Shahada   

In Arabic, “la’” means “no” and can also be used to make statements negative. In can be written in one of two ways, as shown below:

no =  =

“la’” is the second half of “illa’” (literally: “if not”), which is translated as“except”:

except =

In Lesson 1, we covered the meaning of “ilah” (a god) and Allah (the God). Putting all these words together, we come to a statement of belief that is, by definition, at the heart of all monotheistic religions:

la’ illaha illa’ Allah =
[There is] no God except God =

Its been noted that, written in Arabic, this entire phrase consists of three letters (alif, lam, ha) which, themselves, spell the word “ilah”, or “god.” The repetition of the letters - particularly alif and lam, which look very similar – allows calligraphers to create designs full of parrallel lines:

Or, in a more fluid form:

This phrase is half of the Islamic testament of faith (“shahada”). The other half of the testament, covered in the previous lesson, is an affirmation of Muhammad’s status as one of the prophets of God (alongside Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Adam and many others):

la' illaha illa’ Allah, muhammadun rasool Allah =
[There is] no god but God, [and] Muhammad is a messenger of God =

The full phrase, in calligraphy:

As we’ve seen in previous lessons, the letters and words can be repositioned:

At times, greater emphasis is given to “la’ ilaha illa Allah”:

And sometimes, as we’ve seen with the previous phrases, the image is presented as a mirror image of itself (not accounting for the minarets):

The testament of faith, along with the phrase “bismillah ar-raHmaan ar-raHeem” are the two most common phrases in Islamic calligraphy. In the next lesson, we will look at the most common greeting in the Islamic world.

End of Lesson