data and facts.