Shahaadah (the profession of faith) , Pillars of Islam
The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: Islam is based on five pillars:
- Shahaadah (the profession of faith). Its also called the kalimah (word), which must be recited by anyone embracing Islam.
- It means, “There is no true god except Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”
This means that nothing and no one is worthy of being worshipped but Allah,
and that He must be worshipped only according to the teaching of His Messenger Muhammad, peace be upon him.
Abdullah bin Amr reported that the Messenger of Allah said :
A man will be brought along to the balances on the Day of Resurrection,
and there will be brought out for him ninety nine scrolls,
every scroll of them stretching (when unrolled) as far as an eye can reach,
in which are written his sins and his guilty acts, and they will be put in one pan of the Balances.
Then a small card will be brought out on which is written the Testimony of Faith: There is no true god except Allah,
and Muhammad is His slave and Messenger, which will be put in the other pan, and it will outweigh all his wrongdoing.
This means that if a person professes the testimony of faith fulfilling its conditions,
Allah forgives his sins regardless of how many sins he may have committed.