What Does La ilaha illa Lah Mean?
La ilaha illa Lah is a part of the profession of faith (shahada) pronounced by Muslims throughout their lives. It is the testimony of the Oneness of Allah par excellence that every person proclaims when they recognize the existence of God the One and enter, through the heart and the tongue but also through their actions, into the Muslim religion: Islam. Let us see what this beacon of Muslim monotheism represents and what responsibilities it contains.
Translation of the first part of the profession of faith: La ilaha illa Lah
La ilaha illa Lah literally means:
There is no deity (worthy of being worshipped) except Allah, or again, there is no god apart from Allah.
It is a testimony in two stages, if one may say so: the
rejection of polytheism and
the belief in Allah without associating anything with Him.
It therefore consists of rejecting every form of worship, divine or even material, other than Allah. It means not associating anyone or anything with our Lord, whether this be done intentionally or unintentionally, whether it be in our innermost self, our words or even what our actions reveal.
This formula La ilaha illa Lah contains the principles of
pure monotheism, the
Tawhid. And it is magnificent to observe that this formula of the profession of faith is entirely made up of only 3 letters.
The Arabic letters forming the Name of Allah (Alif, Lam and Ha) are those forming the testimony of His Oneness. In Arabic:
LA is the negation
ILAHA means god, deity, but also an entity worshipped as a god. In the Quran Allah uses this word to speak of Himself but also to say that certain people love their passions as one loves Allah.
ILAHA is also a word that means "love." A love of a person towards someone on whom they depend. They do not only love that person but they need them, as the child needs its mother.
ILLA means except, apart from
ALLAH is the supreme name of our Lord. All the other Names are gathered in the word Allah. It encompasses all His Attributes, including 99 Absolute Attributes and Names that complement one another and that each reflect our needs.
What does the name of Allah represent?
The Name Allah is used 2698 times in the Quran.
He is the Creator of the entire Universe and all it contains, the Only One Worthy of being worshipped, and He has the Absolute Names and Attributes, the most perfect ones, which have belonged to Him forever. No one gave them to Him but He attributed them to Himself alone. Our belief in His Names and Attributes must not contain a beginning or an end, nor any limitation in quantity or quality. And we must not give Him any resemblance to our own qualities, which, for their part:
- are limited in number,
- had a beginning (our birth or the beginning of a behaviour),
- will have an end (our death or the end of the adoption of a behaviour).
When is the Shahada (profession of faith La ilaha illa Lah) pronounced?
The Muslim pronounces this formula at different moments of his day but also on very specific occasions, some of which we are going to cite. This is not an exhaustive list.
- Upon the conversion to Islam of a person who was not born a Muslim
- At the end of the ablutions, the Muslim pronounces the testimony of the oneness of Allah. Indeed, each time he or she is about to pray, he performs the Wudu (the ablutions), that is to say the purification of his body by washing as Allah asked us in the Holy Quran and as the prophet completed this instruction by his example.
- During the 5 daily prayers (at least) the Muslim recites this profession of faith at the end of the first two units of prayer as well as at the final last unit.
- At the end of the major ablutions, called the Ghusl, or the great washing, which the Muslim performs on Friday before going to the communal prayer at the mosque, or again during the two great religious festivals of Al-Eid Al-Fitr or Al-Eid Al-Adha, the Muslim also performs a great washing at the end of which he pronounces the Shahada (testimony of the oneness of Allah)
- Upon a sincere repentance, it is also necessary to perform a great washing and therefore to bear witness to the oneness of Allah, a symbol of renewal
- At the beginning and the end of a speech or a sermon, as during the communal Friday prayer.
The formula
La illaha illa Lah is therefore, for the soul of each Muslim man and woman, a reminder and a testimony by the tongue and the heart of our belief in Allah.
What does this imply?
The Muslim, who lives with this imprint in the heart, recognizes, through his repeated testimony, that Allah is One and that no other person or entity can be worthy of being worshipped, but this implies other convictions:
- Not to place the fear of anyone, or of anything, above the reverential fear we hold for Allah
- Not to place the love of anyone above our love for Him
- Not to expect anything from anyone as strongly as what we expect from Him
- Not to rely on any means, be it earthly, human or material, that would surpass our trust in Him, in His Powers over all things
These are only a few elements that gravitate around this firm conviction that He is:
- The Only One Worthy of being worshipped
- The Only One Worthy of being loved
- The Only One Worthy of being feared
- The Only One in whom to place all our trust
Some supplications in which we find the attestation La ilaha illa Lah
- The supplication to be said 100 times every morning after the dawn prayer (Fajr), and 10 times after each sunset prayer (Maghrib).
«
There is no other deity [worthy of worship] but Allah, Unique, without associate. To Him the sovereignty, to Him the praise, He gives life, He gives death and He is Capable of all things. »
لاَ إلَهَ إلاَّ اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لاَ شَرِيكَ لَهُ ، لَهُ الملْكُ وَلَهُ الحَمْدُ ، وَهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيءٍ قَدير ( «
Lâ Ilâha Illa-Llâh Wahdahu lâ Sharîka Lah. Lahul-Mulk wa Lahul-Hamd wa Huwa 3alâ Koulli Chay’in Qadîr »)
- The supplication of the prophet Yunus when he was in the belly of the whale, which is found in the Quran in Surah 21 at verse 87.
There is no deity apart from You! Glory to You! I have truly been among the unjust.
Lâ ilaha illâ ant, Soubhânaka, Inî kountou mina dhâlimîn
لَّآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّآ أَنتَ سُبۡحَـٰنَكَ إِنِّى ڪُنتُ مِنَ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ