La ilaha illallah - The First Step

As you can see at the top of our website we have the following hadeeth under the title, "Professing faith in, "there is no God but Allah," provides the keys to paradise (Ahmad)". Out of curiosity I wanted to know what other virtues are there from uttering this statement of, "La Ilaha Illallah," and then I came across two books, Muntakhab Ahadith and Fazaail Zikr which contain numerous ahadith concerning this kalima and its virtues which will, Inshallah, be written in this article.

1) Hazrat Abu Hurairah radiallahu anhu narrates that Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wassallam said: Iman (faith) has more than seventy branches; the superior most one is saying: of La ilah illallah; and the inferior most is the removal of an obstacle from the way; amd Haya is a branch of Iman. (Muslim)

2) Hazrat Abu Hurairah radiallahu anhu narrates that Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasallam said: Renew your Iman! it was asked: O Rasullulah! How do we renew our Iman? He said: Say frequently La ilaha illallah. (Musnad Ahmad, Tabarani, Targhib)

3) Hazrat Jabir ibne-Abdullah radiallahu anhu narrates: I heard Rasullulah sallalahu alayhi wasallam saying: The best Dhikr (rememberance of Allah) is La ilaha illallah, and the best Dua is Alhamdulillah (praise be to Allah). (Tirmidhi)

4) Hazrat Zaid bin Arqam radiallahu anhu narrates that Rasullulah sallalahu alayhi wasallam said; that the one who La ilaha illallah with Ikhlaas will enter paradise. Somebody asked what was the sign of Ikhlaas. He explained that it prevents one from indulging in the forbidden things. (Tabarani)

5) Hazrat Abu Hurairah radiallahu anhu narrates that Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, "Recite La ilaha illallah very often before the time of death comes when you will not be able to say it." (Targheeb)

6) Hazrat Anas radiallahu anhu narrates that Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, "Whosoever recites La ilaha illallah any time during the day or night, his sins are remitted from his account and virtues are written instead." (Targheeb)

7) Hazrat Abu Hurairah radiallahu anhu narrates that Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, "There is a pillar of Noor in front of the Arsh of Allah. When somebody recites, La ilaha illallah, this pillar starts shaking. When Allah asks it to stop shaking, it says, "How can I stop, when the reciter of the Kalimah has not yet been granted forgiveness?" Thereupon Allah says,"Well, I have forgiven him", and then that pillar stops shaking". (Bazaar)

8) Ibne Umar radiallahu anhu narrates that Rasullullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, "Those who believe in, La ilaha illallah, will neither have fear in the grave nor on the Day of Ressurection. It is as if I see the spectacle when they will raise from their graves, wiping dust from their heads and saying, "All praise for Allah, who has cast off (for good) all worry and fear from us".

9) Ibne Abbas radiallahu anhu narrates that Rasullullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam has said, "There is inscribed on the gate of Paradise, "Only I am Allah, none except I am worthy of worship. Whosoever keeps reciting this kalimah will not be punished by me."

10) Hazrat Abu Bakr radiallahu anhu narrates that Rasullullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam had said: "Recite La ilaha illallah and Istighfar as frequently as you can, because Shaytan says: "I ruin people by inclining them to commit sins, but they frustrate me through their recitation of La ilaha illallah and Istigfhar. When I find this so, I mislead them to indulge in bid'at and thereby make them follow their base desires in the belief that they are still on the right path.

11) Rasullullah sallalahu alayhi wasallam said, "there are obstacle in the way of every action before it reaches Almighty Allah, but the recitation of La ilaha illallah and the prayer of the father in favour of his son go up to Him unchecked.

The virtues of reciting La ilaha illallah go on and on and can be found in Fazaail Zikr written by Hazrat Shaykh Maulana Muhammad Zakarriya Khandhlawi.

Another reason for why I decided to choose this topic was because after looking around and making a few observations, I realised that this place and environment that we live in is very atheistic, in terms of attitudes and thinking. There is a big promotion of open immorality and things which are created to take your mind off Allah Ta'ala and focus it on the pleasures of this world. If a person doesn't keep the company of pious people or maintain some sort of connection with Allah Ta'ala on a daily basis you will find that you will slowly end up being overwhelmed and drowned by all the glamour and beauty of this world. It is very important for people to keep renewing ones Imaan as I did mention in the hadith number 2, because in doing so, inshallah it will make you remember Allah Ta'alaa and inshallah this will be a cause and means of a person staying away from that which is haraam.

My Ustadh related to us some poetry which I feel is relevant to this topic, "If you see goat droppings you know a goat has walked by, If you see footsteps you know a person and has travelled through this land, when you see the skies, the stars, the moon and the sun, then who do you think left those behind?"

May Allah Ta'ala enable me to act upon what has been said and all you brothers and sisters who read this article aswell. Ameen.