When Saying The Kalimah

Q: Aslaamu alaikum wa rahmatulaahi wa barakatu

Please could you shed some light on the following:

I understand that If a Muslim says ‘there is no god’, with or without intention, then he becomes
A non Muslim.

But if a Muslim is reading the Kalimah in English and says…’ there is no god’, then he pauses and he thinks to himself and then finishes of the Kalimah by saying…’but Allah and Muhammad p.b.u.h. Is his messenger.’

Does this make him a non Muslim?
When saying the starting of the Kalimah ..’ there is no god’, the Muslim thinks to himself that just by saying these words, it is not Kufr and a person does not become non Muslim and then continues and finishes reading the remaining part of the Kalimah.

Jazakallah khairan


A: Wa alaikum Salaam,’
In the case you have mentioned above the person will not become a non-Muslim. however, it is not proper for him to pause and think about anything before he says the second part of the Kalimah. His pausing can be understood to be that he is probably in doubt as to what he is saying. Hence, this should not be done.
The words of the Kalimah is one complete statement, there is no pausing and stopping to be done while uttering the statement. If a person needs to do a very short pause, then it must not be done after saying “there is no God” . Instead, it should be done after saying “there is no God but Allah” . After this, he can continue by saying “and Muhammad p.b.u.h is his Messenger”.

And Allah knows best.

Mufti waseem Khan.

Date: 12/9/2013