Meaning of Shahadah
How primordial and universal faith’s claim is and how crucial and fundamental its invitation – and how we are all summoned to respond, willingly or unwillingly, to the call and can’t afford indifference – is seen in a deeper penetration into the meaning of Shahadah or Witnessing. One becomes Muslim by uttering shahadah . The dictum that “by living one religion fully one lives all religions” may be illustrated by noting the deeper meanings of the act of shahadah . But first, a few remarks on what witnessing means for metaphysicians and mystics: The point to note is that we can’t give witness of what we don’t know or have not verified for ourselves in some sense. If we haven’t known God or Unity, how can we be asked to provide witness of the same? A clue to the answer is provided by metaphysicians-Sufis who point to the fact that one of God’s names is Shahid . It is really God who witnesses His Own Glory and Beauty or Himself...