Shahada (Shahadah): meaning, Arabic and context

How is the shahada written in Arabic?

These are the words Thumamah ibn Uthal, may Allah be pleased with him, said when he became Muslim. Shahada, also spelt shahadah and sometimes written shahadat, is Arabic for testimony: bearing witness to something you hold true.

1AuthenticSahih al-Bukhari 4372

What does each word of the shahada mean?

What does the shahada mean?

The shahada has two halves. The first, la ilaha illallah, says there is no god, then makes one exception: Allah. The second says that Muhammad is Allah's messenger, sent by Him. To learn who he was, read The Prophet Muhammad: who he was.

In a hadith narrated by Ibn 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, the shahada is the first of the five things the Prophet said Islam is built on, before prayer, zakat, Hajj and fasting in Ramadan. Each is explained in the five pillars of Islam.

2AuthenticSahih al-Bukhari 8

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Prophet said to prompt the dying to say la ilaha illallah, the first half of the shahada.

3AuthenticSahih Muslim 916

How do you say the shahada?

ashhaduanlāilāhaillallāhwaashhaduannamuḥammadarrasūlullāh

• ash-hadu: sh is one sound, as in ship, then a separate h.
• illallah and anna have doubled letters: hold them a moment longer.
• ḥ in Muhammad is a breathy h from the throat, stronger than an English h.
• The syllables run the n of Muhammadan into the r: Muhammadar-rasulullah.

If the doubled letters trip you up at first, slow down and say it one syllable at a time.

Listen and repeat. A recording by a fluent reciter is coming.

Is the shahada in the Quran?

Both halves are, in separate verses. La ilaha illallah is in Muhammad 47:19 and As-Saffat 37:35; Muhammadun rasulullah opens Al-Fath 48:29. The Ilmwell team's search of the Tanzil Quran text on 22 October 2026 found no verse holding both halves together.

How do you take shahada to become Muslim?

1. Learn what the words mean, with the cards above.
2. Say them in your own language, then in Arabic (the preference of AMJA, a scholarly body named below), with the transliteration in the scroll.
3. If you will need proof of your Islam, for marriage or pilgrimage, AMJA notes a document is needed; ask a scholar or mosque you trust how to get one.

AMJA says there is no particular timetable for teaching a new Muslim the faith: what to learn is weighed by need and ability. Start at Alif is a calm first route through the basics.

These are the positions of one scholarly body, the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA), from the recommendations of its conference on new Muslims:

• AMJA holds that a person's Islam is affirmed by the testimony of faith, spoken or written, or signed by someone who cannot speak. It must come with knowledge of its meaning, acceptance of what it implies and the intention of entering Islam, distancing oneself from all that contradicts the faith.
• It need not be in Arabic for someone not proficient in it; AMJA prefers saying it in your own language, then repeating the Arabic after someone, if that is no hardship.
• For Allah's acceptance, AMJA holds, an announcement, witnesses and a document are not conditions; they are needed for matters such as marriage, pilgrimage, inheritance and funerals.
• AMJA holds that ghusl (the full bath) is not obligatory for a new Muslim, only preferred, on the stronger of two opinions, and that a name need not change unless its meaning is non-Islamic or distasteful.

For your own situation, ask a scholar you trust.

A companion's shahada

Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that horsemen the Prophet sent towards Najd brought back Thumamah ibn Uthal, of the tribe of Banu Hanifah, and tied him to a pillar of the mosque. On the third day the Prophet said: "Release Thumamah."

Thumamah went to some palm trees near the mosque and bathed. Then he came into the mosque and said the shahada, in the words in the scroll above. He told the Prophet that no face on earth had been more hateful to him than his, and now it had become the most beloved of faces to him. The Prophet gave him good news.

1AuthenticSahih al-Bukhari 4372

Is the shahada the first or second kalima?

Neither exactly. Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam of Darul Iftaa, Leicester, describes the kalimas as a list taught in the religious schools of the Indian subcontinent; a fatwa of Darul Uloom Deoband names six, Kalimah Tayyibah first and Kalimah Shahadah second.

• The first kalima (1st kalma, Kalima Tayyibah) carries the same two halves without "I bear witness": la ilaha illallahu Muhammadur rasulullah, "there is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah".
• Kalima Shahadat, the second kalima (2nd kalma, also written kalma shahadat), says Muhammad is "His servant and His Messenger". The Deoband fatwa words it: ashhadu an la ilaha illallah wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan 'abduhu wa rasuluh.

A wording in Sahih Muslim 234b, from 'Uqba ibn 'Amir, may Allah be pleased with him, adds wahdahu la sharika lahu, "alone, without partner". The Prophet taught it for saying after wudu (the washing before prayer):

4AuthenticSahih Muslim 234b