Kalma The Declaration of Faith

The religion of Islam starts with Kalima, the first tenet of Islam. Basically, there are five pillars of Islam upon which the religion of peace was founded by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

The five pillars are namely: kalma (shahadat), namaz (salah), roza (saum), zakat and hajj.

For all the pillars to be valid one must hold fast and believe in kalma, the foundation of Islam.

There are five kalimas in addition to the first one that decides whether one is a believer or a non-believer.

The six kalimas in total describe the entire concept of Islam, touching on important points like life and death, heaven and hell, submission to Allah, end of prophethood, etc.

Let’s find out the meaning of Kalma first!

What Does the Kalima Mean?

The word kalma means “phrases or lines” in Arabic. But in the Islamic context, Kalma means the words of Shahadat.

Shahadat (or Shahadah) is the Islamic pledge or oath which states there’s no God but Allah and the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is his messenger.

Every Muslim has to adhere to these lines to be considered one.

Since Kalma is of such foundational value in Islam, the more strongly you believe in it the closer you’re to Allah and the firmer you’ll be on His path.

As you saw that Kalma has two main components, we’ll look at them in the coming paras.

Oneness of Allah In Islam

Allah is the God that Muslims worship and bow down to. He is the sole creator of the universe. He is the sustainer and protector.

Muslims essentially believe that there’s only one God and that’s what makes the foundation of Islam.

Anybody who believes in a God or deity other than Allah will not qualify as a Muslim. In fact, attributing the qualities of God to anyone except Allah is Shirk, the greatest sin.

The oneness of Allah gives a Muslim the firmness to walk with confidence and live their life without any fears.

The belief that Allah alone will take care of everything makes one free of suffering and the mind becomes focused on one God.

There are countless benefits of the belief in Allah (which is called Tawheed) and as the thought gets stronger the life changes for you completely.

The Finality of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

The second part of the kalma testifies that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is the last messenger of Allah.

Every Muslim must believe in the finality of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ as he declared himself the final prophet many a time.

The concept of the finality of the Prophet is referred to as Khatam e Nabuwat, and being part of the kalma it’s an essential element in the Muslim ideology.

Khatam e Nabuwat has many details. One of which is that anyone claiming to be Prophet after the Prophet ﷺ will be condemned as a heretic.

Moreover, any community or people following some spiritual leader as a prophet will never be considered Muslims.

The Blessing of Belief and Kalmas

There’s huge blessing in the belief in Kalma. There are six kalimas in Islam and all of them help to make you a better person in life.

The first kalmas are short and more focused on the basic concepts of Islam. However, the later kalmas reiterate other important things for example life after death, forgiveness, etc.

The sixth kalima particularly centers around the rejection of disbelief and it’s rightly named Radd e Kufr.

Apart from the 6th kalima, the fifth and fourth mainly talk about Allah’s mercy and his greatness.

While the first three are all based on the basic principles of Islam. The principles of the Oneness of Allah and the finality of the Prophethood of Muhammad ﷺ.

How Belief In Kalima Helps You

First of all, kalima is the token of your iman and faith in Allah. It’s the assurance that you believe in Allah solely as the creator of the universe.

Kalma also validates your faith in the Holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

As a Muslim, the more you believe in the Kalimas the better because that will determine the level of trust you have in God.

Furthermore, the belief in Kalma and dua makes life smoother for you and numerous unnecessary worries go away as if they were never there.

The success of this life as well as the life after death depends on your hold of the kalma.

The more strongly you hold to the contents of the kalma the more successful you will be in this life as a Muslim and in the hereafter.

How to Strengthen Your Faith?

To strengthen your faith the first thing to do is to read all the six kalimas with translation and explanation from learned scholars.

This will help you understand the meaning and context for each kalma.

Then your mind will better be able to grasp what Allah wants to say and what He wants from you.

You can also memorize these kalmas so that they will always be in your memory and whenever you feel intimidated and weak you can recite the kalmas and revive Iman.

The more you go into the kalmas the better your faith will be.

The Last Word

As you saw, kalmas make a significant part of the Islamic belief. They are the backbone of Islamic ideology.

Therefore, it’s the duty of every Muslim to know the kalmas by heart and have a strong belief in them.

To learn the enlightening verses of kalma there are several resources on the internet as well as hard copy books in which you can read them all.

Also teaching the kalma to young ones is pretty crucial because that makes the very foundation of the child strong.

Keeping kalma in constant practice is what every Muslim should strive to achieve. Because, they decide the strength of your Iman.