of “None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.” This is often found among those who profess Islam while being polytheists: they invoke the dead, seek their aid, and the like. In such a case, we say that it is sufficient for his repentance that he say, “None has the right to be worshipped but Allah,” because he already affirmed the second statement and did not deny it. Once he makes the first, his Islam is complete.

Likewise, they say: Whoever used to say, “None has the right to be worshipped but Allah,” and did not associate any partner with Allah—not Jesus or anyone else—but did not testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, enters Islam when he testifies that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, because he had already testified that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah.

In reality, these two views do not depart from what has preceded, for their necessary implication is that the person who embraces Islam has made both testimonies together.

What appears to me from the evidence is that when he testifies that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah, he has entered Islam. He is then instructed to testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. If he does so, [he remains Muslim]; otherwise, he is an apostate: he is judged to be an apostate and executed as such. Thus, the first testimony is the foundation, while the second is a condition for the inviolability of his blood and also for the validity of the first. If he does not say, “I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,” he is regarded as having apostatized from Islam.

As for the established legal school, his repentance is accomplished by saying, “I testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” Thus, if he says, “I testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah,” then loses consciousness and dies, he is not a Muslim. He is not washed, shrouded, or prayed over, nor is he buried among the Muslims.