The Muslim Confession of Faith

The first pillar of Islam is the declaration or confession of faith: “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah”. This declaration, called the Shahada, would be pronounced and heard some 14 times each day by Muslims who pray 5 times a day. In fact, it would be pronounced in many other times and occasions during a Muslim’s life.

Allah is the Arabic word for God. Who is this God? Allah is a God of mighty majesty, compassion and judgement. He is the creator, preserver, sustainer and law-giver of the universe. The reveler and just judge. As the Quran says: “He is Allah, there is no God but He”. He is the knower of the invisible and the visible. He is the merciful and the compassionate. He is sovereign, the holy the peaceable, the keeper of faith, the preserver, the mighty, the sublime.

To become a Muslim, one need only make this brief and simple confession of faith. For those of us who are used to Christian creeds and going to Christian services, one can appreciate the difference between what seems to be this simple but profound sentence and the rather lengthy varieties of Christian creeds.

The proclamation of this declaration affirms Islam’s absolute monotheism, its uncompromising belief in the oneness of God, and the idea that associating anything with God is idolatry. To associate not only other Gods but to associate other people and values. This is an unforgivable sin for those who do not repent. Thus, Islamic religious art tends to rely upon the abstract. You would not see a representation of God or Muhammad. Indeed, the human form tends to be marginalized, although there are exceptions.

The Prophet of God

The second part of the confession of faith asserts that Muhammad is not only a prophet, but also a messenger of God. It may take some of us a second to realize this distinction. In Islam, you have both prophets and messengers. Muhammad is not only coming as a prophet, but he is a messenger, somebody who brings revelation. For Muslims, Muhammad is the final prophet. He brings the final and complete revelation of the Quran.

Like Jesus Christ in Christianity, Muhammad serves as the preeminent role-model through his life and example. Unlike Jesus, Muhammad is only a human being. Muslims believe that he was a perfect follower of God. So, the believers’ effort is to follow Muhammad’s example. He is the model. The practices and sayings of the Prophet came to be collected in a corpus of traditions, called the Hadith.