[pinkpanther]

A partner to God can be anything, no matter how insignificant it may seem, and it still constitutes associating partners with God. Consider an infant as an example. We all know that infants are completely harmless and unable even to help themselves, let alone others. If you were to say:

"There is no God except God, and this infant is His harmless little creation,"

and declare it as part of your testimony (Shahadah), you would indeed be committing Shirk because you are implying that this infant is somehow 'something' alongside God.

 No one and nothing should be mentioned during a testimony about the Oneness of God, about His having no partners in any way. This is why they removed "Wahdahu la sharika lahu" and added the mention of the Prophet Muhammad. It is undeniably clear that this alteration has been made, without question. So why would anyone remove such a vital part of the Shahadah? Think about that for a minute.