Question: Are there servants of Allah who are corrupt?

Yes. Everyone in the heavens and on earth is a servant of Allah in the universal, decreed sense of servitude, as Allah, Exalted is He, says: “There is none in the heavens and earth but will come to the Most Merciful as a servant.” [Maryam] Thus, the disbelievers are servants of Allah in the universal, decreed sense of servitude, not in the religiously prescribed sense.

The phrase, “I testify that there is no god except Allah.” Testimony is a decisive assertion, and is therefore stronger than a mere report. A report may be based on what one has heard, whereas testimony is given with certainty, as though one sees with one’s own eyes that to which one testifies.

I testify that there is no god except Allah, ...........

Note: Some people say, “ashhadu anna la ilaha illallah,” with a doubled n in anna. This is incorrect according to Arabic grammar, because anna cannot occur in this construction. The form that occurs here is an, the reduced form of the emphatic particle anna. The clause, “There is no god except Allah,” functions as its predicate in the nominative case, while its subject is an obligatorily omitted impersonal pronoun.

The correct pronunciation, then, is: “ashhadu an la ilaha illallah,” with an undoubled.

“There is no god except Allah” is the declaration of tawhid, with which Allah sent all the messengers, as Allah, Exalted is He, says: “And We sent no messenger before you except that We revealed to him: ‘There is no god except Me, so worship Me.’” [al-Anbiya] Through it, tawhid al-uluhiyyah—the affirmation of Allah’s exclusive right to worship—is realized; or, if you prefer, tawhid al-ibadah, the affirmation that worship is for Allah alone. They mean the same thing, but it is called tawhid al-uluhiyyah in relation to Allah, and tawhid al-ibadah in relation to the servant.

The meaning of “There is no god except Allah” is: none has the right to be worshipped except Allah,