Question Summary:
Group Anaasheds

Question Detail:

Throughout the Muslim world, many people sing anasheed in a group. Because the group all sings together, sometimes people cut out certain words (whilst breathing) and the resulting statements can be very strange.
For example in one nasheed called La Illaha illa Allah, sometimes people miss the La and they say "Illaha ill Allah". One can judge other examples from this where words are missed for breathing purposes, and the singer intentionally continues knowing he is saying "there is an ilah other than Allah". When confronting such people about this statements which they say intentionally, they say "it's O.k. because I said the "La" in my mind, and my intention is to complete the sentence of the munshid.
Is somebody who intentionally says "Ilaaha illa Allah" or similar outwardly kufr statements, but because he missed the group recitation, whilst his intention is to finish the sentence of a munshid/dhakir - is such a person doing a haram act, and if so, does it constitute disbelief?

Answer :

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salamu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullahi wa-barakatuh.
The kalimah is the expression of our belief. We should exercise extreme precaution in reciting the kalimah. The la (no) in the beginning is the most important aspect of the kalimah, negating all lords besides Allah. Leaving the la in the kalimah out is a serious omission. Utmost precaution should be observed in pronouncing the kalimah, as incorrect pronunciation of the kalimah could be detrimental to ones Imaan. The excuse for missing out the la for breathing purposes etc. has no merit.[1]
And Allah Ta’ala Knows Best
Ismaeel Bassa
Student Darul Iftaa
Durban South Africa
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.
www.daruliftaa.net