The Prayer as Proof of Faith

Second, ṣalāh is a proof of īmān: a proof that a person is a Muslim. According to our Sharīʿah, if a person known in the society to be a kāfir begins to be seen coming to the masjid and performing ṣalāh — although he never declared the Shahādah in front of anybody, and nobody ever knew him to say lā ilāha illa Llāh, Muḥammadun rasūlu Llāh in front of anybody, or to declare it beside an imam so that he has a birth certificate^* — the Sharīʿah, Islamic law, commands that he must be judged a Muslim. A person who prays towards our qiblah is never called a kāfir; takfīr is never made upon a person who prays towards our qiblah. That is a law of Islam.

There is, however, another rule. If a person becomes a Muslim on his own, and not a single person knows of his being a Muslim — he never declared it with his tongue, but in his heart he believed — is his Islam acceptable or not? Take Mrs Johnson next door: there are two possible scenarios. If she never mentioned it to anybody, and nobody asked her, and she dies in that state, her case is with Allah (swt); she may well die as a Muslim — it is not known. But the danger comes in the following way. Suppose a rumour is heard, and she is asked directly: Mrs Johnson, is it true? Is it true that you are a Muslim now — that you really believe in the same Allah, and that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the last Messenger? Although Mrs Johnson believed in Islam before, in her heart, and had read from the books, and had read the Qur'an secretly — when anyone asks, when a Muslim asks, whether she is a Muslim or not, if she does not testify, if she does not say and admit that she is a Muslim, then according to the Sharīʿah she is a kāfirah, a non-Muslim. If she was not asked, and nobody knew anything about it, and she died in that state, her case is with Allah. But if somebody asks whether she is a Muslim and she denies it — does not say it, hides it — then her Islam, according to the Sharīʿah, is not accepted; her īmān is not accepted. This is a case in ʿaqīdah.

But if a kāfir, whom everybody knew to be a kāfir, is seen coming to the masjid, and all of a sudden he is in the second row, the third row, the fourth row, the fifth row, praying with the Muslims — he makes wuḍūʾ and comes and prays — then he is called a Muslim. Nothing more, nothing less. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says that everything has a proof of its existence; everything has a sign indicating that that particular thing is what it is. The proof of īmān, the sign of īmān, is for a person to perform his ṣalāh. When the ṣalāh is being performed, whether one likes it or not — he could be the worst Muslim on earth — one has to say that he is a Muslim. This is an issue that must be understood: the second virtue. Ṣalāh is a proof of īmān.