The confusion on the question of salvation for the reciter of Kalimah owes itself to the improper understanding of the Quran and Hadith. The Quran makes it unmistakably clear that Allah Almighty has not made salvation in the Hereafter incumbent upon an individual's formal association with a particular group. The Book stresses that the success in the Hereafter is guaranteed only for those who fulfill the criterion of faith and righteous deeds. The Quran says:
Sure the believers and the Jews and the followers of Christ and the Sabians, whoever believes in God and the last Day, and whoever does right, shall have his reward with his Lord and they will neither have fear nor regret. (2:62)
This verse clarifies that there are only two preconditions for salvation in the hereafter: faith in Allah, in the Hereafter, in the Prophets, and righteous deeds. A person satisfying these conditions, whenever he lived, shall stand successful in the eyes of Allah. As for those who relish the prospects of residing in the pleasures of the Paradise merely on getting enrolled in the list of the followers of a Prophet, they have been clearly informed about the impertinence of their expectations in the following verse:
Neither your wishes [O Muslims] nor the wishes of the people of the Book [are going to matter]; whosoever does ill will be punished for it, and will find no protector or friend apart from God; but he who performs good deeds, whether man or a woman, and is a believer, will surely enter the Paradise, and none shall be deprived even of an iota of his reward. (5:123-4)
One comes to learn on reading the Quran that much the same way as the present-day Muslims, a group of people belonging to the Children of Israel also believed that reciting the Kalimah was enough for their salvation. Their intransigence of not to accept the Prophethood of Mohammed (sws) owed a great deal to this creed. The Book of Allah rejects their claim in such clear terms that the divine words remain an eye opener for all people who care to read it:
They say: The fire will not touch us for more than a few days. Say: Have you so received a promise from Allah so that Allah will not withdraw His pledge or do you impute things to Allah for which you have no knowledge at all? (2:80)
The unequivocal verdict of the Quran, however, leaves the relevance of the promise to the reciters of Kalimah in the Ahadith unanswered. Although Ahadith carrying a similar message are numerous, the following one from the book of Imam Muslim clearly explains the proper context of most of them carrying a similar message:
The one who dies knowing that there is no God but Allah shall enter the Paradise. (Muslim, Kitab al-Iman)
Two clarifications would facilitate the understanding of these narratives:
First, the very recitation of the kalimah for those who were the audience of this statement necessitated defying the contemporary system, abandoning the faith of their forefathers, earning the hatred of all those who had turned against the Prophet (sws). The recitation of the same kalimah now is done invariably by people who mindlessly utter the words without making any effort to find what their meanings entail. Nothing could be more naive than the expectations of people who believe that they are the worthy receivers of the good tidings of Paradise on the basis of a mere utterance of this statement. The Quran, on the contrary repeatedly affirms that it is not mere utterance of the claim to faith that is desired of an individual; what is required, on the contrary, is the attitude that proves that his claim is not just a hollow utterance but, instead, is based on real sincerity:
Do men think they will get away by saying: we believe and they will not be tried? We had tried those who were before them so that Allah knew who spoke the truth, and who were liars. (29:2-3)
Second, if a person accepts Allah as His God, it is not possible for him to continue to remain disobedient to Him. It is indeed possible for him to falter morally, may be every now and then, owing to his human failings. However, if he is a true believer, he would certainly correct his behaviour on realizing his fault and would feel ashamed of what he had done. The Quran clarifies quite clearly that Allah's favourite servants do not deliberately insist on their sinful behaviour:
Allah loves those who are upright and those who, when they commit a shameful act or wrong themselves, remember Allah and implore forgiveness for their sins -- and who can forgive sins except Allah -- and do not knowingly persist in what they do. (3:135-6)
Another passage of the Quran informs that for the pious, sins appear by default, not by design; for them, sinning is not a rule; it is only an exception that is immediately succeeded by feelings of embarrassment. The Quran says:
To Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth, that He may requite those who do evil, in accordance with their deeds, and those who do good with good. As for those who avoid the greater sins and shameful acts, except minor trespasses, your Lord is Master of vast forgiveness. (53:31-2)
On appreciating the above two clarifications, one realises that the glad tidings given by the Prophet (sws) were exactly consistent with the Quran which confers him with the status of a bearer of glad tidings (Mubashshir). The Quran says:
O Prophet: We have sent you as a witness and a bearer of happy tidings and an admonisher. (33:45)
It was important that this tiding be communicated for the benefit of specially those believers who are particularly sensitive about their sins and, therefore, have a propensity to fall into a psychological abyss of profound despair even on committing only a few sins. Such devoted believers have been consoled by being informed that the all-important objective of finding a niche in the heaven is not unachievable. The only requirement for an individual to be able to achieve that goal is a firm commitment with the Kalimah. However, since it was a likely possibility that the less discerning minds would not be able to pick the real spirit from the context of the message and could, as a consequence, relinquish their commitment to following the message, the Prophet (sws), on the urging of his companion 'Umar, desired that the message not be communicated to the common people. The relevant passage of a hadith from the book of Imam Muslim says:
`Umar said: O Prophet of Allah, for you be sacrificed my close kin, did you send Abu Hurayrah with your shoes so that he may give glad tidings of the heaven to all those he comes across who say: There is no god except Allah from the core of his heart? He, may Allah's blessings be on him, said: I did. 'Umar said: [I would suggest you] don't do that way, because I fear people might rely unnecessarily upon its apparent meanings [and stop practicing Islam]. So [I suggest you just] leave them to practice. The Prophet, may Allah's mercy be on him, said: Then, leave them [and let this message not be communicated to them]. (Kitab al-Iman)
…Continued in Part 5
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