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Shurūṭ al-Shahādah (Conditions of the Testimony)

Tawḥīd (Uṣūl al-Dīn)Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah

The conditions under which the testimony is valid and effective: knowledge, certainty, acceptance, submission, truthfulness, sincerity, and love.

Dimension I

Definition

What it is — and what it is not

What it is
  • S1In the Sacred Law — The conditions that make the testimony valid and effective, not mere utterance.
Necessary conditions
  1. S2Knowledge (ʿilm) — Understanding its meaning, negating ignorance. [1.1]
  2. S3Certainty (yaqīn) — Firm conviction, negating doubt.
  3. S4Acceptance and submission — Acceptance (qabūl) and submission (inqiyād), negating rejection and arrogance.
  4. S5Truthfulness, sincerity, love — Truthfulness (ṣidq), sincerity (ikhlāṣ), and love (maḥabbah).

Dimension II

In practice

How to deal with it

Warnings
  • S6Uttering the words while withholding acceptance or submission does not meet the conditions.

References

  1. Synthesised from the creed manuals of Ahl al-Sunnah (e.g. al-ʿAqīdah al-Ṭaḥāwiyyah and its commentaries).

    • 1.1

      Knowledge (ʿilm) — Grounded in Q 47:19 — "know that there is no deity but God" — the testimony requires understanding its meaning.

      Establishedstronger than the source overall (Corroborated)
    • 1.2

      The seven-fold enumeration — The familiar list of seven conditions is a scholarly derivation (istinbāṭ) gathering the textual indicants, not a single transmitted text; the underlying conditions are agreed, the exact count is a teaching device.

      Latent defectCorroborated

      Sound in substance, but presenting "seven conditions" as if a single report is imprecise; the enumeration is a later pedagogical synthesis of many texts.

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