Ebadat, Servitude to Allah. The word ebadat has come from abd, meaning slave or servant; so ebadat means servitude. Allah has created man for no other purpose then to serve Him. So man’s life, the whole of it, must be devoted to Allah. But there is a misconception about ebadat in the minds of many Muslims. They think that the time that they spend in salat five times a day is for Allah, and the rest of “my time” is mine. To please Allah they may allocate for Allah extra time in nafal(extra) salat. But no, you can’t divide your time between yourself and Allah. Can you do anything forbidden by Allah, such as telling lies, cheating or committing theft, in your time? The time is not yours to squander in forbidden activities or to idle away. All your time is Allah’s. These people think of ebadat as giving Allah something or rendering Allah some service. They have heard of ‘Haqqullah’ Allah’s rights, ‘Haqqul ebad’ the rights of other people, and ‘Haqqul khalq’ the rights of all the creation of Allah on them. If you think you will realize that you can’t allocate your time for these. Your whole life, your very existence is Allah’s right, not the few hours that you spend in salat. Allah and His prophet (SAS) has taught us about the rights of fellow human beings and other creatures. Allah has also given us conscience, which tells us about it. We hear of ‘Zikrullah’ remembrance of Allah. People in general, mean by it, only chanting the name and praise of Allah. Yes, chanting the name of Allah is good, but the real meaning of zikrullah is that your remembrance of Allah controls your greed and lust. You happen to see a beautiful woman and lower your gaze, because Allah has commanded you to. You can earn a lot of money by resorting to a little falsehood, but you control your greed for fear of Allah. This is real Zikrullah, this is Taqwa. Our Salat, the Zakat we pay, the Siam of Ramadan, our Hajj, does Allah derive any benefit from these? Yes, Zakat of course benefits the poor. All these are for our own benefit, to raise the standard of purity of our souls, and for us to achieve nearness to Allah. Our Salat safeguards us from all depravity and lewdness. Our Zakat and Siam make us realize the pain of the poor. Our Salat and Hajj teach us universal brotherhood. We can take account of our own selves, if our ebadat is doing us any good. If after five times daily Salat, we can take or give bribe, tell lies and cheat people, our Salat is no salat. Every religious activity must have a reflection on the life of the Muslim. The real purpose of these ritual ebadat of Salat, Zakat, Siam and Hajj, is to make the Muslim umma (community) active in the endeavor of establishing Allah’s Deen , it’s rules and regulations on earth; just as Zikrullah controls your greed and lust. This is the vital part, the real purpose of Ebadat. And establishing Allah’s deen on earth is the greatest Ebadat.
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 16:23:07 +0000
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