Is La ilaha ill Allah some scary call for Jihad?

What does La ilaha ill Allah stipulate upon its proclaimants? 
"To blow yourself up!" The Jihad obsessed, Fox news' anchors would say.  
However, most Muslims will cite the five pillars of Islam. La ilaha ill Allah requires one to:  pray (salah), fast, give in charity, (zakkah),  go on the pilgrimage (Hajj) -  and these Muslims won't be wrong. La ilaha ill Allah does not have any violent connotations. The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) said,  "Islam is based upon five things: declaring La illaha ill Allah (that there is no God except Allah) and that Muhammad is the the Messenger of Allah, the establishment of salah, the payment of zakkah, the hajj and fasting in the month of Ramadan." (Bukhari)



La ilaha ill Allah appears in fifty-one verses in the Qur'an and not once does it command death or vengeance. The first four times when it comes in the Qur'an, it speaks of Allah's great mercy, kindness, leniancy and graciousness with all human beings (2:163), His glory (He never rests or tires, He is the source of all life and He will never die), His power extends over the skies and the earth (2:225), His majestic strength  and splendid wisdom (3:2) and finally the miracle which personally touched my life: "It is He (Allah) Who forms you in the wombs however He wills. La ilaha illa hu, the Exalted in Might, the Wise" (3:2). Allah made thousands of varieties of iridescent birds, flowers, trees, leaves, and fruits to make us fall in love with Him. Allah planted mountain ranges from the Rockies in Western Canada in all their grandeur to the mountains of California and Arizona with their varying shadows to fill us with awe and astonishment. Allah guides the streams; the gushing waterfalls, the rivers, lakes and oceans; the huge whales and the tiny turtles  so that our eyes will be opened to His breathtaking beauty. And if somehow, all this was not enough, Allah designs, inside of woman, another human being. This is why there is no true God except Allah. This is why I pray to Him. This is why I watch what I eat and when I eat for Him (fast). I  give Zakkah (charity) to help His creation who are in need, and I will make a pilgrim (Hajj) to His Holy Mosque (God Willing). 


La ilaha ill Allah and Allahu Akbar are not scary words. These words are an admission of our thankfulness to Allah and how indebted we are to Him for our lives and all the fabulous things we enjoy in this world. But there is a condition of La ilaha ilAllah that Muslims don't admit and many Muslims don't even know it exists. 

"Allah witnesses that La ilaha illahuwa and [so do] the angels, and those of knowledge - [that Allah is] maintaining [creation] in justice. La illaha illahuwa, the Exalted in  Might, the Wise." (3:18)

The key words in this verse are:   Qiyyam bit Qist - Allah should be worshipped because He stands by justice. He is Just and He expects everyone to uphold justice. Whoever says la allah il Allah is expected to be committed to justice. The pro-claimants of la ilaha ill Allah should be fair-minded, unprejudiced and impartial people. 

The first elements of Islam which were revealed to the Muhammad (sa.w) in the initial years of His Prophethood were not about praying five times a day or fasting from dawn to dusk or going for Hajj. Of the very first messages which Allah sent down through the Qur'an were berating those who push the orphans around, cheat in business and those who don't care for their neighbours. Allah reprimands those who burry their little girls alive for no other crime except that they were born girls. All these are matters of injustice which Allah weeds out because the first practical application of La illaha il Allah is justice. Therefore, the first dire concern of every Muslim, should be justice.

Muslim homes (and by that extension, Muslim majority

governments) may give due respect to the five pillars: we  may download the salah app on our phones or the Masajid back home may call out the adhan on the loud speaker. But by and large, we are not people known to stand up for justice. Our imaams tell wives to stay in abusive marriages. Our parents don't let their daughters go to university and forcibly marry them to their cousins back home. What are Muslims doing to help drug addicts get rehab? To get homeless people get jobs? To reduce GHG? To stop animal cruelty? The scary reality is that Muslims are not fulfilling the first requirement of La blah ill Allah, which is to execute justice. 

Very rarely do we encourage our Muslim kids to participate in social justice events, even at the high school level. Muslim parents rather just bury their heads in the sand whenever there is an outcry in the community for justice. We refuse to think about an unpleasant situation, hoping it will improve on its own or disappear somehow so we will not have to deal with. When 9/11 happened, my grandma told me not to wear a hijab or talk about Islam very openly in case people associated me with the terrorists. Being silent and scared didn't deter other people from stereotyping me. 

Justice is beautifully defined by the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) in the following hadith: "Whoever sees a wrong action, let her change it with her hands; and if she is not able to do so, then let her speak against it (denounce it); and if she is not able to do so, then with her heart (let her acknowledge in her heart that the action is repugnant and immoral) - and this (last step) is the weakest of faith." (Muslim)

I ask Allah to make, first my myself, all Muslims and every human being, people of high faith, people justice and people of La ilaha ill Allah. ameen