qudsiamall.wordpress/?p=228&preview=true What is worship? If you had to ask people what worship is, all that they will be able to give you are examples of rituals that people do. They would say, For example, in Islam we worship Allah by praying 5 times a day in the mosque or fasting in Ramadan, or making pilgrimage (hajj) in Makah. Their answers reveal a grave ignorance to the reality of worship. To most it is like a mechanical function they must perform to pacify God. It’s a set of emotionally void, habitual rituals that people can’t wait to get out of the way so that they can move on with their lives. Where the heart and mind are absent from the unconscious but competent bowing and prostrations on autopilot. There is so much more to worship and Prayer is just one small part of it. Worship is a state of being, a state that has to be constantly worked on, consciously. Worship is everything you are, it’s every feeling in your heart, every word you say and everything you do with your body, internally and externally, every second of every day for the sake of Allah. Ibaadah is a collective term for everything which Allaah loves and is pleased with from among the words and actions such as supplication, prayer, and patience. Allaah says {Say: Verily my prayer, my service of sacrifice, my life and my death are all for Allaah the Lord of the Worlds.} [6:162] and the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) said Allaah the Exalted said: My servant does not draw near to Me with anything more loved by me than the obligatory actions which I have imposed upon him [Bukhaaree]. Whew!! That’s sounds like an awful lot to take in but this doesn’t happen all at once. It’s a constant “work in progress” that we call being Muslim, that we call worship. It’s the battle we were brought to life to fight. It takes a lot of conscious effort to consciously make your mind up that you are doing or saying something good to Please God. not for your ego, not to swell with pride, not to boast about “how good you are”, not to attract praise or admiration or followers, but to sincerely do good for the sake of Allah, even if no one sees and no one knows, all the better. It’s harder to be sincere when people are watching as the ego desires praise and admiration. Worship is everything you can possibly imagine and more, everything can be worship if only people knew it was considered worship I think people would do everything better and with so much joy as there is nothing more satisfying than knowing that you are doing good in a way that is loved by your creator, who more would you love to please? This is where your purpose of life and your calling intertwine neatly, Your main purpose is to Worship Allah and do everything for His sake. Your calling is using your individual strengths skills and talents to do good and bring benefit. As long as this is done sincerely for Allah and doenst contradict any guideline in the main framework of the shariah, you can do anything at all to benefit anyone, without restriction. Worship is helping your neighbor, worship is supporting a good cause to remove injustice and oppression, worship is enjoying a meal with your family, worship is serving and benefiting others, worship is a smile to your brother or sister in humanity, worship is removing a a harmful obstacle from the road or path, worship is feeding your wife a morsel of food or a kind word, worship is making love to your spouse, worship is giving someone good and sincere advice, worship is being a good listener to someone who needs to vent, worship is being on time, worship is carrying someone else’s load, worship is consoling the sad, sheltering the needy or a kind word to a beggar. Worship is an afternoon nap to energize you to help and benefit someone or to wake up refreshed for the night prayer before dawn. Worship is curling up with a good book from which you gain wisdom to teach others. Worship is cooking a meal for your family; even if you’re tired, the more reward you get for your struggle. Worship is planting a tree from whose shade people and animals take rest and eat of its fruit, worship is making someone sad, laugh. Worship can even be a trip to the bathroom to relieve yourself of toxins if done in the way the Prophet has prescribed. Worship can be anything you want it to be and more! It is comprehensive and includes everything Allah loves and is pleased with and that covers every single type of good feeling, word and deed that could possibly be done. I have not found a wider, deeper more vast meaning of worship since I discovered the definition given by the early generations of the Prophets followers. This is what they have said: bn Katheer (d.774H), rahimahullaah, said: “And ’ibaadah is obedience to Allaah by acting upon what He commands, and abandoning what He forbids; and this is the reality and essence of Islaam. And the meaning of Islaam is: istislaam (submission and surrender) to Allaah, the Most High, along with the utmost compliance, humility, and submissiveness to Him.” He also said whilst explaining the above aayah: “Indeed Allaah, the Most High, created the creation so that they could worship Him alone, without associating any partner with Him. Whoever obeys Him will be completely rewarded, whereas whoever disobeys Him would be punished with a severe punishment. And He has informed that He is neither dependant, nor does He have any need for them. Rather, it is they who are in dire need of Him, in every condition and circumstance, since He is the One who created, sustains, and provides for them.” Im sure everyone would love to know How to make everything you do qualify as worship. There are acts in the shariah of Muhammad (saw) that offer specific guidelines for the prescribed worship like the daily adhkaar and salah, also the annual fasting of Ramadaan and the Hajj. These are finite acts which are (tawqifiyyah) bound by a very strict, quality and quanitity controlled shariah which is very specific and set in its method and hence, must be followed accurately and carefully as this is considered medicine to the soul and the prescription is by the ultimate healer, Allah. The course of treatment has to be done according to instruction or it will not have any effect on the heart of the person. Then there are broader more general acts of worship regarding treatment of people, interaction with creation and general good deeds which offer benefit. As long as these good deeds do not conflict with the broad outline of what is permissible and what isn’t then you may do them how and when you please and specifying anything in it is prohibited, for example, giving dawah is a general good and the amount of time one should spend has not been specified by the shariah, so if someone now puts a limit or strictly specifies a certain number of days for dawah, eg. 40 days every year etc, then this is to be rejected as an innovation. Conditions of worship You will find many people do not know that there are conditions for worship. Many people who involve themselves in worship do so either as a habit and as such, perform it as not to stand out or go against the grain of society. So they perform acts of worship to please the people and be united in these acts. Some people pray the 5 daily prayers to please their parents, or to prove their religiosity to gain a hand in marriage or to prove to people how righteous he/she is. This contradicts the first condition of worship and is a form of shirk due to it being offered for other than Allah. Then you have those who perform acts of worship sincerely for Allah yet they have no knowledge of the sunnah and prescribed, legislated ways of the prophets saw teachings and how he (saw) performed these acts of worship. People assume they know the sunnah but they have no certain knowledge as most people do not read authentic books of Hadith and even less know how to check and verify whether a hadith is authentic or not. Most Muslims blindly follow their sheikhs and imams and scholars (ulamaa) assuming that they know the difference between sunnah and bid’ah and that they are careful not to commit bid’ah. In fact Many Muslim Ulamaa teach people acts of worship that were learnt by their “elders” and their “sheikhs” and not legislated by Muhammad (saw). These religious leaders will spread their own D.I.Y worship that they have invented and prescribed, all of which has no basis in the shariah of Muhammad (saw). There are 2 conditions for an act of worship to be accepted: 1. The first condition for an act of worship to be accepted is: Sincerity Our worship should be sincerely done for Allahs’ sake and none else. Allaah the Exalted said {So whoever hopes for the meeting with His Lord let him work deeds of righteousness and associate none as a partner in the worship of His Lord.} [18:110] The Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) saidIndeed Allaah does not look at your faces nor your wealth but He looks at your hearts and your actions. [Muslim]. Also there is the Hadeeth Qudsee where the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) said that Allaah said I am so self-sufficient that I am in no need of having partners. Thus, whoever does an action for someone elses sake as well as Mine, will have that action rejected by Me to him whom he associated with Me [Muslim]. 2. The second condition for an act of worship to be accepted is: Following the sunnah Parable of the Master recipe: Imagine you have an aunt who has mastered the most awesome, delectably scrumptious version of an Indian briyani fit for a king. No one can better it and she is world renowned for it. You’ve asked her to show you how to make it and for her recipe in which the instructions are no easy feat to follow and the spicy ingredients, very specific in their weight, measurements and types. Then, due to you having your own taste and your own fancies, you follow most of the recipe the way your aunt has shown it to you and then add a few of your own favourite ingredients, and leave out a few of the ingredients in her recipe. Do you think your briyani will taste anything like hers? Of course, it could never be as good because you did not stick to the master chefs’ recipe, you thought you knew better but you are in no position to compete with her. The same goes for following the Sunnah, if you do not follow the Master guide Muhammad (saw) way of doing a certain act of worship then your worship will never be fit for the King of all kings and the Lord of the heavens and the earth who was the One that sent down the “recipe” for His worship in the first place. Your aunt wont be impressed either and will throw a hissy fit at you for altering her master plan, she will ask you, why you didn’t follow her recipe and why you changed her method. Naturally, she will not be impressed by your individual touches (nor will anyone who values a great briyani!). She will also feel as though you did not trust her judgement and that you knew better. She might also ask who authorized you to alter her patented, copyright recipe. She will also feel patronized that you attempted to change a great work that she had completed and perfected. Something you were in no position and had no right to do. Therefore Allah has prescribed the best worship through the best example of it, Muhammad saw, the ultimate guide. Changing and altering or adding and subtracting from this divinely prescribed method of worship is patronizing to Allah and condescending to the messenger saw. This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islâm as your religion. But as for him who is forced by severe hunger, with no inclination to sin (such can eat these above-mentioned meats), then surely, Allâh is Oft¬Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Al-Maidah 5:3) Parable of a gift: Imagine your mother loves fruit cake and she’s hosting a party, what gift would you get her? One that she loves, or one that you love? You might hate raisins like I do, and she might hate chocolate cake, but I love it. How would she feel if I bought her something like the best chocolate cake in the world? When the cheapest fruit cake with raisins would make her day, how could I be so selfish and get her what I love, ignoring that she loves raisin fruit cake and ignoring that she hates chocolate cake? If she loves something then I ought to get her what she loves and not what I love as that would be individualistic, egotistic, selfish and self centred. In this way, Allah loves the way He has legislated His worship to be done and even had the divine courtesy to send us a messenger to show us how it ought to be done, in the most perfect and complete way. If I then go and add my own likes and dislikes to the equation, it simply means that I have not fully accepted and submitted myself to God. it means what I favor is more important than what God has requested from us and I have not accepted my role as a subservient slave of the Most Merciful. It means I have put myself up there as an equal with God in designing the way worship should be done, taking only my likes and dislikes into consideration. Like an employee telling you how he prefers to work for you, not in the way you like the job to get done. We need to make sure our worship is correct and therefore acceptable to Allaah. Our Ibaadah of Allaah should be as He and His Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) have commanded us, as the worship we offer God has to be the way He likes it regardless if we prefer another way or not. True gratitude is in pleasing the Creator above your own ego. Allaah says {O you who believe! Obey Allaah and obey the Messenger and do not let your actions become nullified.} [47:33] The Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) has said Whoever does an action which we have not commanded will have it rejected. [Muslim] and he (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) also said Whoever does an action in a way different from ours will have it rejected [Abu Daawood - Saheeh]. Fudayl ibn Ayyaad, a taabiee, said regarding the verse {...that He may test you, which of you is best in deeds...} [11:7] , The most sincere and the most correct so those who were around him said And what is the most sincere and the most correct? He replied Action, if it is correct but not sincere will not be accepted and action, if it is sincere but not correct will not be accepted until it is both sincere and correct. Sincere means that nothing but the Face of Allaah is sought and correct means that it is in conformity with the Sunnah. So these are two necessary conditions for our Ibaadah to be acceptable to Allaah, namely that they are sincere (for the sake of Allaah) and correct (in conformity with the Sunnah).
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 10:10:45 +0000
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