Does the Shia Kalima Count as the Shahadah

:::note[Description]

Question:

Does the Shia kalima meet the criteria for shahadah since it differs from the Sunni version? - An analysis of the Shia version of the declaration of faith and whether it fulfills the Islamic criteria for shahadah compared to the Sunni version. :::

Answer:

Allaah, the Blessed and Exalted, will not accept an action until two conditions are fulfilled:

1. That it be done sincerely seeking the Face of Allaah, Azza wa Jalla.

2. That it be righteous, and it cannot be righteous until it is in conformity to the Sunnah, not in contradiction to it.” [‘Hujjah an-Nabee’ (pg. 100) of our Shaykh al-Albaanee, may Allaah preserve him. I say and it was upon these two principles that Shaykh al-Islaam ibn Taymiyyah based his superb book ‘al-Uboodiyyah’ on.]

It doesn’t meet the criteria as it is having additional sentences which were not taught by the prophet saws and it is in fact innovation in religion (bid’ah).

On the authority of the mother of the faithful, ‘Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

He who innovates something in this matter of ours [Islam] that is not of it will have it rejected [by Allah].

[Bukhari & Muslim]

In one version by Muslim it reads:

He who does an act which we have not commanded, will have it rejected [by Allah].

And Allaah’s Messenger (salallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said: I did not leave anything that brings you closer to Allaah and distance you from the fire except I have commanded you with it. And I did not leave anything that will distance you from Allaah and bring you closer to the fire except that I have prohibited you from it.

Thus, if there was any good in what they were saying, it would be in the Qur`an or Sunnah, and thus the Prophet (salallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) and the sahaaba (radiallaahu ‘anhum) would have preceded us in it.