Details about Kalima Tayyaba

In a lengthy Hadith about the excellence of Ramadhan, the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:

 

Translation: In Ramadhan, perform 4 things profusely, 2 things among them are those through whom you can please your Lord and the other 2 are those without whom you have no recourse.  The first 2 are recitation of “La Ilaha Illallah Muhammadur Rasulallah” and seeking Maghfirah (forgiveness) and the last 2 are:  You supplicate Allah Ta'ala for Jannah and seek Allah’s protection from hell.  (Shu’abul Iman, Hadith No. 3455; Mishkatul Masabeeh, Kitab Us Saum, Pg. No. 173/174; Zujajatul Masabeeh, Vol. 1, Kitab Us Saum, Pg. No. 541)

 

Here some details about La Ilaha Illallah are being presented.

 

Whatever is there, from the bowels of the earth to the ‘Arsh, everything is under His power.  He is the one who has adorned earth with thousands of wonders and has expressed His power through every grain of sand in the universe.  Whatever He has created, He has done so only for us.  He is the one who protects us all the time.  He feeds us and safeguards from enemies and dangerous animals.  He helps us at the time of hardships and treats us with affection in difficult times.  He grants us what we need before our even asking for them.  He forgives our disobediences and overlooks our sins.  The way a mother looks at her child with love, in the same way He looks at us with love 360 times in a day.  He has prepared such bounties for us in Qiyamah that no eye has seen it, no ear has heard and neither has it entered the imagination of anyone.  It is sad that a slave should leave a lord like Allah and love someone else!

 

He is the only One worthy of being worshipped, who created the whole universe.  La Ilaha Illallah is the summary of this and this is its meaning.

 

Thus, we know that Allah Ta’ala is One and only and is omnipresent and pleasing Him is the duty of a slave, because if He is displeased then there is no other god from whom help can be sought.  Eventually, we have to come to Him.

 

If we use our brains and look carefully at the universe, we will see that everything is changing (Haadith), ephemeral and eventually everything is going to perish.  We will learn that behind the curtain of this material world, there is One to whom all creation owe their existence, who holds everybody’s strings in His hand, everything are the rays of His Noor, who is everybody’s creator and who brought everyone into existence from the void of nonexistence and who does not need anybody in any way and who is sublime, free of all faults/defects and in whom all praiseworthy attributes are present.  He is Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala).

 

The way the attributes of the Lord Almighty are different from the attributes of the creation, in the same way, His name is also distinct from all others.  This name “Allah” is called the Ism Dhaat (The special name of Allah Ta’ala) and through this, a Salik becomes close to Allah Ta’ala.

 [Excerpted from Mawaaiz-e-Hasana, Vol. 1, Pg. No. 35]

 

Some people wrongly believe that for the acceptance of good deeds, only La Ilaha Illallah is necessary and the second part of it, Muhammad Ur Rasulullah is not needed.

 

The reason given is that in the Hadith it is given that those who say La Ilaha Illallah will enter Jannah, Muhammad Ur Rasulullah is not necessary.  They say on this basis that any person who believes in Tauheed, no matter which religion he/she follows will enter Jannah even if the Prophethood of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) is denied.

 

Anecdote:

 

A certain saint told somebody to recite La Haula (meaning La Haula Wa La Quwwata….) for some need.  After some days, this person met the saint and told him that he is reciting the given Wazifa daily, but there is no benefit.  The saint asked him:  How did you recite it?  He said:  I recite La Haula, La Haula, La Haula, ……  On this, the saint said:  We should recite La Haula on your La Haula.

 

La Haula means the whole phrase, La Haula Wa La Quwwata Illa Billahil ‘Aliyyil Adheem and not only La Haula, the way Bismillah means the whole Bismillahir Rahmaanir Raheem and Al Hamd means the whole Surah.  If somebody is told to recite Al Hamd in Salaat and that person only said Al Hamdu, Al Hamdu, then you tell, is that person a fool or not?

 

These kind of words are used only to specify.  Similarly La Ilaha in the Hadith specifies the whole Kalima.  As long as there is belief in Prophethood along with Tauheed, no one will enter Jannah.  In fact, there is more stress on Prophethood than on Tauheed.  The Kalima Shahadah proves this.  It is given in books of Arabic grammar that “Ann” is an abbreviated form of “Anna” i.e. Ann means Anna only, but there is more stress in Anna.  Now read the Kalima Shahadah in light of this rule, “Ashhadu An La Ilaha Illallahu Wa Ashhadu Anna Muhammadur Rasulullah”.  Tauheed carries Ann and Prophethood carries Anna.  This shows that Prophethood is stressed more than Tauheed.

 

Some people don’t shorten the beliefs but don’t consider deeds to be necessary and say that for deliverance, only affirmation of Tauheed and Prophethood is enough and as proof, present the aforementioned Hadith.  In answer to this, something easily understandable will be said.

 

Considering only La Ilaha Illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah to be enough is as if someone offers and accepts at the time of Nikah.  When the wife demands her expenses, he says:  I only accepted you, when did I accept other expenses?  These are not my responsibility.

 

Will this be accepted?  Instead everybody will tell him:  O fool!  Accepting the wife is to accept everything that Nikah entails.

 [Excerpted from Mawaaiz-e-Hasana, Vol. 1, Pg. No. 96]

 

Hadhrat Abu Yazid Qurtubi (May Allah shower His mercy on him) says:  I had heard that whoever recites the Kalima La Ilaha Illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah 125,000 times and gifts the reward to any deceased person, then that person will be freed from the fire of hell.  On hearing this, I finished one recitation for my wife and a couple of recitations for myself.  A young man used to live near us.  It was famous about this young man that he is blessed with Kashf (vision of hidden realities) and that he would have visions of Jannah and hell as well.  I had some doubt about him.

 

Once, this young man was partaking food with us.  Suddenly, he gave a shout and along with it, he started heaving and said:  My mother is being punished severely and she is burning in hell.  I couldn’t bear this condition of his.  I gifted the reward of one of my complete recitations to his mother.  No one knew about me finishing those recitations and gifting the reward to his mother except Allah Ta’ala, but that young man immediately started saying:  Uncle!  My mother has been saved from the punishment of hell.

 

We are also going to become needy like that one day.  Therefore, whenever you get the chance, prepare a store for hereafter and make one complete recitation of 125,000 times and gift to parents and other relatives, so that they are also delivered.

 [Excerpted from Mawaaiz-e-Hasana, Vol. 1, Pg. No. 199]