The purpose of Shahada?
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Hi Burhan_21,
I agree.
never set up other gods with the one God
How is this possible?
If i say I believe in God, then buried under that word lies my definitions of what I believe God to be. When I say God, I'm not referring to what you or any other person in this world call god, rather what I myself call God.
I hope you catch my drift. I can never find The God as longs as I keep setting up definitions for God, becuase these are my definitions, with my weaknesses and strengths. But then, how can I find The God without these definitions?
I feel like a fish searching for the sea.
Nadeem.
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Peace be upon you all,
To follow what Burhan said, we don't need to make a statement about believing in the God, The God has made the universe based on laws, if we dont follow them we bring punishment on ourselves, if we follow them, we fulfill our destiny in peace, and that is the real success.
Having people witness you say yoy believe in the God means nothing as evidenced from the following statement.
(214) And if they met those who believed, they said "We believed". And if they were alone with to their emotions(shayateenihim) they said "That we are with you, but we are mocking ."
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Peace be upon you,
Quote
never set up other gods with the one GodHow is this possible?
Your "god" is whatever you serve. If you think and act according to Divine Law, which includes ONENESS and INTERCONNECTEDDNESS of life, then we always have in mind THE WHOLE. Not seperating what the God has ordered to be joined. Reading the signs from the horizons to within our spirits, not just a portion the world (portion of the book).
If you focus on the one tree(seperated part) rather than the garden(whole), if all of the malaiaka submit(whole), except you(seperated part), then you become egotistical, this makes seperation in the WHOLE, and you make partners for the God. You serve your emotions now, not the God. Dont worry about false "god's" being named, the partners are te emotions that you follow when you leave wholeness, Oneness.
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Peace Nadeem,
If i say I believe in God, then buried under that word lies my definitions of what I believe God to be. When I say God, I'm not referring to what you or any other person in this world call god, rather what I myself call God.
I hope you catch my drift. I can never find The God as longs as I keep setting up definitions for God, becuase these are my definitions, with my weaknesses and strengths. But then, how can I find The God without these definitions?
I feel like a fish searching for the sea.
Nadeem.
Do you mean to say that defining is limiting and a true god should be beyond definition?
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Hi dear Idolfree1,
I see your point and I'll think about it. Thanks for the input -)
Dear Taj,
Do you mean to say that defining is limiting and a true god should be beyond definition?
How can I answer this without adding to definition of God?
Well, Yes. Defining is limiting. And it doesn't make sense that God - that which is everything - to be limited. Thus, if The God is unlimited, how can It be defined?
How can the unlimited be limited?
Nadeem.
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Hi Nadeem
Hi Burhan_21,
I agree.
never set up other gods with the one God
How is this possible?
Thats why it's the first commandment, because it's not an easy thing to know or do. wink
If you look at the examples of prophets we are given, this commandment was the last thing they implemented. They were all good guys before they found the correct definition of God. Of couse after finding God, they rexamined and improved on their implementation of the commandments.
Your desire to find out is a good starting point. Just keep doing the right thing, keep praying and asking the one who created you to guide you.
peace.
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Hi Burhan_21,
Thanks for the analysis, and I agree. Believing in The God alone is difficult.
But still, I find it hard to accept that there is a definition for god.
When and for what do we use definitions? To limit and distinguish objects apart. For me to able to tell an elephant and a monkey apart, i need at least one definition. It can go something like "Elephant big; tall; grey; big ears; trunk; Huge feets...". I have now limited the object which is an elephant and am now able to tell it apart from the monkey.
However, I cannot limit God since It's omnipresent. How do I tell apart omni-presence from non-presence?
I apologize if I'm ambiguous.
Nadeem.
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Peace be upon you Pheonix,
i dont get what you're saying. From what i understand, you're telling us to follow the majority (but of course you arent).
No, not follow the majority, but instead be WHOLISTIC in your thinking and application. Dont say "God bless America", say and act "God bless ALL". Dont break into sects(religions), dont be racist, etc. Understand the connections of all things, we all breathe the same air, nourished by the same sun, effected by the same moon, etc.
Also, can you give an example of 1 tree versus a garden?
I just gave a few
When we take the focus off the whole, and focus on only a "portion of the book", run the risk of not running in accord with universal law. To be wholistic is to be God-like, thats why the God states , in this proclamation(quran), that if you forget God, the God will make you forget your own spirit, the energy/matter that "you" are suppossed to be directing as succesor to "earth". We direct it by the WILL, and the WILL is personified as "Isa, son of Maryiam". And you will see that Isa is connected with "ruh" throughout his story. And none must die without realizing "Isa".
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Salaam all,
For me personally, shahada is more of action rather than words. The sentence La ilah ha ilallaah means exactly that I will no longer serve any other "gods"/ILAH other than The God/Allah.
These other ILAHs can be anything women, money, power, my ego, public figure, mythical gods, man-made laws, man-made ideologies, etc. When GOD says in 933 that His DIN will be the winner of all other Non-GOD DINs, it means that I should put my orientation in life towards GOD Alone because it is the best DIN/System/Way of Life.
In other words, I will have to "return" my whole existence to Him. Or simply said, my contaminated "self"/nafs should be no longer there -- there are no more ILAHs that can corrupt my nafs. However, this is extremely hard to do as said in 3945. Humans have always the tendency to "follow" other Non-GOD DINs (even though sometimes they don't realize it).
This concept is perfectly said in Bismillahirrahmaanirrahiim. That with the ISM/Name of ALLAH we should live our lives. The "Name" here is not lip service. It is a manifestation of GOD -- His DIN, His Law, His Ideology. That means we should reflect GOD in every way we speak, write, hear, see, think, and do. That is what the shahada really say for me.
Just my opinion...
Wasalaam,
=adley= -
Hi Dear Burhan_21,
define
c.1384, from O.Fr. definir "to end, terminate, determine," from L. definire "to limit, determine, explain," from de- "completely" + finire "to bound, limit," from finis "boundary." Definite (1553) means "defined, clear, precise, unmistakable;" definitive (c.1386) means "having the character of finality." Definition is recorded from 1645 as a term in logic; the "meaning of a word" sense is from 1551.How do you limit The God, which is supposedly unlimited?
We describe God by his attributes and there unlimited attributes/names of God.
How de we know that the attributes are god's attributes; and not the attributes of our own imaginary god?
Nadeem.
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Hi Dear Burhan_21,
define
c.1384, from O.Fr. definir "to end, terminate, determine," from L. definire "to limit, determine, explain," from de- "completely" + finire "to bound, limit," from finis "boundary." Definite (1553) means "defined, clear, precise, unmistakable;" definitive (c.1386) means "having the character of finality." Definition is recorded from 1645 as a term in logic; the "meaning of a word" sense is from 1551.How do you limit The God, which is supposedly unlimited?
We describe God by his attributes and there unlimited attributes/names of God.
How de we know that the attributes are god's attributes; and not the attributes of our own imaginary god?
Nadeem.
Hi Nadeem,
Like your elephant example you can test the attributes. This is something personal between you and God. Thats why it's only God who can guide you.
Unforunately when God does show he signs people deny them, because it contradicts their imaginery God.
peace.
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Assalaamu alaikum,
I just joined here, and I want to ask a quick question. How important is it to declare faith?
I understand the conditions which need to be met when doing the shahada, but I'm unsure as to whether it's important in doing so. I've been a Muslim for about four years now, and it's come to my attention that I have never done shahada. Should I? And do I have to?From this thread I think I have the answer, but I really would like confirmation. Sorry for bringing this old thread up, but there was no point in starting a new one. Thanks!
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Salaam Al-Haqq,
welcome
First of all, this is the shahada based on the quran.
God bears witness that there is no god but He, as do the Angels, and those with knowledge, He is standing with justice. There is no god but Him, the Noble, the Wise.
It doesn't tell you to "say" the shahada. Rather the verse tells us that besides The God and the angles, only those with knowledge can bear witness that there is no god but The God. I understand this verse more as an "acknowledgement" rather than "lip-service"
=adley=
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Peace,
Declaring one`s submission to God is the begining of the road. If you look to the example of the ruler of Sheba who declared her submission to God after she had been convinced it was the truth.
We declare our submission to God with the same words God has taught us
I submit to the Lord of the worlds(see 2131, 2744)The shahada that is known and practiced is not from Islam and has never been authorized by God as a way for us to declare our faith.
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Peace,
To understand the shahada, you first have to look what shirk is. Centuries ago, people in Europe believed the earth was flat. Because of this belief, this conviction, their brain was blocked from seeing reality. Every observation that was made, went through a filter in their mind, and only the observations that re-inforced their belief the earth was flat came through into their conciousness. Reality was twisted to sustain their version of reality. Only when some people used their open mind, they lost the filter and saw reality.
This is the same with people who believe in multiple gods, idols, black magic, superstition, spirits. When a person believes in multiple gods, his brain will twist reality and only pick up things that re-inforce that belief in those idols. They don't have access to Reality, only to a twisted version. People who believe in black magic will see certain things and immediatly link that to magic, and will not look for the logical real answers. Their brain is programmed to sustain a belief. EVERY brain on earth works like this. It is programmed to re-inforce and sustain a certain belief.
That is why i believe Jahim, Fire in the Quran refers to sustaining Illusion. Fire needs to be fed, sustained. Fire also makes larger molecules into smaller ones, and it can feed on almost anything. This is the same with the believing in an Illusion. Your mind takes apart reality and twists it, just like fire takes apart molecules and brings them into another form. Just like fire, an illusion must be sustained, fed with 'confirmations' to keep it alive. Living in Jahannam in this live, is not only living in misery, it is also living in Illusion, as shown in these verses
Idolatry is called an illusion in 3130, and in 2257 it is said that people who commit idolatry are in the fire.
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That is so for God is the Reality(Haq), and what they invoke other than Him is illusion. Indeed God is all-high and supreme.
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God is the friend of those who believe, and leads them out of darkness into light; but the patrons of the ones who bury the truth for themselves(kafaruu) is everything that is served next to God/idols(taghhout) who lead them from light into darkness. They are the residents of Fire, and will abide therein.
So what function does the Shahada have then? It learns us Reality. It learns our brain to take away its filter. Because of believing in One God, we get closer to Reality. So it is a doorstep to observing Reality, and by thus can grasp more things. Understand reality and how to work with it. But this is not enough. We have thousands of filters on our hearts.
Secterians believe that their are extra sources outside of the Quran, and that the Quran confirms this. So their conciousness will only see things that will confirm this believe. They will only see "obey the messenger' and they do not see 'Quran is the best and only hadith'. The filter doesn't allow it. So believing in Quran alone is again a step closer to reality. Then there are still many things that has to be let go.
So why is the Shahada is so important? It is is the biggest step to Reality, the most important one. Without that one, all the other steps are useless. An atheist can see that there is no such things as magic, only tricks and self-fullfilling prophecies. But because he doesn't see the design in this world, he is again sustaining an Illusion. One that will keep him for progress of his soul, which is the goal of this excistence.
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