الشهادة
al-Shahāda
The declaration of faith, witnessing that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger; also the words of that declaration.
What it means
Al-shahāda is both the act of bearing witness and the wording that is spoken. Faruqi notes the two senses: the act of witnessing that there is no god but God and that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is His prophet, servant and messenger, and the verbal content of the act. The words are ashhadu an lā ilāha illā Allāh wa ashhadu anna Muḥammadan rasūl Allāh.
A person enters Islam by saying these words sincerely, and Muslims repeat them in the call to prayer, in the ritual prayer, and at the end of life. The first half affirms tawḥīd, the oneness of God, and the second affirms the prophethood of Muhammad. The word shahāda also appears in al-ghayb wa al-shahāda, “the unseen and the seen”, in the Quran (6:73).
Often misunderstood as
The shahada is sometimes called a creed to be recited, although it is a personal act of witnessing that carries commitment.
What the sources say
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is reported to have said that whoever says lā ilāha illā Allāh sincerely will enter Paradise (Musnad Ahmad). Scholars add that the statement has conditions of knowledge, sincerity and truthfulness, so that it is expressed in deeds as well as words.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 37, listed as AL SHAHĀDAH. The definition is restated here.