What is ‘Ibadah

Transcript of the Khatira delivered by Dr. Munawar Haque on March 11, 2017

الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد المرسلين وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين

Brothers and sisters! In today’s khatira, I intend to share with you some thoughts on the concept of ‘ibadah. It is usually understood to mean worship, implying the devotional acts of worship such as prayers, fasting, charity, hajj etc. This limited perception of ‘ibadah, however, conveys only one aspect of its meaning. In fact, all activities are considered acts of worship if done in compliance with the divine law and guidance.

‘Ibadah in Islam is a very profound term. It is derived from the Arabic root letters ‘ayn-baa-daal (د ع ب) from which we have the word ‘abd, (عَبد) which means a slave. The duty of a slave is to obey his master. It is important to note that the slave of a master in this world does not obey his master out of love. Also, he does not worship his master. The Children of Israel (Bani Israel) who were enslaved by Firaun neither loved him nor worshipped him, but being his slaves, they had to obey him and serve him. However, a slave of Allah—an ‘abd of Allah worships, obeys, and serves his Creator—Allah (SWT) out of intense love, gratitude, humility, and devotion. By doing the ‘ibadah of Allah, man is fulfilling the purpose of his creation and existence, for Allah says,

وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ  

“I only created jinn and man to do my ‘ibadah.” (al-Dhariyat, 51:56)

‘Ibadah of Allah includes (1) worship, (2) obedience, and (3) submission. Such an attitude of willing humiliation cannot justly be adopted towards anyone except Allah. It is important to realize that such ‘ibadah does not necessarily involve loss of freedom, for freedom is to act as one’s true nature or fitrah demands. Fitrah is the inborn natural disposition, which is inclined towards submission to One God. It is the pure and original state upon which God creates all human beings, and which is inclined towards that which is morally and spiritually pure, upright and wholesome. The concept of fitrah comes from the Qur’an, which states,

فَأَقِمْ وَجْهَكَ لِلدِّينِ حَنِيفًا فِطْرَةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي فَطَرَ النَّاسَ عَلَيْهَا

“Devote yourself single mindedly to the true faith; and adhere to the true nature on which Allah has created human beings..” (Ar-Rum, 30:30)

While reciting Surat al-Fatiha, when we say إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ then we are telling Allah that it is “You alone we worship.” In other words, our worship and total devotion, our unreserved obedience, and our absolute submission and servitude are only for Allah and no one else. It is equally natural and logical to turn for help in everything to Him alone. Hence the following expression وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ “And it is You alone that we seek help from.” Therefore, we should not love or fear or depend upon anyone else as we love or fear or depend upon Allah; nor should we show complete self-abasement and total humility to anyone as we are required to do before Allah, such as bowing (ruku') and prostrating (sajdah).  

This holistic concept of ‘ibadah appears to have disappeared during centuries of decline and decay of the Muslim ummah. While we worship Allah through prayers, fasting, alms giving, and hajj, yet we do not always remain obedient to Him in every sphere of our life. Alhamdulillah, with the revival of the spirit of deen observable in the Islamic world, the concept of ‘ibadah has once again started to be understood as total obedience to Allah in all aspects of human life—individual, collective, social, economical, and political. However, obedience to Allah should not be merely mechanical or merely for worldly or political ends. It should be with full love for Allah. Obedience is only the body of ‘ibadah while love of Allah is the spirit or ruh of ‘ibadah. It is reported that the Prophet (SAW) used to recite the following supplication after every salah.

اَللَّهُمَّ اَعِنِّى عَلى ذِكْرِكَ وَشُكْرِكَ وحُسْنِ عِبادَتِك

 “O Allah, help me remember You, to be grateful to You, and to do your ‘ibadah in an excellent manner." It is to be understood that there are two aspects of tawhid—the theoretical and the practical. The theoretical tawhid has to do with one’s aqidah or dogma or belief, and the practical tawhid has to do with one’s ‘ibadah through manifestation of that belief. It is a fact of life that we do obey others other than Allah. For example, we obey our parents; our elders; our teachers, and the call of our nafs by fulfilling its permissible rights. The point to note is that obedience to anyone or anything should not bring about or lead to disobedience of Allah. According to a hadith, 

لا طاعةُ المخلوق في معصية الخالق‏

“There is no obedience to any created thing if it entails disobedience to the Creator.” The Qur’an explains this phenomenon when it says,    

أَفَرَأَيْتَ مَنِ اتَّخَذَ إِلَٰهَهُ هَوَاهُ

“Have you seen him who takes his whims and desires to be his God?” (al-Jathiyah, 45:23).This means that if one were to follow lust and base desires of one’s nafs that were against Islamic law and morals, one would be making one’s nafs the object of ‘ibadah or worship. According to a hadith, “Accursed is the slave of the Dinar (‘Abd ul-Dinar) and the slave of the Dirham (‘Abd ul-Dirham).” This means that such people have become slaves of wealth rather than slaves of Allah. Every prophet or messenger of Allah called people to do the ‘ibadah of Allah. 

 يَا قَوْمِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مَا لَكُم مِّنْ إِلَٰهٍ غَيْرُهُ

“O my people. Do the ‘ibadah of Allah; you have no other God but Him” (al-A’raf, 7:85). Being the representative of Allah on earth, every prophet or messenger of Allah told his people:

اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ وَاتَّقُوهُ وَأَطِيعُونِ

“Do the ‘ibadah of Allah, have taqwa of Him and obey me” (Nuh, 71:3).And obeying the Messenger of Allah means obeying Allah, for the Qur’an says,

مَّن يُطِعِ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدْ أَطَاعَ اللَّهَ

“Whoever obeys the Messenger obeys Allah” (al-Nisa’, 4:80). Mankind was ordered only to do the ‘ibadah of Allah.

أَمَرَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا إِيَّاهُ

“And He orders you not to do the ‘ibadah (of anyone) but Him” (Yusuf, 12:40).In Surat Ta Ha, Allah (SWT) when conversing with Musa (AS) says,

إِنَّنِي أَنَا اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنَا فَاعْبُدْنِي وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ لِذِكْرِي

“I am Allah; there is no God but Me. So worship Me (i.e. do my ‘ibadah) and keep up the prayer so that you remember Me” (Ta Ha, 20:14). Mankind was told to call on Allah alone without associating partners with Him.

 فَلَا تَدْعُوا مَعَ اللَّهِ أَحَدًا

“Do not call on anyone else besides Allah” (al-Jinn, 72:18). Through their disobedience and flagrant violation of divine laws, people have become oblivious of the fact that supreme greatness is only for Allah. We are reminded in Surat al-Hashr,

هُوَ اللَّهُ الَّذِي لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْمَلِكُ الْقُدُّوسُ السَّلَامُ الْمُؤْمِنُ الْمُهَيْمِنُ الْعَزِيزُ الْجَبَّارُ الْمُتَكَبِّرُ

“He is Allah; there is no God but Him. He is the King, the Most Pure, the Perfect Peace, the Trustworthy, the Granter of security, the Almighty, the Supreme Authority, the Supremely Great” (al-Hashr, 59:23). May Allah (SWT) give us the tawfiq to be His humble and obedient ‘ibad by doing ‘ibadah through worshiping Him, obeying Him, and serving the cause of His deen with utmost humility. 

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ المُسْلِمينَ وَالمُسْلِمَاتْ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهْ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

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