THE MEANING OF KALIMA TAYYIBA

[Habeeb Rahman]

THE MEANING OF KALIMA TAYYIBA
Brethren-in-Islam!

You know that a man becomes a Muslim by reciting a formula which is very elaborate but consists of a few words only : La Illaha Illallah Muhammadur Rasullullah.

" There is no god but God: Muhammad is the Prophet of God".

On uttering these words called Kalima a man undergoes a remarkable transformation. From a Kafir he turns into a Muslim. He was impure before and now he is pure. From being liable to Divine wrath, he becomes a beloved of God. He was destined for Hell before but now the gates of heaven are open for him. The process does not end here. Due to this Kalima a great change takes place between man and man. Those who recite it are consolidated into one community, while those who reject it constitute another community. If a father recites it and his son refuses to do so, the father is no longer a father and the son no longer a son. The son will not inherit the property of the father. Even his mother and sister will observe pardah and keep away from him. If an outsider who recites the Kalima marries a daughter of a Muslim family, he and his children will get inheritance from that family but, in contrast to it, a son born in a Muslim family loses all relationship with that family because of refusal to believe in the Kalima. This indicates that the Kalima is a phenomenon which conjoins one stranger with another and cuts asunder one relative from another. The power of this Kalima is so strong that it supersedes blood and family relationships.

 

Why such a big difference?
Now consider this point as to why should such a big difference occur between man and man? What is there in the Kalima? It contains a few letters only like, K.A.L.I. and some letters more. If these letters are joined together and expressed from the mouth, does it work like magic so as to produce such a radical change in a man? Can such a small thing create a difference of heaven and earth between man and man. My brethren! With a little sense of understanding your mind will itself tell you that mere opening the mouth and uttering a few syllables can never produce such a big effect. Idol-worshipping atheists no doubt believe that by reciting a Mantra a mountain can be moved, earth can be split and fountain can gush out of it, though nobody knows the meaning of that Mantra. This is because they believe that all the charm lies in alphabets. No sooner these come out of the mouth, the gates of magic are thrown open. Not so in Islam. Here the principal thing is the meaning. The effect of words lies in the meaning. If they have no meaning and do not go deep into the heart, and if they do not produce a powerful impact so as to effect a change in your thoughts, in your morals and in your actions, then an utterance of mere words will be totally ineffectual.

I would like to explain this point by a simple example. Suppose you are shivering in the cold weather and if you start shouting: Cotton, quilt, cotton, quilt, the effect of cold will not be lessened though you may count the whole night these words a million times on the beads or a rosary. Of course, if you prepare a quilt stuffed with cotton and cover your body with it, the effect of cold will stop. Or suppose you feel thirsty and shout the whole day water, water, your thirst will never be quenched. Of course, if you get hold of water and take a draught, all the rigour of thirst will subside. Or, again suppose you are suffering from cold and fever and you go on just chanting for a remedy only the names of these herbs which are boiled and drunk to cure it. Obviously, you will never recover, but if you actually boil these herbs and drink their decoction, fever and cold will disappear. This is exactly the position of the Kalima. A mere verbal expression of six or seven words cannot bring about such a big change as to transform a Kafir into a Muslim, or an impure person into a pure one, or a damned person into a beloved one, or an infernal creature into a heavenly being. This metamorphosis is only possible when you first grasp the meaning of these words and then make it permeate your mind. Then when you them while understanding their meaning, you should fully realise what a big commitment you are making before your God before the whole world as also what a great responsibility is devolving on you as a result of this declaration. Then after an understanding of the implications involved in this affirmation, it must control your entire life with the result that no idea opposed to this Kalima should enter your mind. Then you must irrevocably decide for all times that whatever runs counter to the Kalima is false and the Kalima alone is true. Then this Kalima must reign supreme in all affairs of your life. After affirming this Kalima you will not be free, like the unbelievers, to do as you like. Now being bound by this Kalima, you will have to follow its dictate and shun what it forbids. If an affirmation of the Kalima is made in this manner, a man becomes a true Muslim. Through such a process alone that big difference occurs between man and man I have just told you about.

 

Purport of ' Kalima '
Now let me tell you the purport of the Kalima as also what actually does a man affirm by reciting it and what obligations devolve on him after this affirmation ?

The meaning of Kalima is that there is no god save Allah and Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah. The word " Allah " found in the Kalima means God. Now, that being is called God Who is Master, Creator, Nourisher, and Sustainer, Who listens to our prayers and grants them, and Who is worthy of our worship. Now that you have said : La ilaha illallah, it would mean that, firstly, you have acknowledged that this world has not come into being without the creative power of God, nor is it a fact that it has many gods. Actually, it does have a God and that God is just one, and there is no other being except Him Who wields Divine power. Secondly the other point which you affirmed on reciting the Kalima is that this very God Who is your God, is also God of the whole world. Each and every thing owned by you and by the world belongs to Him. It is He Who is the Creator and the Nourisher. Life and death are under His command. Trouble and comfort are also from Him. Whatever one gets, is really given by Him. Whatever is taken away from anybody, is in reality due to His command. He alone should be feared. He alone should be entreated to fulfil our needs. Before Him alone we should bow our heads. He alone deserves to be worshipped. We are not slaves or servants of anybody save Him, nor is anyone our Master or Sovereign. Our real duty is to exclusively comply with His orders and obey His laws.

 

Covenant with Allah
This is the covenant which you make with Allah as soon as you recite La ilaha illallah, and in so doing you make the whole world your witness. If you violate this covenant, your hand and feet, the minutest hair on your body and every particle of the earth and the heaven before which you made that fake declaration, will render evidence against you in the court of Allah where you will be in the dock in such a helpless condition that not a single defense witness will be available to you. No Advocate or Barrister will be there to plead your case. In fact, Advocates and Barristers, who in the court of this world used to play ducks and drakes with law, will themselves be standing there like you in the same helpless condition. That court is not such as would acquit you on the basis of wrong pleading, perjury and production of forged documents. You can hide your crimes from the Police of this world but you cannot do so from the Police of God. The Police of this world takes bribe but Allah's Police is not corrupt. A witness of this world can give false evidence but Allah's witnesses are inviolably truthful. The rulers of this world can commit injustice but Allah is not a ruler Who would do any injustice. And then there is no escape from the jail where Allah imprisons the culprits. It is a great folly, may the greatest of all follies to enter into false covenant with Allah. While making the covenant, think thoroughly over it and then scrupulously fulfil it, otherwise there is no compulsion on you that you should willy-nilly make a verbal affirmation, because an empty and hollow assertion is quite useless.

 

Acceptance of Prophet's guidance
After (La ilaha illallah) you recite (Muhammadur Rasulullah) which means that you accept Muhammad (peace be upon him) as the Prophet through whom Allah has sent you His legal code. After acknowledging Allah as our Master and Sovereign it was necessary to know what are is Commandments. What deeds should we perform so as to please Him and from which deeds should we refrain to avoid His displeasure. What should be the law of life for us by following which we can merit His forgiveness, and that by violating which law will He punish us? God appointed Muhammad (peace be upon him) as His messenger to explain all these points and sent His book through him. The Prophet led his life according to His commandments and thus showed the pattern for Muslims to lead their life. So, when you say, (Muhammadur Rasulullah) you undertake to follow the law and system shown by him and to spurn the system opposed to it. If after making this affirmation you abandoned the law brought by the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) and followed the law prevalent in the world, there would be no bigger a liar and more dishonest a person than you because you had entered Islam on making this affirmation that the law brought by the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) is the only true law and that you will faithfully follow it. It was on the merit of this affirmation that you became brothers unto Muslims, you got inheritance from your Muslim father, you were married to a Muslim woman, your children became your legitimate progeny, you secured the right to have all Muslims stand by you for help, give you Zakat and become responsible for the protection of your life, property, honour and dignity. And if, in spite of all this, you break your word, can there be a greater dishonesty in the world than this? If you know the meaning of (La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah) and express faith in it with a full understanding of its meaning, then you must, in any case, comply with the laws of God even though any Police or court forcing you to do so may not be visible in this world. If anybody thinks that it is easy to break the laws of God because God's Police, army, court and jail are not to be found anywhere, and that since there exist the Police, army, court and jail of the Government, it is difficult to break their laws, I would clearly say about such a person that he has made a false affirmation of (La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah). He has actually duped his God, the whole world, all the Muslims and his own self.

 

Responsibilities accruing from affirmation
BRETHREN and friends! I have just now explained to you the meaning of Kalima. Now in this very context I wish to draw your attention to one more aspect of the proposition.

You admit that Allah is your Master as well as Master of everything. What does this mean? It means that your life is not yours but is the property of God. Your hands are not yours, nor do your eyes, your ears and every limb of your body belong to you. The earth you plough, the animals in your service, the wealth and goods from which you derive benefit--none of these is your own. Each and everything is owned by God, and has been given to you as a trust. After affirming this fact, what right have you to assert that "life is mine, the body is mine, wealth is mine, that thing is mine and this thing is mine"? To assert your ownership after having said that some other being is the owner, is a totally absurd thing. If you sincerely believe that God is the Owner of all these things, then two things becomes automatically obligatory on you. The one is that when the owner is God and He has made you a trustee of His goods then you must make use of these goods strictly in accordance with the instructions of the Master. If you utilize them against His wish, then it is sheer cheating. You have not the right even to move your hands and feet against His wish. You cannot put into your stomach anything against His command. You possess no right over these lands and properties against the wish of their Master. Your wives and children, whom you say are yours, are only yours because they were given to you by your Master. Therefore even with them your treatment will be not as you desire but as directed by Him. If you contravened His directions, your position will be that of a usurper. Just as you call that person dishonest who takes hold of other people's land, in the same way that epithet will apply to you if you consider the gifts of God as your own property and, as such, utilize them according to your own wish or according to the wish of someone other than God. If you incur a loss by acting according to the wish of the Master, let it be so. You should ever mind if life is lost, hands and feet are broken, children are lost and if money and property are destroyed. Why should you be grieved at all? If the owner himself desires loss of his things, it is perfectly within his right. Of course if you act against the wish of the Master and incur a loss, then you will undoubtedly be guilty because you have spoiled some other's property. You are not the master of your soul. If you give your life according to the Master's wish you will only be fulfilling your obligation towards Him. If you give your life while working against Him, it will be an act of dishonesty.

 

Acceptance of Islam is no favour to God
Further, if a thing given to you by your Master is used by you for the work entrusted to you by Him, you are doing favour to none, neither to the Master nor to anybody else. If for His asked, you have given away anything or done service or sacrificed your life---which t you is a very big thing even then you did not favour to anybody. The outmost you have done is this much that you have acquitted yourself of favour done to you by your Master. Is this an achievement to be proud of and worthy of praise on the basis of which a person's greatness has to be acknowledged? Please remember that a true Muslim never feels elated for spending something in the way of his Master or doing some service to him. On the other hand, he develops more humility. Pride destroys an act of goodness. Whoever seeks praise, and does any good work in order to earn encomium, loses his right to receive any reward from God because he sought recompense for his work in this world and has already received it here.

 

Allah's favour and our behaviour
Brethren ! Look at the favour of your Master. He takes from you things which belong to Him and yet says: " I have purchased this thing from you and I shall pay you for it". Allah-o-Akbar (be glory to Allah). What an unbounded munificence it is! The Qur'an says:

"Lo! Allah hath bought from the believers their lives and their wealth in return for the Paradise which will be theirs."( 9 : 3 )

This is the attitude of the Master towards you. And now look at your behaviour. You sell away a thing to others which was given to you by your Master and which He had also bought back from you against payment. And this selling is done for a paltry compensation. The buyers take work from you against the wishes of the Master and you serve them thinking that they are your sustainers. You sell them your brains, your hands ad feet, the energy of your body and all that which these rebels of God want to buy. Can there be a greater moral turpitude than this. To sell a thing already sold out is a legal and moral crime. Those guilty of such crimes are tried in this world's courts for cheating and fraud. Do you think that no suit will be filed against them in the court of God ?