one has no option but to believe it with heart and soul, preach it and strive with utmost effort to establish it. Our Imam believes that a deviant, incorrect meaning of this Kalema is accepted worldwide among all today. It is believed and taught today that, the meaning of “La Elaha Ellallah”-is, there is none to be worshipped other than Allah-whereas, the actual meaning it conveys is-“there is none to be obeyed other than Allah”-because Elah and Ma’bud are two different words with two different meanings.

In substituting Ma’bud for Elah we are merely using one word to replace another instead of conveying the meaning of the former e.g. ‘Elah’ a word that denotes the entity that is to be obeyed, adhered to, the soveirgn, whereas Ma’bud is  ‘He, who is to be worshipped’, therefore, these two adjectives denote two different meanings.  If ‘La Elaha Ellallah’ were to mean there is none to be worshipped other than Allah, then the Arabic would have been, ‘La Ma’bud Ellallah.’ But from the first Messenger Adam (A.S.) to the seal of the Messengers of Allah, Muhammad (SM) the Kalema they have all brought to their peoples has remained the same, ‘La Elaha Ellallah.’ Over two hundred thousand ‘Nabis’ or Messengers from Allah have borne witness to this same Kalema, ‘There is none to be obeyed other than Allah.’ Allah is definitely the only Ma’bud, but that is not the Kalema of Islam.

The Kalema, cornerstone of the faith is to accept Him as the only Elah, no one else to be obeyed other than Him. In the Quran, Allah affirms, “Those who accept Allah and His Messenger will enter paradise”-(Sura Fatah-17, Azhab-71). Then again in Sura Nissa-69, He avows, “Those who obey Allah and His Messenger, will be in the company of Nabis, Shaheeds, Siddiqs, Saleheen,” the only condition that has been laid for the entry to paradise in both the instances, is obedience to Allah, the acceptance of His will as the only authority. It is interesting to note that, Namaz, Roza, Hajj or Zakah have none been given as a pre condition for entry to paradise, it is only the acceptance and adherence of Allah as the only authority of the only faith. The Messengers of Allah has cleared this point by saying “Man qala La Elaha Ellallah fad khalal Jannah”- (Bokhari and Muslim from Abu Zarr Ghefari R.) i.e. He who says that there is none to be obeyed except Allah will enter paradise. Here “says” means believing it with all the heart without any doubt, proclaiming it openly and struggling (Jahedu) to establish it on earth.

Our Imam has made us realize that, due to the gross error in the understanding of the meaning of Kalema, this huge population of Muslims in the world has forsaken the allegiance to Allah as the only law-giver, the only one whose ordain we are to obey.

We accept Him as the Ma’bud, the one to be worshipped, believe it with our hearts and souls, say prayers  to please Him, give in charity, in Zakah, fast to gain His proximity, His goodwill, engage in various other good deeds but none adhere to Him as the only one except whom there is none to be obeyed. In our collective life, we have forsaken the Deen, the way of life, as prescribed by Him and accepted and implemented those created by our fellowman, little knowing that, by doing so, e.g. diverting from the Kalema, we are turning into Moshrek and Kafer. In a Hadith describing the akheri zamana, the Messengers of Allah has stated, that the mosques will be full of Musallis, there will be shortage of space in those, but, they will be devoid of Hedayah [Source: Bayhaquee from Hazrat Ali (R.)] This ‘Hedayah’ or right guidance is the acceptance of Allah as the one besides whom there is none to be obeyed. This is Tawheed; this is ‘La Elaha Ellallah’. It does not take a genius to figure that if there is no Hedayah in mosques full of people, there is no Islam either. In today’s world, there is no place where the ordinance of Allah is adhered to, in the collective level, not even in the so-called Muslim states. Everywhere we look, the way of life, the system of government is those prescribed by the peoples and by Jews and Christians. In so doing, by implementing man-made ways of life instead of the one sent by Allah,