بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
اَللّٰھُمَّ إِنِّیْ أَعُوْذُ بِكَ أَنْ أُشْرِكَ بِكَ وَأَنَا أَعْلَمُ، وَأَسْتَغْفِرُكَ لِمَا لَا أَعْلَمُ
تُبْتُ عَنْهُ وَتَبَرَّأْتُ مِنَ الْکُفْرِ وَالشِّرْكِ وَالْمَعَاصِيْ کُلِّهَا
أَسْلَمْتُ وَاٰمَنْتُ ، وَأَقُوْلُ لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا اللّٰہُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَّسُوْلُ اللّٰہِ
(البخاري في الأدب المفرد: 716 ومسألة البراءة في سورة الكافرون)
Allāhumma innee ʾaʿoodhu bika ʿan ush-rika bika wa ʾana ʾaʿlamu,
wa ʾas-tagh-firuka limaa laa ʾaʿlamu, tubtu ʿanhu wa tabar-raʾtu minal kufri wash-shirki wal-ma-ʿaaṣee kulli-haa, ʾaslamtu wa aa-mantu,
wa ʾaqoolu laa-ʾilaaha ʾillal-laahu Muḥammadur Rasoolullah.
O Allāh, I seek protection in You from joining any partner with You knowingly. I seek Your forgiveness from that which I do not know. I repent from it.
I free myself from disbelief and from joining partners with You and I free myself from all sins. I submit to Your will. I believe and I declare:
There is no god besides Allāh; Muhammad ﷺ is the Messenger of Allāh.
This kalimah is yet another one which addresses an important aspect of our faith. The opposite of ʾĪmān is kufr (disbelief) and shirk (ascribing partners to Allāh). In this kalimah, we renounce both kufr and shirk and ask Allāh to forgive us for any mistakes in this regard and we also ask Him to protect us from this most destructive evil.
Nowadays, as perennialism is gaining traction, it becomes imperative for Muslims to free themselves from all forms of kufr and shirk.
References
The first part of the fifth kalimah is found in a sound ḥadīth which warns about ‘al-Shirk al-Khafi’ or ‘hidden polytheism’.
- Sayyidunā Maʿqil ibn Yasār (رضي الله عنه) said: “I went with ʾAbū Bakr Aṣ-Ṣiddīq to the Prophet ﷺ and he (ﷺ) said: ‘O ʾAbū Bakr! Surely shirk (polytheism) is more concealed in you all than the crawling of an ant.’ ʾAbū Bakr asked: ‘Is shirk not only associating another god with Allāh?’ The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘By the Being in whose Hands is my soul, surely shirk is more hidden than the crawling of an ant. Should I not inform you of something which if you say it, the minor of it [shirk] and the major of it [shirk] will be removed from you?’ He ﷺ said: ‘Say: اَللّٰھُمَّ إِنِّیْ أَعُوْذُ بِكَ أَنْ أُشْرِكَ بِكَ وَأَنَا أَعْلَمُ، وَأَسْتَغْفِرُكَ لِمَا لَا أَعْلَمُ.’”[1]
Since dying on kufr and shirk is the unforgivable sin, we should ensure that this duʿāʾ is one which we often recite.
- The second part of the fifth kalimah is pertaining to a masʾalah (an issue) called: ‘At-Tabarrī (Al-Barāʾah) min al-Kufr wa al-Shirk’- ‘Disavowal of Disbelief and Polytheism’ or ‘Freeing oneself from disbelief and ascribing partners with Allāh’.
- Sayyidunā Hūd (عليه السلام) proclaimed: “I am free from that which you ascribe as partners in worship.”[2]
- Sayyidunā ʾIbrāhīm (عليه السلام) proclaimed: “We are free from you and free from what you worship other than Allāh.”[3]
- Additionally, Nabī Karīm ﷺ was ordered to free himself from the worship of the Makkan idolaters in ‘Sūrah Al-Kāfirūn’:
“Say, “O disbelievers, (1) I do not worship what you worship. (2) Nor are you worshippers of what I worship. (3) Nor will I be a worshipper of what you worship. (4) Nor will you be worshippers of what I worship. (5) For you is your religion, and for me is my religion.” (6)”[4]
- Nabī ﷺ said to Nawfal (رضي الله عنه): “Recite [Sūrah al-Kāfirūn], then go to sleep at the end of it, for it is a disavowal of polytheism (barāʾah min al-shirk).”[5]
- He ﷺ was also instructed to proclaim ‘At-Tabarrī min al-Kufr’ in the following verse: “Say, ‘Indeed, He is but one God, and indeed, I am free of what you associate [with Him].’”[6]
- The ʿulamāʾ (scholars) of ʿaqīdah (Creed) and fiqh (Jurisprudence) have discussed this issue in detail in their respective books.[7]
- ʾImām Muhammad (رحمه الله) mentioned regarding Christians and Jews who would proclaim the kalimah shahādah yet not become Muslims because they interpreted it as: Muḥammad is a messenger sent to you (Muslims) and not us.
ʾImām Abū Ḥanīfah (رحمه الله) said that this testimony would not be accepted as Islām from them until they do not also admit that all that Muḥammad ﷺ brought is from Allāh Taʿālā and if the person was a Christian, he must disavow Christianity and if he was a Jew, he must disavow Judaism.[8] Imām Nawawī (رحمه الله) said something similar in Ạl-Minhāj.[9]
- ʿAllamah Ibn ʿĀbidīn Shāmī (رحمه الله) commented in Raddul Muḥtār: “A person who became a kāfir (disbeliever) by denying an obvious matter (ʾamrun ḍarūriyyun) of the Dīn like the prohibition of alcohol, for instance, then it is necessary for him to free himself of this belief because coupled with this (false belief), he still believed in the shahādatayn. Thus, it is necessary for him to disavow it.”[10]
Explanation: This person was a Muslim. However, he thereafter renegaded from Islām when he began to believe alcohol was permissible. Hence, when the Muslim judge tells him to reaccept Islām, he will not simply instruct him to say the shahādatayn as this man is already still saying and believing in the shahādatayn. Rather, the Muslim judge will also command him to renounce his belief that alcohol is permissible.
And Allāh Taʿālā Knows best
[1] Bukhārī r in ʾAdabul Mufrad #716
[2] Sūrah Al-Hūd: 54
[3] Sūrah Az-Zukhruf: 26
[4] Sūrah Al-Kāfirūn
[5] Sunan ʾAbī Dāwūd #5055
[6] Sūrah Al-Anʿām: 19
[7] See: Al-Musāyarah by ʿAllāmah Ibn Humām r with Al-Musāmarah by Maqdisī r Pg.671-674 and its commentary by ʿAllāmah Qāsim Ibn Quṭlubughā r Vol.2 Pg.209-215. Also see: Raddul Muḥtār Vol.13 Pg.25: Mabḥath fī ʾIshtirāṭi Tabarrī maʿ Shahādatayn.
[8] See: Sharḥ Mukhtaṣar Al-Karkhī by Al-Qudūrī Vol.9 Pg.239
[9] Al-Minhāj Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim Vol.2 Pg.18
[10] Raddul Muḥtār Vol.13 Pg.26. Also see: Hidāyatul Murīd li Jawharah Al-Tawḥīd by Al-Laqānī Vol.1 Pg.278