The Declaration of Faith as Protection

“Every action is by it’s intention”

Strangely this facet of our belief on one occasion does an about turn. 

Every action shall be judged by its intention, is a means for us to check our intention before the action. For us to check our action before it is too late. 

The English have another saying which is no less true: “the path to hell lies paved with good intentions”. The Khawarij did not intend harm, but their ceding from Ali (ra) on grounds which proved that they knew nothing of the religion beyond it’s rituals, said more about who they were and where they were destined for, than those rituals themselves. 

The one act that in our religion completely turns this understanding of intention preceding action on its head, is the one thing that makes us Muslim in the first place. 

For when we suggest that a person take the Shahadah, we are not required to check and interrogate their beliefs. 

We do not need to ensure that their intentions are pure. 

Indeed it is the declaration of faith that guarantees protection. 

Classically we all recall that when Ali (ra) was fighting an enemy and he spat on him, that Ali left him be, because he did not want to fight out of anger. 

The fight was fought for good over evil, and once it became personal then that pure fight left him, and he left it. 

Likewise on a field of battle it is the saying of the Shahadah that conferred protection, even that is when the enemy was at his last straw. 

It is this fact of our religion that conferred on it the erroneous idea that Islam was spread by the sword. 

Because once said irrespective of your intention, whether to avert your imminent death, or for any other reason, it was accepted as a fact. 

That the saying of it did not require us to check their beliefs, nor even instruct them in the prayer, nor in anything else except as they wished and wanted. 

They were Muslim. 

And were counted amongst the brotherhood and sisterhood of Islam. 

Indeed it is the Shahadah that confers protection on us all, as is narrated in Hadith ul-bitaka, that Muadh (ra) only gave up to us on his death bed. 

And then we have the case of the man who came to the Messenger (saw) whilst a battle raged, and asked to be allowed to fight alongside the Muslims. 

The Messenger (saw) asked, are you a Muslim?

The man said no, and the Messenger refused. 

Thrice this happened and thrice was the refusal. 

And then the man took his Shahadah and was allowed to fight with the Muslims. 

Consider the Messenger (saw) knew what his response would be on to the two following questions and yet continued to ask “Are you a Muslim?”

The Shahada does not need to be heartfelt, because the transformative power of it is awe inspiring. 

Indeed many people who enter into the fold of Islam talk about a weight being lifted from them, or about the intense feeling of them doing something which is incredible. 

But we who are born into it, cannot feel this transformative power unless we enter into it in fullness. 

The Shahadah- I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except the One True GOD, and Muhammed is his Messenger-

• is enough to clear all of your sins, to make you as a new born baby in both God’s eyes and the eyes of the Muslims. 
• is enough to make you accepted as a fellow Muslim, by the whole brotherhood of Islam. 
• is enough to confer protection upon you, for in essence it is a treaty that you bind with the Most Gracious. And that the Muslims honour. 
• is enough to guarantee you paradise, if you stay true. 

 Knowledge is sought through study and contemplation, not through lectures and talks, nor this above.