How Do I Deal with Thoughts of Disbelief (Kufr), and How Is the Testification of Faith (Shahada) Pronounced?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

I often get doubts about my Iman, such as when I say something in my heart and had the thought that it is kufr; my question is, do I have to recite shahada with proper tajweed rules, such as differentiating between (ح) and (ه), and what shahada can I recite to repent “La ilaha illa Allah Muhammadur Rasulullah” or any other?

And is it “Muhammadur” or “Muhammadan” in the shahada? If there is a disagreement on these points, I’d like to hear the Muslim scholars’ (ijma) consensus.

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

Regarding your question on thoughts of disbelief, please see this link. In short, thoughts of disbelief (kufr) are not disbelief itself. Instead, as you will see in the link, they are often a sign of pure faith.

Pronouncing the Testification of Faith

The testification of faith is usually said in two ways: the more formal and the normal.

The formal way includes the statement “I testify” or, in Arabic, “Ash-hadu (أشهد).” If one is saying the testification of faith in this manner, one will conclude with “Muhammadar Rasulullah.”

“.أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إلٰهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّداً رَّسُولُ اللهِ”
“Ash-hadu an lā ilāha illa Allāh wa Ash-hadu anna Muḥammada’r Rasūlullāh.”

Note that the reason it is “Muhammadar” is because the “n” sound at the end of “Muhammadan” is incorporated in the “R” of the next word as per the rules of Arabic articulation (Tajwid). [Ghawthani, Tajwid al-Ghawthani]

If one said “Muhammadan” instead of “Muhammadar,” it is not sinful, although it is improper articulation.

The other mode of saying the testification of faith (shahada) is to merely say:

“.لَا إلٰهَ إِلَّا اللهُ – مُحَمَّدٌ رَّسُولُ اللهِ”
“Lā ilāha illa Allāh Muḥammadu’r Rasūlullāh.”

The difference here is that the opening portion of the formal method is not stated (namely, Ash-hadu). In this case, the ending will be as written above as per the rules of Arabic grammar (Subject/Predicate).

Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch teaches Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences.

He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he studied for three years in Dar al-Mustafa under some of the most outstanding scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib.

In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Quran and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Quranic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.