Fundamentals

Religion Then & Now

Once upon a time, in many societies of the world, it would appear strange and awkward for someone living in those times to be told that religion is only one aspect and activity of the human life. For that person, religion is everything. Religion is society, politics, economics, culture, education, art, and everything that has to do with human living, all at once. Religion, Cosmos or Universe, Nature or Environment, Society and Family, Culture and Ethics, Self and the Body are inseparable from one another. Rather, they are all related as a web or chain of relationship, becoming mirror reflections of one another, and functioning as analogies for thought, feeling, and language. Even today, such as in the Malay language, one finds in the peribahasa, or idiom, that someone is an alim-alim kucing, a ‘pious-looking cat,’ if he is a pretender.

Max Weber, a famous German sociologist, in his study of the relationship between the Protestant ethics and capitalism, tries to show how capitalism is basically a religious behaviour, a behaviour that encourages a person to recycle one’s profit for the benefit of society as a whole, so that this behaviour will be the ‘outward sign of inner grace,’ that is to say, a visible sign of the Protestant believer that he has been elected for eternal bliss and avoid eternal damnation in the next life. This understanding of capitalism is so unlike today’s understanding of it that when one thinks of capitalism today, one thinks of greed and selfishness, rather than austerity and charity.

This goes to show that, as some will argue, modern societies look at religion in ways different from those of their forefathers. If at one time, religion is everything and means everything to a person, today, religion is only something out of many things and is only meaningful in time of need.

Associations with the Past

Religion, for many of us today, is oftentimes associated with the past, and the past is always more primitive and less progressive than the present.

Religion, on its part, has existed from the day our forefathers made their presence in this world. From the time the first human emerged on earth until today, religion has always featured as a crucial dimension of human life, giving us the story of our life - about where we come from, what we are doing in this world, and where we will be going after we die. It is only in modern times like ours that the view of religion, as the need of the oppressed, the assurance of the weak-minded, and the salvation of the hapless, comes about.

Religion is equated with myth, superstition, and things primitive. It is a thing of the past and can never feature in modern life that hails reason and science as liberation from religion. Religion is seen as old things, old ways, and all things outdated and obsolete, and these things, at best, serve only as precious mementos for museum display, reminding us how they have come to shape mankind’s Dark Ages.

When we turn to even a modern thinker such as Emile Durkheim, whom every student of sociology knows, we will be astounded to find that the way Durkheim describes religion is as applicable to modern societies as it is to past or even primitive societies.

For Durkheim, the essence of religion is the ‘sacred’, a quality that holds everything together in a unity so that if this quality is lost, then everything will collapse and become separate entities that do not have a common identity. For primitive people, the sacred appears as the ‘totem’, a name for the sacred as the unifying principle and function of whatever there is in existence. Because the totem cannot be seen or touched, an emblem, which is a visual image, is used to represent the totem. This emblem usually takes the form of an animal. If the emblem is a lion, then the sacred is visualised as a terrifying and brave power. This emblem becomes the emblem of a group or clan, so that all the members in that group or clan visualise the sacred as a lion. Following this, the members of the group or clan also visualise themselves as a lion, and their behaviour and movement imitate that of the lion.

Although modern people no longer think of religion this way, yet, in many ways, their behaviour reflects this characteristic of religion. Take, for example, a football club. The club’s emblem brings together its fans into a unity of the club’s image so that if the emblem is tarnished in any way, the fans would react to the incident, sometimes even to the point of going into a fight. This shows that the emblem is actually a totem and holds a special place in the minds and hearts of the fans, so special that it acquires a ‘sacred’ status to the extent that doing anything harmful to the emblem means also incurring the wrath of the club and its fans.

Common between the past and the present

The past and the present may appear to us as different instances of existence, one considered less and the other more in civilizational achievements, but if looked at in the proper light, there are many things in common between the past and the present that made religion as vibrant and relevant even for those who think the modern has left religion behind in the name of progress and enlightenment.

Religion, if it has been thought of as a thing of the past, can be thought of as a thing of the present, if only we understand how the connection is made, such as between a mosque and a restaurant. The restaurant is a place of worship the same way the mosque is a place of worship, because a place of worship is a place where goodness happens, and eating food that is healthy to the body is an act of goodness. To quote what Clifford Geertz says about what planets and pendulums have in common: ‘Look at them in the proper light, their very differences connect them.’

Many Muslims will find it strange, and obviously very odd, to regard a restaurant as a place where religion happens, the same way religion happens in a mosque. This perception is made more pronounced with the presence of Western fast-food outlets that have swarmed Muslim societies. Young people like to frequent places like Pizza Hut, Burger King, A&W and other such places, and eating pizzas, hot dogs, and burgers have become a local habit these days. But these places carry with them Western names and, historically and culturally, Western things are foreign to the Muslim experience of religion. So what have Pizza Hut and Burger King to do with religion?

Names and Identity

Eating outlets with Western names nonetheless can be places where religion happens, the same way a Muslim restaurant that has a Muslim name. While names are important because they reflect what identity a restaurant carries, as long as the name is not one that touches on the sensitivities of the Muslim faith, they should not be a problem. Muslims in Singapore and Malaysia, for instance, are sensitive to dogs, but they have no problem eating hot dog. But if the restaurant is called ‘Doggy Restaurant’ then the restaurant should not expect Muslim customers.

Apart from names, as long as the food is halal, or permissible from the viewpoint of the Islamic dietary laws, the restaurant can be considered a religious place for Muslims. There is a misunderstanding however regarding what halal is. Halal is not pork-free. Whether it is beef or chicken, halal beef or chicken refers to cows and chickens slaughtered according to the Islamic rituals for slaughtering. The writer chanced to visit Sentosa Island many years ago and was looking for a halal eatery. Incidentally, he saw two eateries adjacent to one another. One had this sign: Non-Halal Food Not Permitted Here. That’s comprehensible enough. The other read: Halal Food Not Permitted Here. Sounds anything?

But for a restaurant to be a religious place, it is not enough for the food to be halal. The food must also be nutritious and of good quality, the place has to be hygienic and comfortable, and the services have to be prompt and appealing. It is these ‘extras’ that made many people, young and old alike, and especially the little ones, to want to come to Western-style restaurants to eat because they have the recipe to attract people to their places. They have quality control.

3 Categories of Daily Living

Muslim scholars, right from the days when Islam blossomed to become a world civilization, have classified Islamic daily living into three broad categories. These are daruriyyat or necessary, hajiyyat or desirable, and tahsiniyyat or premium lifestyle. To be able to savour a piece of chicken so that one could go on living is daruriyyat. But nobody wants to eat just to avoid being hungry. They want to see the chicken properly cooked, tastes juicy, the meat is tender, and, of course, nice to see and wets the appetite. This is hajiyyat. But above all, the appetite becomes a full picture of a culture when one sees what culinary art could do to make the chicken dish something that trains a person to be a cultured personality with the way he sits around the table, how he behaves towards the food before, during, and after meal, and how he keeps his manners when he is eating. This is tahsiniyyat.

Therefore, meals and restaurants could be religious things because they serve out the purpose of religious living, which is to make a person conscientious about his manners and ethics of everyday living which would then mould him into a personality desired by religion, for Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had said, “I have not been sent but to bring into fruition the noble qualities in human character.”

For Muslims, religion is everyday, everywhere, and everything, past and present, traditional and modern. For a Muslim, religion occurs even to a restaurant. The restaurant can connect him to God. Through the restaurant, he is mindful that it is God who gave him his sustenance and therefore becomes careful with what he takes into his body so that the food becomes his source of health and energy, and not a cause of his illness and gluttony. Through the restaurant too, he understands why hygiene and cleanliness are essential to his well-being and comfort, for the Prophet (SAW) had said, “Cleanliness is an aspect of religion.” In sum, the restaurant is something through which we live our religious existence, fulfil our social meaning, and portray our human identity.

When we put all these things of everyday living together, from pen to attire to restaurant and to other objects, we will see that they are linked in such a way as to form a religious matrix connecting these things as religious. Only then, religion appears to us as a total and complete way of life. Mankind has always been religious from day one of their existence. It is they who need to know that they have been religious all along, even in modern times like ours.

Is Kosher Meat Halal? A comparison of the Halakhic and Shar’i requirements for animal slaughter

Observant Muslims and Jews only eat halāl and kosher products, and face many of the same problems in finding appropriate meat products in the modern, secularised world. Due to the dearth of kosher meat products available, and even higher scarcity of halāl meat, many Muslims feel comfortable purchasing kosher meat, believing that all kosher meats (and by extension kosher products) are necessarily halāl. Other Muslims, due to either political or theological reasons, believe that it is impermissible to purchase or consume any kosher meat products.

We prohibited for them good things which were made lawful for them earlier and for their preventing (people), very often, from the way of Allah. An-Nisa (4:160)

This article seeks to discuss the question of the Islamic legal ruling on consuming kosher meat products. Therefore, political questions and personal values, which do not dictate the general ruling (asl) with respect to such products, will not be discussed. Generally speaking (and as per Q. 4:160 and 3:50), halakhic laws are stricter than Islamic ones. This is shown not only in the foods that are permissible or impermissible, but also in the laws pertaining to slaughtering, cooking and consuming foods. Since the normative applications of Jewish law are stricter than those for Islamic law, in most cases these laws will not affect Muslims who wish to consume kosher, but would affect Jews who might be interested in halāl meat. The most pertinent examples will be discussed in this paper.

Prohibitions Regarding Types of Animals and Foods

Both Jewish and Islamic laws prohibit the consumption of carrion, swine, insects, rodents and blood. Additionally, any food that is poisonous or immediately harmful to the human body would be prohibited. All solid food items prohibited by the Sharī’a are also prohibited in Jewish law. There are a number of significant items prohibited in the halakha but allowed by the Sharī’a. The Qur’ān itself mentions the most common example, viz., certain types of animal fat (see Q. 6:146). Halakhic law specifies which types of fats and nerves are prohibited.[1] The majority of madhhabs allowed the Muslim to consume these parts that are typically not considered kosher after a Jewish slaughter. The only exception to this is the Mālikī school, which deems the consumption of these parts impermissible.

Other examples of items that are prohibited for Jews but
allowed for Muslims include:

– Sharks, shellfish and crustaceans (lobster, crabs, etc.) [Note:

for the hanafīs these animals are also not permitted].

– Some types of birds (e.g., ostrich, emu).
– Camels (because it does not have a proper ‘split hoof’).[2]

Interestingly enough, the locust is an animal that is explicitly mentioned and allowed by both halakhic and Shar’ī texts.

Also note that Jewish law forbids mixing meat and dairy products together. Different Jewish authorities have different interpretations and rules for implementation – some even require two sets of kitchen utensils and separate areas of refrigerators for these two products. There is, of course, no equivalent in Islamic law.

Jewish law also has stringent rules regarding the religious washing and usage of utensils. For example, if a ceramic or porcelain utensil is used to cook a non-kosher food, that utensil can never be purified and used for kosher cooking. However, if a metallic utensil has been used, it must be cleaned with soap and water, then left for a period of time, then immersed in boiling water under the supervision of an expert, before it may be used to cook with.[3]

Islamic law, on the other hand, would only require the regular washing of any such utensil and would permit its subsequent usage to cook or consume halāl products in.

The permissibility of gelatin and rennet are ongoing discussions in both faiths. The exact same spectrum of opinions exists in both Muslim and Jewish circles. It appears that most mainstream Jewish and Muslim authorities would not permit regularly available gelatin, since it is derived from either pork or non-ritually slaughtered animals (with minority dissenting opinions on both sides). Proper kosher gelatin is therefore typically derived from kosher fish (and, in even rarer cases, from kosher slaughtered animals, or from certain cows that have died natural deaths,[4] or from vegetable products).

However, it should be noted that a product that is marked as kosher does not necessarily mean that all Jewish authorities believe it to be so. In fact, most yoghurt and candy products that are marked with circle-K are not approved by most Conservative and Orthodox Rabbis.

Hence, Muslims need to know the different types of symbols used by the Jewish food industry, and their corresponding opinions, before they make a choice on whether a product that is marked as kosher is in fact halāl or not.

Cheese, on the other hand, appears to be an issue where the spectrum of opinions are the same, but the majorities of each are different. Most Jewish authorities would only allow cheese if produced from kosher rennet; most Muslim authorities would allow cheese from non-halāl rennet because of the issue of istihlāk.[5] In both groups, there are dissenting minority opinions, but the minorities are on opposite sides.

There are some halakhic restrictions on vegetables and plants (for example, the orlah, or fruit that grows during first three years after planting), and Jewish law is also stricter than Islamic law regarding insects found in fruits and vegetables, but these laws are not relevant to this discussion.

Additionally, there are specific halakhic commandments for preparing Passover breads and prohibiting other foods that would also not concern Muslims.

For Muslims, the most common product that is allowed in Jewish law but prohibited in Islamic law are alcoholic beverages. Jewish law permits the consumption of ‘kosher’ beer and wine.

Minor Differences

There are some minor differences between the requirements of the two faiths. These difference would generally be negligible and irrelevant to Muslims, but not to observant Jews.

1.    Jewish law requires a specific type of person (called a shochet) to slaughter. Typically, the shochet is an observant male Jew trained in the practice of slaughter. Islamic law allows any male or female Christian, Muslim or Jew to sacrifice as long as that person follows the proper procedure of slaughtering. Therefore, it is primarily for this reason that a dhabīḥa animal can never be kosher for observant Jews because the slaughter would be performed by a Muslim.

2.    The perfection of the knife blade – Jewish law requires visual and physical inspection; Islamic law only requires a sharp knife even if there are some imperfections (e.g., minor abrasions and nicks would be permissible in Islam).

3.    Jewish law requires one continuous stroke for a slaughter (moving the knife back and forth would be allowed), whereas Islamic law would prefer one stroke, but the slaughter would not be invalidated if the slaughterer quickly followed a first improper stroke with another one.

4.    In Jewish law, the knife must be at least two times the size of the animal’s neck, and perfectly straight, whereas there is no such requirement in Islam.

5.    Jewish law completely forbids stunning, and a stunned animal would be treif; Islamic law is not unified on this point, as most authorities would consider stunning makrūh, but as long as the animal is alive and has a pulse, the slaughter would still be considered halāl.

6.    Depending on which Islamic madhab one followed, the number of passages in the neck of the animal cut might be less for some opinions of Islamic law (however, a perfect cut in both religions would require the esophagus, trachea, arteries and jugular).

7.    While the disconnecting of the spine is prohibited in both laws, in Jewish law this would render the animal treif, whereas according to the majority opinion in Islamic law, this is makrūh but does not render the animal harām (note that some authorities would view such an act as making the animal harām).

8.    
a.    Jewish law requires a visual inspection of the lungs and some other internal organs of the animal after slaughter. Specific defects associated with these organs makes the animal treif, whereas the total absence of any imperfection (i.e., adhesion-free lungs) renders the animal a higher level of kosher, called glatt kosher.
b.    If such a level of perfection was not achieved, but the procedure was followed, the meat would merely be kosher. And some type of defects would in fact render the animal treif even after proper slaughter. There is no equivalent to such a postslaughter examination in Islamic law.

9.    The animal’s blood must be allowed to flow into the earth (or on the ground) in Jewish law (for example, it should not be gathered in a bowl), whereas there is no such prohibition in Islamic law. In practice, most Muslims slaughter and spill the blood on the ground as well.

10.    Islamic law encourages, but does not require, that the animal faces the qiblah. Since this is not a requirement according to any madhhab, it is irrelevant to the question of whether kosher is halāl.[6]

11.    While the Jewish invocation (i.e., blessing) is not a necessary requirement for the meat to be considered kosher, it is in practice never left. This issue will be discussed in a separate section.

From all of these points, it is clear that these factors will not render kosher meat harām; most are in fact rulings that make the halakhic

laws stricter than their Sharʿī equivalents, and even the Islamic ones on this list are recommendations and not requirements. Hence, from the perspective of the Sharīʿa, these factors are not relevant.

Of course, because of some or most of these factors (especially the first one), halāl meat cannot be considered kosher by Jewish authorities.

Major Difference - the Tasmiya Issue

There is one major difference between the two laws that cannot be overlooked and could potentially result in a verdict of tahrīm,[7] and that is the issue of the tasmiya. The Islamic opinions on mentioning Allah’s name at the time of sacrifice are well-known. It is clear that the majority of scholars (and the explicit texts of the Qurʿān and Sunnah) require the utterance of tasmiya before an animal is slaughtered. It is with this opinion in mind that we proceed. (It goes without saying that, for the minority who do not require tasmiya, obviously if they do not require a Muslim to mention the name of Allah then a priori they would not require a non-Muslim to do so).[8] Halakhic law states that the shochet should verbally bless the act of slaughter with a specific blessing.[9] While this blessing is not considered an essential requirement, in practice it is always done, and it is realistically inconceivable that a shochet intentionally abandons this blessing.[10]

The formulation of this blessing translates as:

“Blessed are you, Adonai [G-d], our G-d, Lord of the World, Who Sanctified us through His Commandments and instructed us concerning proper animal slaughter”

The wording clearly praises God, and therefore would be acceptable to the vast majority of madhhabs, since it is not a necessary requirement that the blessing be said in Arabic. However, the issue comes with respect to a unique blessing for each animal.

Since the Jewish faith insists that the name of the Lord only be invoked with good cause, the shochet does not repeat this blessing for each and every animal.

Instead, the shochet considers one blessing to suffice for a series of animals with the condition that each animal is slaughtered without any significant pause or break from the previous one. [11]

Therefore, in theory, a shochet could sacrifice a few cows, and maybe even up to a hundred chicken, with one blessing. All of this, of course, has relevance to the Sharʿī ruling on an animal.

For the minority that does not require tasmiya (in particular, the Shāfʿī school), this issue would not be relevant, and therefore kosher would be halāl.

For those who subscribe to the position that allows one tasmiya for multiple slaughters, kosher meat would also be halāl.

For those who require a specific tasmiya for each individual animal (in particular, the Hanafī school), kosher meat would not be halāl unless it was known for sure that a blessing was given for that animal.

As a side point, there are reference to some Christian groups who required a slaughterer to sacrifice in the name of God.[12]

In light of all that has preceded, and in this author’s opinion:

1.    While the Qurʿān explicitly allows us to offer (and therefore sell) halāl meat to Jews, most observant Jews would not consider halāl to be kosher because the animal would be slaughtered by a non-Jew (and there would be other factors as well).

2.    All kosher foods are permissible as long as 1) no significant amount of alcohol is present, and 2) any gelatin is from kosher slaughtered cattle or non-animal sources. If alcohol is used either for taste or in intoxicating amounts, the food prepared would be harām; and any gelatin derived from animals not slaughtered with tasmiya is also harām.

2.    All kosher foods are permissible as long as 1) no significant amount of alcohol is present, and 2) any gelatin is from kosher slaughtered cattle or non-animal sources. If alcohol is used either for taste or in intoxicating amounts, the food prepared would be harām; and any gelatin derived from animals not slaughtered with tasmiya is also harām.

In this author’s opinion, since the halakhic blessing is done over a specific group of animals and the slaughter is continuous, this blessing can suffice to fulfill the requirements of the tasmiya for that group of animals, and Allah knows best.

Lastly, it is important that stronger ties be developed between observant Muslims and Jews so that we benefit from each other’s experiences, unite against Islamophobic and anti-Semitic efforts to ban ritual animal slaughter, and perhaps also manage to influence some kosher plants to say a tasmiya for every animal.

This article is reprinted with the kind permission of the author. It was first published on muslimmatters.org

Dr Yasir Qadhi is someone that believes that one's life should be judged by more than just academic degrees and scholastic accomplishments. He has a Bachelors in Hadith and a Masters in Theology from Islamic University of Madinah, and a PhD in Islamic Studies from Yale University.

[1] This is based on Leviticus 7:3. Generally, Jewish law does not allow fat surrounding the kidneys, the abdominal fats, the fats surrounding the stomach and intestines, and the tail fat. The nerve that is forbidden is one that is in the hind-quarters. Since it is labor-intensive to remove this nerve, generally the hindquarters of an animal are sold to non-Jews.

[2] Many Qurānic exegetes consider this to be an example of Q. 3:93; others also add the ruling of animal fats, but this latter opinion clearly contradicts Q. 6:146.

[3] This discussion is necessarily simplistic and brief.

[4] These are so-called ‘Indian cows’; since Hindus are not allowed to kill cows, any cow that dies is left untouched. Jewish law allows the bones of such an animal, if left
untouched for a long period of time, to be used for the manufacture of gelatin.

[5] I have written a paper about this, published online. See: http://muslimmatters.org/2007/07/09/of-mice-and-men-the-cheese-factor/. muslimmatters.org/2007/07/09/of-mice-and-men-the-cheese-factor/.

[6] Since this law is irrelevant to the halakha, some modern Jewish authorities have allowed taking this condition into account when performing kosher slaughters.

[7] Of course, we are not talking about the issue of adding alcohol to the meat while it is being cooked. Jewish law permits the consumption of certain types of alcohol and the mixing of wine with meat products. Any such production of meat would obviously be harām for Muslims.

[8] It is relevant to point out that Ibn Hanbal’s position regarding the tasmiya for Ahl Kitāb sacrifices is explicit – and as far as I know, everything narrated to the contrary is mujmal. Hanbal reports that Abū Abdillāh said, “There is no problem with the sacrifice of the Kitābī as long as he sacrifices for Allah and in the name of Allah (idhā ahallū lillāhi wa sammū ʿalayhī).” [Ahkām Ahl al-Dhimmah, 1/189].

This was also the explicit position of Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim. It should also be noted that most authorities who allowed the sacrifice of the Kitābī without mentioned Allah’s name also allowed it if they mentioned other than Allah’s name [ibid., 1/191-3].

Also, the reader is encouraged to see Ibn Taymiyya’s risāla on this issue, in Jāmiʾ al-Masāʾil of Dr. Bakr Abu Zayd (Riyad: Dār al-ʿĀlim, 1429), vol. 6, p. 377-89. In it, he states that the obligation of saying the tasmiya before hunting or slaughtering an animal is even more clear than the obligation to recite Fātiha in the prayer. It is the intention of the author to write a brief treatise on this issue as well, insha Allah.

[9] It is important to note that the blessing is for the act of sacrifice, and not for an animal or for the instrument.

[10] Therefore, from an Islamic standpoint, the shochet who does not mention the blessings will be fī hukm al-nāsī (i.e., the one who accidentally forgets), and the majority of scholars would deem such a slaughter as permissible, in contrast to the one who intentionally does not mention Allah’s name.

Islam as a Religion

As the basic meaning of religion religare is “to bind together”, Islam is likewise comprehensive and all inclusive. This means that nothing falls outside the parameters and borders of Islam as a religion. As each religion is a holistic identity and entity by itself with its own community, Islam embraces all aspects of life including those that are considered to be outside the domain of religion by some communities, such as the so-called worldly matters. Islam as an institutionalised and structured belief system does not just deal with matters of life and death or origins and identities or directions and destinies, Islam provides a comprehensive system of thought that governs, supports and develops the intellectual, spiritual and daily matters of living in a diverse world.

The Meaning of Islam

Islam as a religion is described as din which means a complete system of thought and life. The root word of din also denotes the idea of being in “debt”. Putting them as a whole, the word al-din points toward the idea of indebtedness of the human beings to God, their Creator and Sustainer. This indebtedness produces a state of inborn bondage to God, which Muslims calls Allah, and thus a natural inclination in the human beings to reach out to God connecting them back to God. When this feeling is translated into actions, the willingness to submit to a Transcendental authority takes place. Submission is a meaning of the word Islam which comes from the root meaning of “peace” and “security”, pointing us towards ideas and concepts of willingness, acceptance, obedience, surrender and resignation to Allah the Almighty Creator. Both these words dīn and islām complement and enhance each other, namely the submission of a human being to God as an expression of indebtedness and bondage which necessitates obedience and trust in Him. Obedience to the Creator is expressed in various forms such as through the rites and rituals, compliance with the do’s and don’ts, proper conduct and behaviour, performing responsibilities and respecting rights of all and sundry, doing all that is good and worthy as reflected in the lifestyle and the ethical conduct of Muslims, the followers of Islam. The word Muslim, which denotes the follower of islām means “the one who submits”. Therefore a Muslim is he who surrenders or submits to Allah  and the best among the Muslims are the Messengers and Prophets who are in themselves role-models to the various communities that they were sent to, culminating with the last Prophet and Messenger Muḥammad peace be upon all of them.

As a proper noun al-islām, it is the religion of Allah sent to human beings in the form of revelation through His Messenger and Prophet Muḥammad peace and blessings be upon him via the Archangel Jibril. As a religion, Islam is not based upon the personality of the founder but on Allah Himself. The Prophet is the channel through whom human beings received a message pertaining to the nature of the Absolute and subsequently the relative, a message that contains the doctrine and the method on how to live a life that will inevitably cease. 

Tawhid - The Testimony of Faith

The most fundamental concept in Islam is the concept of tawḥid. This concept is encapsulated in the testimony of faith which every Muslims will say at least 9 times a day; “I bear witness that there is not God but Allah and I bear witness that the Prophet Muhammad is His messenger”. The repetition reminds the Muslims of the importance and centrality of Allah and the Prophet in their thoughts and lives. It binds the billions of Muslims all around, regardless of race, economic status, power and intelligence to a unified message. This testimony creates a religious community or ummah that places the sovereignty of Allah and taking the Prophet as the pinnacle role-model. A person joins the community of Muslim by pronouncing this testimony of faith. It comprises of two parts where the first half testify to the absolute monotheism of the Divine and the second establishes the principle of actions for a Muslim.

Absolute monotheism is central in Islam. Muslims belief in one God who is also the creator God and therefore the all supreme with no association to His divinity at all. He is the God of everyone and everything. Everything and everybody come from Him, belong to Him and will return back to Him. This absolute monotheism gives Islam its universalistic and inclusivist stature. Islam is universal because it possesses the dynamics which can and are indeed necessary to accommodate changes and developments that occur along with time and space. Islam is inclusive because it embodies within its structure the mechanism to accommodate everybody and everything, human as well as other non-living things. Simultaneously, absolute monotheism shows the unique identity of Islam which makes it exclusive as well. Islam has its own identity, characteristics and elements revealed by Allah to the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him, transmitted through the whole line of generations of Muslims where, at every generation uses their self-knowledge and intelligence to bring the immutable wisdom of the early version of Islam at the revelatory moment to our current moment.

The second half of the testimony indicates the bringing of completion of all the other revelations given to the previous prophets starting with the first Prophet Adam to the last Prophet Muhammad peace be upon all of them. Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him being the last and the final prophet is therefore the seal of the prophets that had come throughout the historical lives of human beings on Earth. A Muslim believes that the message of Unity/tawhid began from Prophet Adam peace and blessings upon him. He was a monotheist from the very beginning. Human beings did not evolve gradually from polytheism to monotheism. On the contrary, from time-to-time human beings deviated through religious decadence from the original monotheism of the first man into polytheism, and has to be reminded periodically of the original doctrine of Unity/tawḥid. These reminders come from Heaven through the prophets who by means of successive revelations, renew the religious and spiritual life of human beings on earth by reminding them the doctrine of unity and living by this doctrine. Although that Islamic conception of history is one of a series of cycles of prophets where each cycle followed by a gradual decay leading to a new cycle or phase, it does not imply that this cycle will go on indefinitely. Islam believes that the history of the present humanity has a beginning and an end marked by eschatological events described by the Quran and Prophetic sayings /Ḥadith.