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Worship
Shaykh Abdul Baree Ath-Thubaytee [(Dhul-Hijjah 13,
1424 (February 14, 2003)]
Brethren in faith! I implore you to
fear Allaah and be dutiful to Him. Allaah says,
O
you who believe! Fear Allaah as He should be feared and die not except in
a state of Islaam.”
(Aal
‘Imraan 3:102)
Fellow Muslims! Allaah certainly has no need of His creatures and their
acts of worship. Their obedience does not avail Him of any benefit nor
does their disobedient harm Him. Human being by nature either worships
Allaah or worships any other thing. He either worships Allaah or worships
wealth, desires, lusts, evils among men and jinn or any other thing he can
think of. It then shows here that, worshipping only Allaah means freeing
oneself from worshipping other deities besides Allaah knowingly or
unknowingly. For the heart cannot be reformed, have bliss and tranquility
except through worshipping Allaah alone and returning to Him in
repentance.
If
man has all the enjoyments of this life, he cannot have peace of mind.
There will always be in him an inherent need for his Lord. And it is only
through worshipping Him that he can have real happiness and peace of mind.
He is always in need of the real meaning of the verse:
“You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help (for each and
everything).”
(Al-Faatihah
1:5)
If man has all the pleasures of this
world and has not yet had the pleasure of worshipping Allaah, he has got
nothing but pains and loss. And he will not be freed from the torments of
this world except through loving Allaah sincerely and making Him his
object of hope. Allaah then will be dearer to him than all other things
and everything that he loves will be for the sake of Allaah alone.”
Ibn
Taymiyyah used to say: “Whoever wants to have eternal happiness should
always be a sincere worshipper of Allaah.”
Fellow Muslims! Almighty Allaah has greatly facilitates acts of worship.
He opened many doors of good deeds. Burden of observing prayers is little
in comparison to its many rewards. Prayers are to be observed five times
in day but they are fifty in the scale of good deeds. They are distributed
at different times during day and night so that weak-minded people will
not feel bored. A prayer with the congregation is twenty-seven times
greater in reward than the one prayed alone. All the supererogatory
prayers made along with the obligatory ones earn for one a house in
Paradise. Allaah accepts the charity made with a sincere intention and
from lawful earnings with His right Hand. He develops it for its owner so
much so that an equivalent of a fruit in charity becomes as big as a huge
mountain in reward.
Brethren in Islaam! It is a manifestation of Allaah’s mercy that He
diversifies ways of doing good deeds for His servants. For the concept of
worship in Islaam includes all deeds done with good intention, to seek the
pleasure of Allaah and to avert His forbidden things.
Widening the concept of worship aims at directing people to righteous
deeds. This makes people help one another. Had ritual acts been the only
means to earn rewards, many people would have stopped doing righteous
deeds.
Fellow Muslims! Every useful social work is regarded as act worship in
Islaam if the intention is good. Worship does not include abandoning
social life and confining oneself in the mosques. Acts of worship are
ordained in Islaam as practical aspects of belief. Allaah says,
“It is not righteousness that you
turn your faces towards east and (or) west (in prayers); but righteousness
is (the quality of) the one who believes in Allaah, the Last Day, the
Angels, the Book, the Prophets and gives his wealth, in spite of love for
it, to the kinsfolk, to the orphans, and to the poor, and to the
wayfarer.”
(Al-Baqarah 2:177)
Every aspect of our life is worship. The work we do is act of worship.
When a man goes out of his house to fend for his family, he is doing an
act of worship. The Messenger of Allaah said, “When a Muslim spends
something for his family seeking therefrom a reward from Allaah, what he
spends is a charity.” (Muslim)
Seeking for knowledge is an act of worship and even an obligation. The
Messenger of Allaah said, “Seeking for knowledge is an obligation upon
every Muslim.” (Ibn Maajah)
Being kind to the parents is an act of worship. The Prophet told the man
who came to him to make the allegiance of Hijrah and jihaad: “Do you have
parents?” The man answered: “Yes, both of them.” The Prophet then said:
“And you are seeking for reward from Allaah?” The man said: “Yes.” The
Messenger of Allaah then said: “Go back to your parents and take good care
of them.” (Muslim)
Being kind to the kith and the kin is also an act of worship. The
Messenger of Allaah said: “The bond of kinship hangs on the Throne of
Allaah and says: ‘Let Allaah have mercy on him who keeps me and let Allaah
cuts down him who cuts me.” (Muslim)
Cleaning pathways from harmful things is an act of worship. The Prophet
said, “There was on a pathway a branch of a tree that harmed people. A man
removed it and on that account entered Paradise for that.” (Ibn Maajah)
Meeting your brethren with a smiling face is also an act of worship. The
Messenger of Allaah said, “Do not underestimate any good deed even if it
be meeting your brother with a smiling face.” (Muslim)
Imaam An-Nawawee said: “This means
that ordinary lawful things become acts of worship if the intention is
good.”
Brethren in Islaam! Worship is a complete way of life. Doing a section of
worship and neglecting others is wrong and contravenes the way of the
Messenger of Allaah. Anas bin Maalik
said: “A group of three men came to the houses of the wives of the Prophet
to know how the Prophet worshipped (Allaah). When they were told of that,
they considered the Prophet’s worship too little and they said, "Who are
we to be compared to the Messenger of Allaah whose past and future sins
have been forgiven." Then one of them said, "I will offer the prayer
throughout the night forever." The other said, "I will fast throughout the
year and will not break my fast." The third said, "I will keep away from
the women and will not marry forever." Allah's Apostle came to them and
said, "Are you the same people who said so-and-so? By Allah, I am more
submissive to Allah and more afraid of Him than you; yet I fast and break
my fast, I do sleep and I also marry women. So he who does not follow my
tradition in religion is not from me (not one of my followers).”
(Al-Bukhaaree)
Brethren in faith! Hold tenaciously
unto the good that you have earned by doing more righteous deeds.
Among the signs of an accepted good
deed is that one’s condition should be better after doing that good deed.
Some scholars said: “The reward of good deed is to do another good deed
after it and the reward of an evil deed is to do another evil deed after
it.” Good deeds attract one another and evil deeds attract one another.
Brethren in Islaam! Doing good deeds
continuously indicates good relationship between one’s heart and Allaah
and this gives one strength and steadfastness. Some scholars regard this
effect as one of the reasons for ordainment of adhkaar.
Allaah loves being consistent in good deeds. Allaah says in a qudsee
hadeeth, “And the most beloved things with which My slave comes nearer to
Me, is what I have enjoined upon him; and My slave keeps on coming closer
to Me through performing supererogatory deeds till I love him.” (Al-Bukhaaree)
It is therefore, of Sunnah to be consistent in doing righteous deeds.
‘Aaishah narrated that the Messenger of Allaah always established any good
deed that he did. When he slept in the night or he was sick, he would
observe in its place twelve raka‘hs during the day.” (Muslim)
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