Praise  be  to  Allah.  And  may  
His
peace  and  blessings  be  upon  the  Messen
ger,  his  family,  
his Companions, and all those who follow
h
is way until the Day of
Judgment
.
This  is  a  short  treatise  about  the  meaning  of  our  testimony  when  we  say  “Muhammad  is  
the  Messenger  of  Allah”.  We  wish  to  distribute  it  among  the  people  because  the
re  is  a  
dire need
for such information to be made
available
. Many Muslims, not to mention non
-
Muslims,  are  ignorant  of  what  this  testimony  really  means.  Many  Muslims  fall  into  what  
contradicts or even invalidates this testimony.
Therefore,  it  is  incumbent  
upon  us  to  make  this  matter  clear  to  the  Muslims
.
In this way
we obey
 Allah’s command
 given in the following verses of the
Qur’ân
:
“But teach
(the
 Message) for teaching benefits the Believers” [
Sûrah al
-
Dhâriyât
:  55]
“Therefore  give  admonition  in  case  the
  admonition  profits  (the  hearer).”  [
Sûrah al
-
A`lâ
:
9]
“Therefore  give  admonition,  for  you  are  but  to  admonish.  You  are  not  a  keeper  over  
them” [
Sûrah al
-
Ghâshiyah
:
21
-
22
]
The  Prophet  (peace  be  upon  him)  said:  “Religion  is  sincere  advice.”  His  Companions  
as
ked  him  to  whom  this  was
  for
.  He  answered:  “
About
  Allah,  His  Messenger,
  and
  His  
Book
to
the leaders of the Muslims, and
to
the  Muslim  masses.”
1
It  is  the  duty  of  all  who  know  the  truth  to  convey  it  to  the  people  and  make  it  clear,  
especially in these times
 when Islam has come to
be viewed as
 strange and good and evil
have  become  confused  with  one  another.  Few  people  today  are  willing  to  raise  their  
heads and declare the truth.
We  can  take  solace  in  the  
following
words  of  Allah’s  Messenger  (peace  be  upon  hi
m):
“Islam  began  strange  and  it  will  become  strange  again,  so  give  glad  tidings  to  the  
strangers.”
2
I ask Allah to bless us with guidance and protect us from the evil that is within ourselves.
O  Allah!  Show  us  the  truth  and  bless  us  to  follow  it.  Let  us  se
e  falsehood  for  what  it  is  
and  help  us  to  avoid  it.  Make  our  intentions  pure  and  our  works  correct.  Cause  everyone  
1
Sahîh Muslim
 (# 55).
2
Sahîh Muslim
 (# 145).
www
.
islamtoday
.
com
who reads this treatise to benefit from it. Bless us and all the Muslims to help one another
in works of righteousness. You are truly the Mos
t  Generous,  Most  Kind.
Introduction
When Allah created Adam
  and  breathed  into  him  his  spirit,  He  commanded  the  angels  to  
prostrate  themselves  
before
  him
.  Satan,  who
  was  not  an  angel  but  from  the  Jinn,
was in
their  company
,
  worshipping  Allah
  along  with  them
.  However,  when  they  were  all  
commanded  to  prostrate  before  Adam,  
Satan  refused  and  was  cursed.  Allah  says:  “
And
remember  when  we  said  to  the  angels:  ‘Prostrate  before  Adam’  and  they  all  prostrated  
exc
e
pt for Satan. He refused and was haughty and was one o
f  the  unbelievers.”
 [
Sûrah  al
-
Baqarah
:  34]
Allah also says: “
And remember when we said to the angels: ‘Prostrate before Adam’ and
they  all  prostrated  except  for  Satan.  He  was  one  of  the  Jinn  and  disobeyed  the  command  
of  his  Lord.
” [
Sûrah al
-
Kahf
:  50]
The  r
eason  he  refused  to  bow  before  Adam  was  because  of  his  pride,  envy,  and  
rancor
.
His  punishment  was  to
  be  cursed  and  banished  from  Allah’s  mercy.  However,  this  filthy  
creature
grew
  in  his  hatred  of  Adam  and  
Adam’s  progeny
  and  requested  from  Allah  to  
grant
h
im
respite   until   the   Day   of   Resurrection
.
This
   Allah   granted   him.   Satan’s
following
words are related in the
Qurân
: “
He said: ‘Because You have thrown me out of
the  way,  I  will  lie  in  wait  for  them  on  Your  straight  way
.
  Then  will  I  assault  them  from  
before
  them  and  behind  them,  from  their  right  and  their  left
.
 You
will
find  most  of  them
to be
un
grateful.’
” [
Sûrah al
-
A`râf
:  16
-
17]
That  is  how  Satan  swore  he  would  lead  Allah’s  servants  from  the  progeny  of  Adam  
astray.
  He  would  take  them  off  the  path  of  truth  
and salvation. He would cause them to
abandon the worship of Allah
  or
  bring  them  to  polytheism
.  He  would
 lead them to any
path that would cut them off from all that is good and enamor them of all that is evil.
Allah also relates to us the following words o
f Satan:
“
(Satan)  said:  ‘O  my  Lord!  Because  You  have
put  me  in  the  wrong,  I  will  make  wrong  
fair
-
seeming  to  them  on  the  Earth,  and  I  will  put  them  all  in  the

 The meaning of our testimony that Muhammad peace be upon him is the messenger of Allah.