My name is Amina Blake, I became Muslim 24 yeas ago. I’m going to be recording a series of short videos aimed especially at brand new-Muslims or at Muslims who have been brought up in a very cultural background and are coming into the faith and they want to learn about faith as opposed to culture.

The Meaning of Shahadah

This first session is about the shahadah. The shahadah is the declaration of faith, when one feels in one’s heart. So we believe in Allah, we believe in the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and all the Prophets; we believe in the six pillars of faith, then we are ready to put what we feel in our hearts and declare it with our tongues.

That’s what the shahadah basically is.

Now, we’ve all been on different journeys to get to that stage of taking the shahadah. Every journey is amazing and every journey is completely individual.

Some people become Muslim because of the proof of the Quran. The Quran is the truth, it’s not debatable. Now when we look at the sciences in the Quran, we look at the miracle of the language and linguistics in the Quran, we look at the perfect system, we look how Allah has revealed the Quran to us.

Reflection

We can see that it is the only true word of God and it’s very clear; it’s there for those to reflect. The Quran challenges us and tells us to reflect on it, to question it, and to delve into it.

So reflecting the creation, for example look at the crocodile, look at the mercy of the breeds of crocodiles that the mother will carry the young crocodiles in its mouth, yet they have the brain so small and it’s just amazing that the mother shows such mercy and care.

Look at the migration of the birds from one place to another using the magnetic fields of the earth; but a bird that can hatch out of an egg and learn how to fly and then will suddenly know its way from here to Africa.

I struggle getting from my house to Tesco’s sometimes and we have much bigger brains than birds.

We have a will of our own and we have the right to reflect and to choose; we have the intelligence to think and to choose between what is the truth and what is the falsehood. If we choose to follow the truth or falsehood, then it’s up to us.

So I’m pleased that you have chosen Islam, whether you’re from a born Muslim background or you’re from a non-Muslim background like myself.