The First Pillar of the Pillars of Islam: Its Meaning and What It Entails

First question: Please explain to us, if you would be so kind, the meaning of the first pillar of the pillars of Islam and what that meaning entails? How is it realized in a person? And what is the ruling for one who is ignorant of something of it?

Answer: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance. As for what follows:
Indeed, Allah sent His Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) to all people, Arabs and non-Arabs, jinn and humans, males and females, calling them to the oneness of Allah and sincerity to Him, and to faith in him (peace and blessings be upon him) and in what he brought, and to faith in all the messengers, and in all the angels, and in the books revealed from the sky, and in the Last Day, which is the resurrection, the gathering, the recompense, the Reckoning, Paradise, and the Fire, and in the divine decree, its good and its evil. Indeed, Allah decreed the things, knew them, counted them, and wrote them , and everything that happens is by the decree and destiny of Allah and His effective will . He commanded people to testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. This is the first thing the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called to, and it is the first pillar of the pillars of Islam: the testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. When he said to people: and commanded them to believe that he is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), most of them refused and denied this call. And Quraysh said to him what Allah mentioned about them: [Surat Sad: 5].
And He, the Exalted, said about them: [al-Saffat:35-36] They rejected this call because they had lived in the worship of idols and statues, and the worship of these gods alongside Allah . Therefore, they denied the call of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to the oneness of Allah and sincerity to Him. This is what he (peace and blessings be upon him) called to, and it is what all the messengers called to, as He (Glorified and Exalted is He) said: : [al-Nahl:36] And He, the Exalted, said: [al-Anbiya:25].
In the two Sahihs, it is narrated from Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: .
And in the Sahih, it is also narrated from 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was approached by a questioner asking him in the form of a man with very white clothes and very black hair, with no sign of travel on him, and none of those present recognized him. He said, "O Muhammad, inform me about Islam." He said: He said, "You have spoken the truth." The Companions said, "We were amazed at him, asking him and he confirming him." Then he said, "Inform me about faith." He said to him: He said, "You have spoken the truth." He said, "Inform me about excellence in worship." He said: the hadith.
Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed them that this questioner was Jibril (peace be upon him) who came to them to teach them their religion, because they had not asked. Jibril came to them by the command of Allah, asking about this great religion so that they would learn and benefit. So the religion of Islam is built upon these five apparent pillars:
The first is: the testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
The second is: establishing the five daily prayers.
The third is: paying the obligatory alms.
The fourth is: fasting Ramadan.
The fifth is: performing the major pilgrimage to the House of Allah for whoever is able to find a way to it.
And upon inner pillars of faith in the heart, which are: faith in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and the divine decree, its good and its evil.
So it is necessary to have these foundations, which are that the one obligated by the law believes in these six inner foundations that pertain to the heart. He believes that Allah is his Lord and his God, and He is the Truth, (Glorified and Exalted is He), and he believes in the angels of Allah and in the books of Allah that He revealed to the prophets, from the Torah, the Gospel, the Psalms, the Qur'an, and other books revealed to the prophets. He also believes in the messengers whom Allah sent to His servants, the first of whom is Noah and the last of whom is Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). They are many, and Allah mentioned some of them in the great Qur'an. He also believes in the Last Day, which is the resurrection after death, the Reckoning, the recompense, and the other matters of the Hereafter. So the people of faith have happiness and Paradise, and the people of disbelief have failure, regret, and the Fire. And it is necessary to believe in the divine decree, its good and its evil, and that Allah decreed the things, knew them, wrote them, and counted them. So what Allah willed happened, and what He did not will did not happen. And everything in existence, of good and evil, obedience and disobedience, has preceded in it the knowledge of Allah, His writing, and His decree .
So the first great principle that the messengers came with is: faith that Allah is the true God (Glorified and Exalted is He) . This is the meaning of the testimony that there is no god but Allah. This is an authentic principle upon which all the messengers (peace and blessings be upon them) agreed; they all called to this authentic principle, which is that people believe that Allah is the true God and that there is no deity worthy of worship in truth other than Him. This is the meaning of "there is no god but Allah," namely: there is no true deity worthy of worship except Allah. And whatever people worshipped of idols, trees, stones, prophets, awliya (close friends of Allah), or angels, it is all invalid. So true worship is for Allah alone (Glorified and Exalted is He) , as He, the Exalted, said: [al-Baqarah:163] And He, the Exalted, said: [al-Isra:23] And He, the Exalted, said: [al-Fatihah:5] And He, the Exalted, said: [al-Bayyinah:5] And He (Glorified and Exalted is He) said: : [al-Hajj:62].
And along with this foundation, it is necessary to believe in the messengers (peace and blessings be upon them) from the time of Adam (peace be upon him) and after him. So in the time of Adam, it was upon his descendants to follow what Allah revealed to him and legislated for him of knowledge and action, the foundation of which is the oneness of Allah and sincerity to Him, and faith in his messenger and prophet, Adam (peace be upon him). And in the time of Noah and after him, it was upon his people to believe in Noah and follow what he brought, along with the oneness of Allah and sincerity to Him.
Noah (peace be upon him) was the first messenger sent to the people of the earth after they had fallen into associating partners with Allah. Before that, the people were upon the oneness of Allah with which Allah sent Adam (peace be upon him) and taught his descendants. In the time of Hud, the people of Hud were required to believe in Hud and follow what he brought, along with the oneness of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). In the time of Salih, the people of Salih were required to believe in Salih and follow what he brought, along with the oneness of Allah. And so it was in the time of every messenger: it is obligatory to have the oneness of Allah and to believe that there is no god but Allah. Along with that, it is obligatory to believe in the messenger and follow what he brought, up to the time of Jesus (peace be upon him), the last of the prophets of the Children of Israel, who is Jesus, the son of Mary (peace be upon him). Then Allah sent their seal and their best, our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). So Jesus is the last of the prophets of the Children of Israel, and Muhammad is the last of the prophets and the seal of all the messengers; there is no prophet or messenger after him (peace and blessings be upon him). He is the best of the messengers, their leader, and their seal. Therefore, it is obligatory for the Ummah, the Ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)—jinn and humans, Arabs and non-Arabs, males and females, the rich and the poor, the rulers and the ruled—to believe in this Prophet and in the prophets and messengers before him (peace and blessings be upon them). Whoever does not believe in him has no Islam and no religion. It is obligatory to believe that Allah is the true God and that there is no true god but Allah. It is obligatory to believe in Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and that he is truly the Messenger of Allah to all people. Whoever does not believe in these two testimonies is not a Muslim. It is obligatory to believe in them and to hold their meaning in one's heart. The meaning of "There is no god but Allah" is that there is no true object of worship but Allah. So it is not permissible to worship with Allah an angel, a prophet, a tree, a stone, a jinn, an idol, or anything else. If one says, "O Messenger of Allah, help me," after his death (peace and blessings be upon him), or says, "O my master al-Badawi, help me or cure my sick person," or "O my master al-Husayn," or "O my master Abdul Qadir," or "al-Maddad, al-Maddad" (come to the aid), or the like, all of this is shirk (associating partners with Allah) with Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) that invalidates the meaning of "There is no god but Allah," meaning it invalidates your saying: "There is no god but Allah," because you did not bring the worship to Allah alone; rather, you associated others with Allah and called upon others with Allah. And Allah says: [Al-Jinn: 18]. And He (Glorified and Exalted is He) says: [Yunus: 106]. And He (Glorified and Exalted is He) says: [Al-Bayyinah: 5]. And He (Glorified and Exalted is He) says: [Al-Isra: 23]. And He (Glorified and Exalted is He) says: [Al-Fatihah: 5]. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . And He (Exalted and Majestic is He) says: [Ghafir: 60]. So it is obligatory to make the worship sincere to Allah alone, and among that is supplication. If you say to the dead, or to a tree, or to an idol, "Help me, help me, cure my sick person," and the like, then this is major shirk (associating partners with Allah) with Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) that negates the saying "There is no god but Allah." And so, whoever lies about the Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), or about any of the other messengers and prophets (peace and blessings be upon them), or doubts his message, or says that it is for the Arabs only and not the non-Arabs, or says that he is not the seal of the prophets but that there is a prophet after him, all of this is major disbelief, misguidance, and a negation of Islam. We ask Allah for safety from it. From this, one knows the disbelief of the Qadiyyah because of their belief in the prophethood of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who is after the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) by many centuries. So it is obligatory to believe that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is truly the Messenger of Allah to both groups, the jinn and the humans. It is obligatory to believe that he is the seal of the prophets and messengers, with no prophet or messenger after him. And whoever claims prophethood after him, like Musaylimah the Liar, is a disbeliever in Allah and a liar. And so was al-Aswad al-'Ansi in Yemen, and Sajah al-Tamimiyyah, and al-Mukhtarah ibn Abi 'Ubayd al-Thaqafi, and others who claimed prophethood after him (peace and blessings be upon him). The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) and their satisfaction agreed upon their disbelief and fought them because they lied about the meaning of His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): [Al-Ahzab: 40]. And the hadiths have been mass-transmitted from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: (peace and blessings be upon him).
So this testimony, which is the testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, is the fundamental principle and the first pillar of the pillars of Islam. There is no Islam except with these two testimonies in speech, action, and belief. If a person prays, gives zakah, fasts, performs Hajj, and remembers Allah much, but he does not believe that Allah is the one worthy of worship, then he is a disbeliever like the hypocrites. And so, if one says that there is no harm in worshipping idols and statues, and that there is no harm in worshipping al-Badawi or al-Husayn or Shaykh Abdul Qadir or Ali ibn Abi Talib, or others of the prophets or the awliya (close friends of Allah) or the angels or the jinn, whoever believes that it is permissible to worship them with Allah, and that it is permissible to seek aid from them and make vows to them, has become one who associates partners with Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and his speech and belief have become a negation of the saying "There is no god but Allah" and an invalidation of it, due to the saying of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He): [Al-An'am: 88] and His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He) : [Az-Zumar: 65]. And so, if one says that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is not the seal of the prophets, or that he is not sent to both groups but only to the Arabs, he is a disbeliever in Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) by explicit text and the consensus of the scholars. It is obligatory for the one who is accountable to believe that he is the Messenger of Allah to both groups, and it is obligatory to believe that he is the seal of the prophets with no prophet or messenger after him. This is the fundamental principle. After this, the Muslim is required to perform the prayer, give zakah, fast, perform Hajj, and the rest of the commands, and to leave the prohibitions. And along with the belief that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, it is obligatory to affirm all the past prophets and that they delivered the message and conveyed it (peace and blessings be upon them). And along with all of this, it is obligatory to affirm what Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) informed about, whether it has happened or will happen in the last of times and on the Day of Resurrection.