During the Westgate Attack, a rumor was spreading that the shooters would spare the lives of Muslims. A survivor named Eran Ochayon, like most people at the mall, wasn’t Muslim. His friend, hiding elsewhere in the complex, sent him a text message. It was the shahada, an Islamic creed typically recited at daily prayers.
Fast forward to April 2015 at Garissa University College, a student who is on the basketball team at the university, was allowed to leave by the attackers after proving he was a Muslim by reciting the Shahada.
SEE ALSO: Here Is The Sad Reason Why Most Victims Of Garissa Attack Were Ladies That Has Gone Viral
What Is Shahada?
According to Wikipedia, The Shahada (Arabic: الشهادة aš-šahādah “the testimony”; also aš-šahādatān (الشَهادَتانْ, “the two testimonials”)) is an Islamic creed declaring belief in the oneness of God and the acceptance of Muhammad as God’s prophet. The declaration, in its shortest form, reads:
- لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله
- lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāh, muḥammadun rasūlu-llāh
- There is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God
- In a much simpler form it reads
- La ilaha illa Allah wa-Muhammad rasul Allah.
- There is no god but God and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah.
Recitation Of The Shahada
SEE ALSO: Here Is The Sad Reason Why Most Victims Of Garissa Attack Were Ladies That Has Gone Viral
Recitation of the shahādah is the most common statement of faith for Muslims. In Sunni Islam, it is counted as the first of the Five Pillars of Islam, while the Twelver and Ismaili Shi’a connect it to their respective lists of pillars of the faith. Non-Muslims wishing to convert to Islam do so by a public recitation of this creed.
The shahada has been used as a shibboleth in Islamic terror attacks to separate Muslim from non-Muslim civilians (in order to kill the latter but not the former), e.g. in the 2013 Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya and in the Garissa University College attack in Garissa, Kenya in 2015. To Associated Press, the al-Shabab called it “a meticulous vetting process … to separate the Muslims from the Kuffar”.
Now you know..
- Sources
- Wikipedia And ReligionFact.com
