Six Kalimas

The Six Kalimas (from Arabic كلمة kalimah "word") in Islam in South Asia are six significant parts of one's religious belief, mostly taken from hadiths (in some traditions, five phrases, then known as the five kalimas).

The first of them, known as the ''kalimat aṭ-ṭaiyibah or "word of purity", second is called the shahada, third "tamjeed", fourth "tawheed", fifth "istighfar" and sixth is called "rad de kufr" . Recitation of the six kalimas is taught in Pakistani madrasas,^[1] but it is rare for average Pakistani Muslims to be able to recite them all.^[2] Conversely, religious leaders are expected to be able to recite them, and the Pakistani Ministry of Religious Affairs in one instance earned political criticism for appointing as head of its Council of Islamic Ideology a man who was not able to recite them.^[3] Riaz (2008) records memorization of the six kalimas as part of the syllabus of grade 3 (darja saum) education (i.e. taught in the third year of a five-year course) at the Deobandi school Darul Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh, India.^[4]

1. Kalimah Tayyibah kalimat aṭ-ṭaiyibah (Word of Purity), see shahada.

لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا الله مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ الله

'lā ilāha illā -llāh, muḥammadur rasūlu -llāh

There is no god but Allah, [and] Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.^[5][6][7][8]

2. Kalimah Shahadah kalimat ash-shahādah (Word of Evidence)

أَشْهَدُ أنْ لا إلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيْكَ لَهُ وَأشْهَدُ أنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

 listen ^[9] The text is from the 9th-century Sahih al-Bukhari, which attributes it to Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas, who upon hearing the muezzin is said to have uttered:

Ašhadu an lā ilāha illā-llāh waḥdahu lā šarīka lahu, wa ašhadu anna muḥammadan ʿabduhu wa rasūluhu.

I bear witness that (there is) no god except Allah; One is He, no partner hath He, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger.

3. Kalimah Tamjeed kalimat at-tamjīd (Word of Majesty)

سُبْحَان اللهِ وَالْحَمْدُلِلّهِ وَلا إِلهَ إِلّااللّهُ وَاللّهُ أكْبَرُ وَلا حَوْلَ وَلاَ قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللّهِ الْعَلِيِّ الْعَظِيْم

 listen  ^[10]

Subḥāna-llāhi, wa-l-ḥamdu li-llāhi, wa lā ilāha illā-llāhu, Wa-llāhu akbar, Wa lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā bi-llāhi-l-ʿalīyyi-l-ʿaẓīm

Exalted is Allah, and praise be to Allah, and there is no deity except Allah, and Allah is the Greatest. And there is no might nor power except in Allah, the Most High, the Most Great.

4. Kalimah Tawheed kalimat at-tawḥīd (Word of Oneness)

لَآ اِلٰهَ اِلَّا اللهُ وَحْدَهٗ لَا شَرِيْكَ لَهٗ لَهُ الْمُلْكُ وَ لَهُ الْحَمْدُ يُحْىٖ وَ يُمِيْتُ وَ هُوَحَیٌّ لَّا يَمُوْتُ اَبَدًا اَبَدًاؕ ذُو الْجَلَالِ وَالْاِكْرَامِؕ بِيَدِهِ الْخَيْرُؕ وَهُوَ عَلٰى كُلِّ شیْ ٍٔ قَدِیْرٌؕ

 listen 

lā ilāha illā-llāhu waḥdahu lā sharīka lahu lahu l-mulku wa lahu l-ḥamdu yuḥyi wa yumītu wa huwa ḥayyu lā yamūtu abadan abadan dhu l-jalāli wa l-ʾikrām biyadihi-l khayr wa-huwa ʿala-kulli shayʾin qadīr

"(There is) no god except Allah – One is He, no partners hath He. His is the Dominion, and His is the Praise. He gives life and causes death, and He is Living, who will not die, never. He of Majesty and Munificence. Within His Hand is (all) good. And He is, upon everything, Able (to exert His Will)."

5. Kalimah Istighfar (Word of Penitence)

اَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ رَبِّىْ مِنْ كُلِّ ذَنْۢبٍ اَذْنَبْتُهٗ عَمَدًا اَوْ خَطَا ًٔ سِرًّا اَوْ عَلَانِيَةً وَّاَتُوْبُ اِلَيْهِ مِنَ الذَّنْۢبِ الَّذِیْٓ اَعْلَمُ وَ مِنَ الذَّنْۢبِ الَّذِىْ لَآ اَعْلَمُ اِنَّكَ اَنْتَ عَلَّامُ الْغُيُوْبِ وَ سَتَّارُ الْعُيُوْبِ و َغَفَّارُ الذُّنُوْبِ وَ لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ اِلَّا بِاللهِ الْعَلِىِّ الْعَظِيْمِؕ

 listen 

astaghfiru-llāha rabbī min kulli dhanbin adnabtuhu ʿamadan ʾaw khaṭāʾan sirran ʾaw ʿalāniyyataw wa atūbu ʾilayhi minal dhanbi-lladhī aʿlamu wa minal dhanbi-lladhī lā aʿlamu innaka ʾanta ʿallāmul-ghuyūbi wa sattārul-ʿuyūbi wa ghaffāru dhunūbi wa lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāhil-ʿalīyyil-ʿaẓīm.

"I seek forgiveness from Allah, my Lord, from every sin I committed knowingly or unknowingly, secretly or openly, and I turn towards Him from the sin that I know and from the sin that I do not know. Certainly You, You (are) the knower of the hidden things and the Concealer (of) the mistakes and the Forgiver (of) the sins. And (there is) no power and no strength except from Allah, the Most High, the Most Great".

6. Kalima Radde Kufr ("Word of Rejection of Disbelief")

اَللّٰهُمَّ اِنِّیْٓ اَعُوْذُ بِكَ مِنْ اَنْ اُشْرِكَ بِكَ شَيْئًا وَّاَنَآ اَعْلَمُ بِهٖ وَ اَسْتَغْفِرُكَ لِمَا لَآ اَعْلَمُ بِهٖ تُبْتُ عَنْهُ وَ تَبَرَّأْتُ مِنَ الْكُفْرِ وَ الشِّرْكِ وَ الْكِذْبِ وَ الْغِيْبَةِ وَ الْبِدْعَةِ وَ النَّمِيْمَةِ وَ الْفَوَاحِشِ وَ الْبُهْتَانِ وَ الْمَعَاصِىْ كُلِّهَا وَ اَسْلَمْتُ وَ اَقُوْلُ لَآ اِلٰهَ اِلَّا اللهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَّسُوْلُ اللهِؕ

Allāhumma innī aʿūḏu bika min an ušrika bika šayʾaw-wwa-anā aʿlamu bihi wa-staġfiruka limā lā aʿlamu bihi tubtu ʿanhu wa tabarra'tu mina-l-kufri wa-š-širki wa-l-kiḏhbi wa-l-ġībati wa-l-bidʿati wa-nnamīmati wa-l-fawāḥiši wa-l-buhtāni wa-l-maʿāṣī kullihā wa aslamtu wa aqūlu lā ilāha illā-llāhu Muḥammadu-r-rasūlu llāh.

" O Allah! I seek protection in You from that I should not join any partner with You and I have knowledge of it. I seek Your forgiveness from that which I do not know. I repent from it (ignorance) and I reject disbelief and joining partners with You and of falsehood and slandering and innovation in religion and tell-tales and evil deeds and the blame and the disobedience, all of them. I submit to Your will and I believe and I declare: There is none worthy of worship except Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger."

References

1. Yoginder Sikand, Bastions of the Believers: Madrasas and Islamic Education in India, Penguin Books India, 2005
2. M. M. Hasan, An Inspector-General's diary, 1996, p. 70 recounts a case of a man arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of being an Indian spy because he was able to recite all six kalimas, which was deemed unlikely in a real Muslim.
3. Pakistan, Political Perspective, Volume 5, Issues 9-12, Institute of Policy Studies, 1996, p. 69
4. Ali Riaz (2008). Faithful Education: Madrassahs in South Asia. Rutgers University Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-8135-4562-2.
5. Malise Ruthven (January 2004). Historical Atlas of Islam. Harvard University Press. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-674-01385-8.
6. Richard C. Martín. Encyclopedia of Islam & the Muslim World. Granite Hill Publishers. p. 723. ISBN 978-0-02-865603-8.
7. Frederick Mathewson Denny (2006). An Introduction to Islam. Pearson Prentice Hall. p. 409. ISBN 978-0-13-183563-4.
8. Mohammad, Noor (1985). "The Doctrine of Jihad: An Introduction". Journal of Law and Religion. 3 (2): 381–397. doi:10.2307/1051182. JSTOR 1051182.
9. islamweb.net: المستدرك على الصحيحين
10. Recorded in Sahih Al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi and others

External links

• http://www.islamikbooks.com/2014/01/six6-kalimas-in-arabic-urdu-and-english.html
• 6 KALIMAS of Islam