"recite this, with total sincerity, in front of two witnesses"

Emphasis mine. That's the core of the issue here. And the idea of sincerity is not the modern one of "in this, and only this moment", but the pre-modern one of "in this moment and henceforth".

And to then proceed and answer your question:

Technically, yes, from that point onward you'd be allowed to use the three lanes on the left.

In practical terms, however, your car could be stopped for inspection a few hundred meters down the road and you might be asked to recite well-known verse from the Quran. You could get lucky and your two buddies might be up in tears of joy about how you just spoke the Shahada and became Muslim and then the police officers might be up in tears of joy and offering to take you into Mecca the Holy (that's what's written on that street sign in Arabic) to your very first prayer in the Holy Mosque and probably invite you to a proper feast at their house later that day. And I'd almost guarantee you'd have an amazing time in that case.

Unfortunately it's just as likely you'll find them in a bad mood because it's just been too much traffic that day, or whatever, and they smell something fishy and you're asked to recite not some verse but this specific one, or whatever, and you'd find yourself staring down the working end of the Saudi Arabian security apparatus.

Have adventurous westerners (both with or without intimate knowledge of Quran, Sunnah and islamic jurisprudence) visited Mecca and Madina, both in older as well as more recent times, sure. But it's absolutely not to be recommended.

One interesting biography that might be noted in this context is the one of an Austrian Jew who became Muslim and went to, among other places, Mecca. See e.g. https://en.qantara.de/content/muhammad-asad-a-jewish-lawrence-of-arabia for a nice intro about the guy.

"recite this, with total sincerity, in front of two witnesses"

Emphasis mine. That's the core of the issue here. And the idea of sincerity is not the modern one of "in this, and only this moment", but the pre-modern one of "in this moment and henceforth".

And to then proceed and answer your question:

Technically, yes, from that point onward you'd be allowed to use the three lanes on the left.

In practical terms, however, your car could be stopped for inspection a few hundred meters down the road and you might be asked to recite well-known verse from the Quran. You could get lucky and your two buddies might be up in tears of joy about how you just spoke the Shahada and became Muslim and then the police officers might be up in tears of joy and offering to take you into Mecca the Holy (that's what's written on that street sign in Arabic) to your very first prayer in the Holy Mosque and probably invite you to a proper feast at their house later that day. And I'd almost guarantee you'd have an amazing time in that case.

Unfortunately it's just as likely you'll find them in a bad mood because it's just been too much traffic that day, or whatever, and they smell something fishy and you're asked to recite not some verse but this specific one, or whatever, and you'd find yourself staring down the working end of the Saudi Arabian security apparatus.

Have adventurous westerners (both with or without intimate knowledge of Quran, Sunnah and islamic jurisprudence) visited Mecca and Madina, both in older as well as more recent times, sure. But it's absolutely not to be recommended.

One interesting biography that might be noted in this context is the one of an Austrian Jew who became Muslim and went to, among other places, Mecca. See e.g. https://en.qantara.de/content/muhammad-asad-a-jewish-lawrence-of-arabia for a nice intro about the guy.

Edit: Seeing @AussieJoe's answer with the recommendation to be speaking Arabic when you try this: I used to be more or less fluent in Modern Standard Arabic (but NOT in Saudi, or any other dialect) and I wouldn't try doing this. It's happened to me personally that BECAUSE as a white bread who speaks MSA (which is akin to speaking like Shakespeare around a bunch of native speakers of English) I was insinuated by police to be a terrorist from a neighbouring country. Only after having been taken to the nearby city's police headquarters and an hour trying to defend myself to the head of said headquarters did someone have the idea to try and communicate with me in a different language. A colleague was found who had studied criminology in the US and spoke English perfectly and who convinced them that there are no terrorists in the neighbouring (and very poor) country who knew how to speak English as well as I did. A funny anecdote perhaps, and one that thankfully ended without harm. But in general, don't fuck with the authorities in authoritarian states.

"recite this, with total sincerity, in front of two witnesses"

Emphasis mine. That's the core of the issue here. And the idea of sincerety is not the modern one of "in this, and only this moment", but the pre-modern one of "in this moment and henceforth".

And to then proceed and answer your question:

Technically, yes, from that point onward you'd be allowed to use the three lanes on the left.

In practical terms, however, your car could be stopped for inspection a few hundred meters down the road and you might be asked to recite well-known verse from the Quran. You could get lucky and your two buddies might be up in tears of joy about how you just spoke the Shahada and became Muslim and then the police officers might be up in tears of joy and offering to take you into Mecca the Holy (that's what's written on that street sign in Arabic) to your very first prayer in the Holy Mosque and probably invite you to a proper feast at their house later that day. And I'd almost guarantee you'd have an amazing time in that case.

Unfortunately it's just as likely you'll find them in a bad mood because it's just been too much traffic that day, or whatever, and they smell something fishy and you're asked to recite not some verse but this specific one, or whatever, and you'd find yourself staring down the working end of the Saudi Arabian security apparatus.

Have adventurous westerners (both with or without intimate knowledge of Quran, Sunnah and islamic jurisprudence) visited Mecca and Madina, both in older as well as more recent times, sure. But it's absolutely not to be recommended.

One interesting biography that might be noted in this context is the one of an Austrian Jew who became Muslim and went to, among other places, Mecca. See e.g. https://en.qantara.de/content/muhammad-asad-a-jewish-lawrence-of-arabia for a nice intro about the guy.

"recite this, with total sincerity, in front of two witnesses"

Emphasis mine. That's the core of the issue here. And the idea of sincerity is not the modern one of "in this, and only this moment", but the pre-modern one of "in this moment and henceforth".

And to then proceed and answer your question:

Technically, yes, from that point onward you'd be allowed to use the three lanes on the left.

In practical terms, however, your car could be stopped for inspection a few hundred meters down the road and you might be asked to recite well-known verse from the Quran. You could get lucky and your two buddies might be up in tears of joy about how you just spoke the Shahada and became Muslim and then the police officers might be up in tears of joy and offering to take you into Mecca the Holy (that's what's written on that street sign in Arabic) to your very first prayer in the Holy Mosque and probably invite you to a proper feast at their house later that day. And I'd almost guarantee you'd have an amazing time in that case.

Unfortunately it's just as likely you'll find them in a bad mood because it's just been too much traffic that day, or whatever, and they smell something fishy and you're asked to recite not some verse but this specific one, or whatever, and you'd find yourself staring down the working end of the Saudi Arabian security apparatus.

Have adventurous westerners (both with or without intimate knowledge of Quran, Sunnah and islamic jurisprudence) visited Mecca and Madina, both in older as well as more recent times, sure. But it's absolutely not to be recommended.

One interesting biography that might be noted in this context is the one of an Austrian Jew who became Muslim and went to, among other places, Mecca. See e.g. https://en.qantara.de/content/muhammad-asad-a-jewish-lawrence-of-arabia for a nice intro about the guy.