Abdullah Oduro – 5 Pillars Made Plain – Intro to Pillar 1 Shahada – Testimony of Faith

			Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you all.
I'm Abdullah oduro and welcome.
		

			I want to share with you three stories. The first one is of a girl named Tracy Tracy was in her car.
She's on has her hands on the steering wheel. She's, you know, moving back and forth. She's nervous.
Tracy is on her way to her friend faultiness house. When she opens the door to her friend fall to
his house. She goes to the living room and she sees her are the three friends there. And they're all
Muslim sisters. You see, Tracy is there for a special event. She's there to say some words that are
going to change her life. When Tracy sits on the couch for Altima asks her. Are you ready? and Tracy
says yes, I'm ready for Altima says repeat after me. Now when faultiness says repeat after me. She's
		

			holding Tracy's hand tightly. And Tracy's moving back and forth. The other friends are holding each
other's hands, and they're all nervous. Then faulty ms says a shadow and Illa in the law. Tracy says
a shadow Allah ilaha illa Allah and as she starts crying. Later in that evening, she was able to
fulfill and save the whole statement. But Tracy knew at that moment that those words were much more
than words that meant much more to her. Because our friend faulty man, the other three girls were
telling her about the Shahada. What about George George was an individual that had a friend, a
Muslim friend at work. And his Muslim friend, he always used to see going to the back office and bow
		

			and prostrate. And he knew that that bowing and prostrating was a means for him to be calm and
collected at work. You see, they knew this Muslim guy to be a common collect person, and they would
seek advice from him because he was the cool guy. So when George used to talk to him all the time,
he realized that it was his faith that he was practicing, that he was praying twice at work and the
rest of the three times outside of work. One time he was with them at the coffee shop and he said,
You know what, what is that, that you're practicing were upon he told him that it was Islam and that
he was a Muslim. In Georgia. You know, I want that. I see the way you carry yourself and I like it.
		

			So George wanted to become a Muslim. His friend told him to come to the mosque on Friday, they came
to the mosque on Friday, and the Imam told him to come up. The Imam said repeat after me. George
said a shadow. Allah he started to stutter. Then later on in the Shahada when he started to
pronounce the end portion of it. He said it gracefully. After that, as we know, all the congregants
come up to give him a hug. One of them asked him, you were nervous in the beginning, but you said it
gracefully at the end. Whereupon George replied, Yes, I was nervous at the beginning. But I knew
what these words meant. And I was ready to change my life. And I knew these words, would serve as a
		

			catalyst for that. Third story. What about faulty man and
		

			see faulty men? Men are what we call renewed Muslims. As Christianity we call born again Christians.
They were renewed Muslims, they were born Muslim. They said this Shahada throughout their whole life
since they were toddlers. They've heard it in the masjid. They've heard it in the event, the call to
prayer. But it was one lecture in college, that when they heard the meaning of Islam, the meaning of
the Shahada is when they really realized why they were Muslim. And it was a wake up call for them,
which served as a catalyst for their process of conviction. Many of you have heard these words. Many
of you have just said these words. The Shahada being a shadow Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, a shadow
		

			under Muhammad Rasul Allah, I bear witness that there's no one worthy of worship, that there's no
God but Allah, and that Muhammad is the last messenger of Allah. You said this in order to become a
Muslim. This is what is called the Shahada. This was what changed your life. When you said it. You
started crying. When you said it. You became a brother, when you said it. So many people were elated
in front of you, some of them crying, many of them bum rushing you and coming to hug you and
congratulating you and saying such statements as you're better than me. It's like you're a newborn
baby, all of your sins are washed. This is the Shahada. What have we done? When we said these words,
		

			realizing that these words will change our life? May Allah subhanho wa Taala make you of those that
when you say these words, understanding the meaning of that process of life, and knowing that the
Shahada serves as a catalyst for that, a sentiment akin to like better cats. Thank you.