Did I Say the Shahada (Testification of Faith) Correctly?

Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas

Question: I wanted to know what are the proper ways of saying the Shahadah. I was born Muslim, but there may have been something that caused me in the distant past to lose faith in the deen and I said the shahadah again a long time ago. The way I said it and have been saying is Ashhadu allaa ilaaha illallaahu wa ashhadu anna muhammada rasulullah but the way I have been seeing it online is Ashhadu an la ilaaha illallaahu wa ashhadu anna muhammada rasulullah. I have been saying it as AL but it says AN online. Does this mean my shahadah was never valid?

Answer: assalamu `alaykum

Your testification (shahada) was perfectly valid.

The original wording of the testification of faith is “an la”. However, in utterance, the final letter of “an”, the nun, takes on the form and merges into the first letter of “la”, the lam. As such, this letter is now doubled and the pronunciation changes to “al-la”. This is referred to as idgam and is the more well-known and famous way of reciting the testification of faith.

At the same time, some scholars also held that pronouncing it as “an la” without merging would also be valid and permissible. [Ibn Jazari, al-Nashr fi Qira’at al-Ashar]

Thus, the way you stated the testification was the proper way.

Wassalam
Salman

Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani