Allah Ta’ala has created every human being and Jinn just to worship Him. Allah is displeased with those who worship others besides Him. Verily, Allah does not like having Man and Jinn worshipping other than Him. On the other hand, Allah loves those who worship only Him. He is glad for those who forsake everything else for the sake of His worship. Allah has obligated His worship on all his servants and He has shown His servants the path of good and evil to test them as to see which will follow the straight path and which will follow the path of Satan. Of course, He has given them the willpower and knowledge to do good deeds and give up evil deeds.
So now I will mention some information about worshipping Allah and following the straight path that may help you know some new things. And I will try to present each subject beautifully, Insha Allah. So let’s start the main discussion without delay.
What is worshipping Allah?
Actually, worship means all those things in which the intention to gain nearer has been conditioned—for example, Salah, Fast, Zakah, Hajj, etc. [Almaany al-Jami, word: Ibadah]
So worshipping Allah is to do what He commands to do, refrain from what He prohibits, and attest to His messages. [Tafseer As-Sa’di, Surah: Baqarah, verse: 21]
Some scholars said: Worship of Allah is all those words and deeds which Allah loves and is pleased with, whether these are visible works or hidden works. [Al-Mausu’ah al-Fiqhiyyah al-Kuwaitiyah, page: 18540]
Why should we worship Allah?
In many places in the Qur’an, Allah has commanded His servants to worship Him. Because He is the only one worthy of worship in this world and the Hereafter. Only by worshipping Allah will one be liberated in this world and the Hereafter. To worship other than Him will undoubtedly lead to terrible punishment in the Hereafter. There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah. And He has warned his servants repeatedly to stay away from worshipping Satan. Verily, to disobey Allah, disbelieve in Him, and associate partners with Him is considered the worship of Satan.
Allah Ta’ala said: “O mankind! Worship your Lord who created you and those before you. So that you may protect yourselves (from Hell).” [Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 21]
“Did I not enjoin upon you, O children of Adam, that you do not worship Satan – (for) indeed, he is to you a clear enemy. And that you worship (only) Me? This is a straight path. And he (Satan) had already led astray from among you much of creation, so do you not understand?” [Surah Ya-Sin, verses 60 – 62]
“That is Allah, your Lord. There is no (actual) deity except Him, the creator of all things. So worship Him. And He is the Maintainer of everything”. [Surah Al-An’am, verse 102]
“Worship your Lord until there comes to you the Yakin (i.e., the death).” [Surah Al-Hijr, verse 99]
Allah Ta’ala also said:
“O humankind, indeed the promise of Allah is truth, so let not the worldly life delude you and be not deceived about Allah by the Deceiver (i.e., Satan). Indeed, Satan is an enemy to you, so take him as an enemy. He only invites his party to be among the companions of the Blaze.” [Surah Fatir, verses: 5 – 6]
“O you who believe! Perform Ruku (Bow down), Sajdah (prostrate yourselves), worship your Lord, and do good deeds so that you may be successful.” [Surah Al-Hajj, verse 77]
“They have certainly disbelieved those who say Allah is the Messiah (Jesus), the son of Mary, while the Messiah has said, “O Children of Israel, worship Allah, my Lord, and your Lord.” Indeed, he who associates others with Allah – Allah has forbidden him Paradise, and his refuge is the Fire. And there are no helpers for the wrongdoers.” [Surah Al-Ma’idah, verse 72]
How to worship Allah?
Worshipping Allah must be done in the same way as the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had worshipped Him. He has taught us how to perform obligatory and Nafl worship. And the obligatory worship or the Nafl worship, whatever it is, must be performed according to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). Verily, there can be no excess in the worship of Allah. And there can be no neglect in obligatory worship. So all we have to do is follow the guidance of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) in worship and all other matters.
In this regard, Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said to us: “So if I forbid you to do something, then keep away from it. And if I order you to do something, then do it as much as you can.” [Sahih Bukhari, Hadith No. 7288]
He (peace be upon him) also said: “Whoever obeys me, obeys Allah; and whoever disobeys me, disobeys Allah.” [Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith No. 3]
And Allah Ta’ala said: “There has certainly come to you a Messenger from among yourselves. Grievous to him is what you suffer; (he is) extremely interested in you (i.e., your guidance) and is kind and merciful to the believers. But if they turn away, (O Muḥammad), say, “Sufficient for me is Allah; there is no deity except Him. On Him, I have relied, and He is the Lord of the Great Throne.” [Surah At-Tawbah, verses 128 – 129]
Worshipping Allah and the mixing of Shirk in it
Worshipping Allah should be done only for Allah. And the worship cannot be done even for someone else but Him. At the same time, it should be kept in mind that if someone worships Allah for worldly purposes or for showing off, it will be considered a Shirk. And Allah will never accept such worship. Instead, He will punish such a worshipper severely for this kind of worship.
In this regard, Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said: “The person who performs Salah to show off must have done Shirk. The person who performs fast to show off must have done Shirk. And the person who gives the charity to show off must have done Shirk.” [Mishkat Al-Masabih, Hadith No. 5331]
In the same way, those who worship idols or anything else also associate partners with Allah directly in worship because the worship is to be done only for Allah. No one else is worthy of worship but Him. Indeed, He hates extremely to worship anything other than Allah.
In this regard, Allah Ta’ala said: “So do not invoke (or worship) with Allah another deity; otherwise, you be among the punished.” [Ash-Shu’ara, verse 213]
Verily, Allah Ta’ala will say to the idols and other falsehood deities in the Hereafter: “Did you mislead these My servants, or did they (themselves) stray from the (straight) path? They will say, Exalted are You! It was not for us to take besides You any allies (i.e., They will say, Glory be to You! We did not dare to take other lords besides You, so how can we command them to worship us?). But You had granted enjoyment to them and their fathers, eventually they forgot the message and became a ruined people.” [Surah Al-Furqan, verses 17 – 18]
What is the straight path?
Ibn Abbas (R), Zabir (R), and other companions of Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said: The straight path is Islam. [Tafsir al-Baghawi, Surah: Al-Fatihah, verse 6]
In this regard, Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said: “Allah Ta’ala has given an example of a straight path, with two walls on both sides of the path, in which are open doors, and in the doors are loose curtains, and there is a caller at the door of the path, who says: O people! Enter all in the path, and Do not take the crooked path. And a caller is calling from above the path. Then when a human wants to open (i.e., to remove the loose curtains of) any door from those doors, the caller says, Woe for you. (Stop) don’t open the door (i.e., don’t remove the loose curtains of the door). Of course, you will enter it if you open the door. So indeed, that path is Islam, the two walls (on both sides of the path) are the Hudud (legal limitations) of Allah, the open doors are illegal (forbidden) things of Allah, and that caller who is at the door of the path is the Book of Allah, and the caller from above the path is Allah’s admonisher in the heart of every Muslim.” [Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Hadith No. 17634]
In short
Following the straight path is to worship Allah, follow Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him), and obey every order-prohibitions of Allah in the same way as the Prophets, the Siddiquis, the martyrs, and the pious believers obeyed.
And to commit the sin repeatedly and disobey Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him), do evil deeds, not turn away from bad deeds, and not repent are to deviate from the straight path. Verily, whoever turns away from the worship of Allah and deviates from the straight path, indeed follows the path of the Shaitan. So whoever follows the footsteps of Satan, let him worship Satan. Therefore, if anyone dies while worshipping Satan, Hell will be inevitable for him.
The words of Allah concerning the straight path
“And indeed, you (O Muhammad) invite them to a straight path. But indeed, those who do not believe in the Hereafter are deviating from the path.” [Surah Al-Mu’minun, verses 73 – 74]
“Or do you intend to ask your Messenger as Moses was asked before? And whoever buys Kufr instead of faith, then indeed he has deviated from the straight path.” [Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 108]
“Say, everyone is waiting. So you wait. Therefore you will soon know who is on the straight path and who has received guidance?” [Surah Taha, verse 135]
“And whoever desires other than Islam as religion – never will it be accepted from him, and he will be among the losers in the Hereafter.” [Surah Ali ‘Imran, verse 85]
“And thus, I have revealed to you an inspiration of my command (i.e., the Qur’an). You did not know what is the Book or (what is) faith, but I have made it a light by which I guide whom I will of my servants. And indeed, (O Muḥammad), you guide to a straight path. The path of Allah, to whom belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Unquestionably, to Allah do (all) matters return.” [Surah Ash-Shuraa, verses 52 – 53]
In addition to these verses, there are many more verses about the straight path. And I have mentioned a few verses to summarise this article.
What we should do
We will always worship one Allah and not worship anyone other than Him. And we will not Shirk in worshipping Allah. We will strongly try to walk on Straight path for the rest of our life. And we will never obey the devil again, Insha Allah. At the same time, we will recite this Dua that Allah has taught us in the Qur’an. That Dua is:
You (alone) we worship, and You (alone) we ask for help. You show us the straight path. Guide to the path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor. Not (show us) the way of those who have earned the anger (of you), nor the way of those who go astray. [Surah Al-Fatihah, verses 5, 6 and 7]
May Allah grant us the grace to worship Him alone, and may He grant us the Tawfiq to follow the straight path. Ameen.
0 comments:
Post a Comment