True meaning of Ibadah

[abdussattar]

Allah swt Says In the quraan

"And I have not created Jinn and mankind except to worship and serve me"( Al-dhariyaat 51:56)

'To worship and serve me' means for Ibadah.

'Ibadah is and arabic word derived for the same root as the word 'abd, which means a servant and slave.
Thus, 'Ibadah means to perform the duties of a servant as does a slave or bondsman. A person is a slave of somebody only if he lives his whole life rendering service and obedience to him and behaves as one should behave to hos master. But a person who is supposedly a servant , and is being paid for his work but who does not render his master service and obedience as a slave ought to, is guilty of disloyalty and rebellion.

How should a slave behave towards his master?

The first duty of a slave is to take only his master as his lord. He should be totally faithful to him alone who sustains, nourishes and protects him, and give loyalty to no one else.

The second duty of a slave is to be always obedient to his master, to carry out all his orders meticulously and to refrain from following his own desires or opinions or following anyone else , contrary to his master's wishes. A slave is a slave, every moment and in all circumstances. He has no right to choose to obey a particular order and to disobey another, or to say that he will be a slave when it suits him and will ignore his duties for the rest of the time.

The third duty of a slave is to revere and adore his master. To express his reverence, he should follow the ways laid down by him. If he is constant and firm in his faithfulness and obedience, he must present himself at whatever time his master calls him for audience.

These are the qualities which together constitute 'Ibadah :- first, loyalty to ones master; second, obedience to him; third, reverence and adoration for him.

What Allah requires--when he says " I have not created Jinn and Mankind except to serve and worship me'--is that we should be loyal, above all, to him alone and to no one else; we should follow, against everything else, his commandments only; and we should honor and revere him alone be kneeling and prostrating ourselves. Everywhere in the Quraan, the word 'Ibadah is used in this sense. This is also the substance of the teachings of out Prophet, and of all the prophets sent by God before him, peace be upon them. Each came with the same message;'Worship and serve none except him' (Yusuf 12:40): their only one Sovereign is Allah; there is one law which you must obey, and that is the law of Allah; there is only one being you should worship, and that is Allah.


Thus, the Prayers, Fasting, Zakah, Hajj, are just the IMPORTANT pillars of Ibadah, not that they ONLY are Ibadah. If you are playing in a ground under the limitations set by Allah, then too, you are doing Ibadah. Whatever you are doing.., If it is under the limits set my Allah, then it comes under Ibadah.

This Clearly shows that Allah has no Need to be worshiped, As in the verse "Allah is the self sufficient"(112:2) indicated. It is the purpose of Human life to worship him. If all the humans on the earth come together and revolt against Allah, his status and dignity is not a bit lowered, and if all the humans on earth come together and worship Allah, there isn't a slight increase in his status and dignity. Just imagine, that the paradise offered to HUMANS is such great (that you already know) , Just Imagine that how will Allah be , and how his "residence", the sidratul muntaha will be.......



Allahu Alim



Taken from, Maulana Maududi's Fundamentals Of Islam

 

[Great sinner]

Wow thats cool.

 

[abdussattar]

Worship means revering, serving and obeying God in our whole lives. Being
born as God’s servants, we can not give up serving Him at any time or under any
circumstances and still remain His servant as God wanted us to be when He created us.
Just as you cannot say that you are creatures of God for a particular time only, so you
cannot say that you will spend only a certain amount of time in worshipping Him and
be free to spend the rest as you please. You are born to worship Him. Your whole lives
should, therefore, be spent in ‘Ibadha, you should not neglect it for a single moment.
It is precisely for this reason that worship does not require giving up the day-to-day
world and sitting in a corner chanting God’s name. Worship means that whatever you
do in the world should be in accordance with God’s guidance. Whether you sleep, are
awake, eat, drink or work ---in fact, whatever activity you do---you worship Allah if
these are done in obedience to Him.
When you are at home with your wives and children, brothers and sisters and relatives,
behave towards them exactly as God has laid down. When you talk to your friends and
amuse yourselves, remain conscious that you are servants of God. When you go out to
work and have dealing with other people, keep in view God’s commandments about
what behaviour is proper and legitimate and what is not.
When in the dark of night you feel you can commit a sin which nobody in the world can
see, then is the time to remember that God is seeing you and it is He, and not your
fellow humans, who deserves to be feared. When you find yourselves in a place where
you can commit a crime without fear of the police or any witnesses, then again it is
time to remember that God sees everything and refrain from doing anything from
doing anything for transient gain which would displease Him. And when following the
path of truth and honesty causes you material loss or otherwise puts knowledge that
you are pleasing Allah by obeying Him and that your gain from Him will far outweigh
any temporary, earthly loss.
Abandoning the world and sitting in secluded places counting rosary beads is,
therefore, not real worship at all. Worship is to be engaged in everyday affairs and yet
follow the way of God. What does remembering God (dhikr) mean? It does not mean
merely the continual chanting of ‘Allah, Allah!’. The real remembrance of God consists
in recalling to mind the name and will Allah when you are caught up in day-to-day
worldly activities. Being engaged in pursuits which could tend to make you forget God
and yet not forgetting Him is in fact remembering Him. In this life, where opportunities
of huge profits lurk, you must unfailingly remember God and remain steadfast in
following His law. This is the true remembrance of God.

 

[abdussattar]

This is also displayed by the following story:-

There lived a pious man all by himself, who spent most of his time in praying, fasting and praising Allah. Almost all his waking hours were utilised in meditation and devotions. He was very happy with his spiritual progress. No wicked thoughts came to his mind and no evil temptations entered his heart.

One night, he dreamt a rather disturbing dream. He saw that a shopkeeper in the town was far superior to him in spirituality and that he must go to him to learn the basics of true spiritual life.

In the morning, the pious man went in search of the shopkeeper. He found him busy with his customers, selling goods and collecting money with a cheerful face. He sat there in a corner of the shop and watched the shopkeeper carefully. No signs of any spiritual life at all, he said to himself. His dream could not be true. But then he saw the shopkeeper disappear to pray his Salah. When he returned, he was busy dealing with money matters again.

The shopkeeper noticed the pious man sitting in the corner and asked: "As Salamu Alaikum, would you like something, brother?"

"Wa Alaikum As Salam. Oh! No! No!" said the pious man. "I don't want to buy anything, but I want to ask you a question." He then related his dream.

"Well, that is very simple to explain," said the shopkeeper, "but you will have to do something for me before I answer your question."

"I will do anything for you," replied the pious man.

"All right! Take this saucer; there is some mercury in it. Go to the other end of the street and come back fast within half an hour. If the mercury falls out of the saucer, you will hear nothing from me. There you go now."

The pious man took the saucer and started running. The mercury nearly wobbled out of the saucer. He saved it just in time, and slowed down. Then he remembered he had to return within half an hour, so he started walking at a fast pace. At long last he returned puffing and panting. "Here is your mercury, safe and sound," he told the shopkeeper. "Now tell me the true interpretation of my dream."

The shopkeeper looked at the pious man's weary condition and asked him: "Well, friend, how many times did you remember Allah while you were going from this end of the street to the other?"

"Remember Allah!" exclaimed the pious man. "I did not remember Him at all. I was so worried about the mercury in the saucer."

"But I do remember Him all the time," said the shopkeeper. "When I am doing my business, I am also carrying mercury in a saucer. I am fair, honest and kind to my customers. I never forget Allah Ta'ala in my dealings with other men."