Brief Commentary:

The correct translation of Islam is “submission”, and it is incorrect to translate it as “peace”
A building is built on pillars, and if the pillars are not there, then the building will collapse, therefore if these pillars of Islam are not there then a person’s Islam will collapse
We are required to say the testimony in this lifetime, and believing in it without having ever said it is not sufficient
It is incorrect to translate “la ilaaha illa Allah” to be “There is no god but Allah” because Allah mentions in the Qur’an that there are other gods, and He also spoke about the one who takes his desire to be his god, therefore we don’t say there is no god but Allah because there are other gods but they are not real gods that deserve worship.
The correct translation of “la ilaaha illa Allah” is “There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah”
Virtues of “la ilaaha illa Allah”:

It is a price tag for the gardens of paradise
He whose last words are la ilaaha illa Allah will enter paradise
It is a salvation from the hellfire
It necessitates being forgiven
It is the best of all good actions
It wipes away sins
It renews the eeman that is planted in the heart
It outweighs on the scales the records of sins
It traverses all barriers until it reaches Allah, the Majestic
It is the best of what all the prophets have said
It is the best form of remembrance
It is a protection from the shaytaan
It is a means of safety from the darkness of the grave and the terror of the gathering
It will be a distinguishing sign for the believers when they emerge from their graves
To know it is the best blessing that Allah has blessed us with


The prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) said, “Whoever says la ilaaha illa Allah will enter Jannah” (Reported in ibn Hibban). This doesn’t mean just saying it, rather it means saying it with full meaning, therefore fulfilling its conditions
The conditions of of “la ilaaha illa Allah” are:

Knowledge in what you are saying. [Muhammad:19]
Certainty in what you are saying. [Al-Hujurat:15]
Sincerity in your worship. [Al-Zumar:2]
Truthfulness in what you are saying. [Al-Zumar:54]
Love for what you are saying and what it entails. [Al-Baqarah:165]
Submission to what it entails. [Al-Nisaa’:125]
Acceptance in everything that it entails. [Al-Ahzab-36]


The conditions of “Muhammad Rasoolu Allah” are:

Affirming his message and believing in it inwardly within the heart. [Al-Hujurat:15]
Uttering the testimony and affirming it outwardly upon the tongue. [Al-Hujurat:15]
Following him by acting upon whatever he has come with from the truth and abandoning whatever he has prohibited from falsehood. [‘Aal-Imran:31]
Attesting to whatever he has informed of from enjoining the good and prohibiting the evil and the unseen affairs of the past and in the future and other than that. [Al-Hashr:7]
Love for him must be more intense than love for oneself, wealth, father, son and all of the people. (The prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) said, “None of you truly believes until I am more beloved to them than their father, children, and all of mankind” [Reported in Bukhari & Muslim])
Putting his statement over the rest of the people, regardless of whoever they might be, and to act upon his Sunnah. [Al-Hujurat:1]
To magnify, honour, respect, exalt, and revere him. And to magnify, honour respect, exalt, and revere what he came with from Allah, and that is the Book and the purified Sunnah. And that cannot occur, except by acting upon the two of them and loving them more than one loves himself. [Al-Fat-h:8,9]


The testimony is an example of how the previous prophets (alayhim assalam) used to give da’wa, which is by negating all that is incorrect and then affirming what is correct. This can be seen as the testimony starts off with a negation “None worthy of worship”, which is followed by an affirmation “except Allah”
A major deviation of the real purpose of the testimony is to say that everything is in the heart and actions are not needed
Another major deviation is to concern ourselves with purification of the heart and ignoring everything else


The hadith says “establishing the prayer”, which is different to just “praying”
In the Qur’an Allah refers to the believers as those who establish the prayer, but when He speaks about the ones who don’t pray properly, or don’t pray on time, He just refers to them as “the ones who pray” e.g. {Woe unto the ones who pray} [Al-Maa’oon, 107:4]
Definitions of “establishing the prayer”:

Praying with the heart, soul, with awe and with khushoo’
Bowing and prostrating, reciting of a complete manner, with full concentration and fear of Allah


Prayer is the best of deeds
The effects of prayer on a person keeps him away from evil
Ibn Al-Qayyim said prayer is of five degrees:

The one who is careless and is therefore punished
The one who prays on time but at the same time he is distracted and is therefore admonished
The one who fulfils his prayer by fighting the devil and is therefore redeemed
The one who is entirely concerned with his prayer and is therefore rewarded
The one who performs his prayer while only being preoccupied with Allah and is therefore rewarded and brought closer to Allah


Abandoning the prayer takes someone out of the fold of this religion
The Messenger of Allah (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) was talking about obligatory prayers and he said, “whoever abandons it purposely, then bari’at minhu al dhimma (Islam is free from him)” (ibn Majah)
The Messenger of Allah (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) said: “The covenant that distinguishes between us and them is the prayer, and whoever neglects it has disbelieved (become a kaafir).” (Ahmad)
However, The Messenger of Allah (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) also said: “Whoever says la ilaaha illa Allah will enter jannah” (ibn hibban)
The above hadith seems to contradict the two hadiths mentioned before it, as the implied meaning of the hadith is that saying “la ilaaha illa Allah” is sufficient to admit someone into Jannah
To understand the topic better, and remove the conflict, Scholars say:

Shahada is the key to jannah, and every key has its teeth. The teeth for it were mentioned in the commentary of the first part of the hadith, and they included “Submission to what it entails”, therefore praying falls under this condition
We give preference for the explicit evidences over the implicit ones. The above hadith implies that prayer is not required to admit someone into Jannah, but the two hadiths before it explicitly say that it is required, so we understand it in light of the two hadiths before it, which is that prayer is actually required


The majority opinion is that if someone generally stops praying then he becomes a kaafir, but if he prays on and off then he is not a kaafir, but has committed a grave sin
Prayer is composed of pledges, commitments, and recognitions which we make in every prayer. A great short piece of work was written on this topic. A summary in English can be found by going to https://hadithcommentary.wordpress.com/articles/letteronsalah
Zakah linguistically means:

To purify
To grow
To bless


The Shar’i (Islamic) meaning is: To give a certain amount of wealth from a certain category of wealth to a certain group of people at a certain time of year
From the above definition, we learn that zakah is not always 2.5%, as sometimes it can even be 10%, depending on what you are giving zakah from
If we don’t pay zakah, then had it not been for the animals, we would be prevented from rain
Importance of zakah:

Usually listed with Salah in the Qur’an
Reason for Abu Bakr to wage war on the Arab tribes
Can be a reason for Allah withholding rainfall from us if we leave it
Can be a source of punishment for us in the hereafter if we leave it


Why we give zakah

It is a test for those who claim to love Allah, as you are parting with what you love (wealth) for what you love more (Allah)
To be free from the destructive characteristic of miserliness
To thank Allah for His blessings


Benefits of giving zakah

It frees oneself from miserliness which Allah ordered us to stay away from. [Al-hashr, 59:9]
It refines your character
It increases your wealth. [Saba’, 34: 39]
It helps you to strive against your own nafs (soul)
It shows that Islam is not an individualistic faith
It helps in tasting the sweetness of Iman


It is haram to do hajj and fulfil all its requirements, but think you haven’t been forgiven
Benefits of hajj:

You have all of your sins forgiven
Entails all the five pillars of Islam
You glorify and manifest the emblems of Allah
Helps a person in submitting to Allah
Teaches us that Allah’s wisdom and knowledge is greater than ours


The linguistic meaning of fasting is to restrain oneself from something
The shar’i (Islamic) meaning of fasting is refraining from food, drink, and sexual intercourse from dawn until sunset
Fasting can be split into three levels

General fasting: abstaining from food, drink, and sexual intercourse
Special fasting: general fasting + keeping the tongue, eyesight, hands, feet, hearing and all other limbs away from sins
Extra special fasting: special fasting + restraining the heart from lowly ambitions, thoughts that move one away from Allah, and freeing it from anything other than Allah


Fasting helps in attaining piety because we train ourselves from refraining from good things, so it will be easier to refrain from bad things
When we break our fast, we are happy because we can eat, and because the reward of fasting has no limits
Benefits of fasting:

Helps in attaining piety
Decreases one’s desires
Has unlimited reward
Reward can never be taken away from us