| The Foundations of Ibadah |
 Worshipping Allaah out of Love, Fear and Hope |
| Source: Ad-Dawah ilalLaah Magazine |
| Article ID : IBD010006 [4842] |
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One of the most beautiful this about the concept of worship in Islaam is the truly unique way in which it incorporates the feelings of love, fear and hope within the hearts of the worshippers of Allah. Understanding how to combine these three qualities into the worship ('ibaadah) of Allah is one of the most essential things that every Muslim must grasp, ,not least because every sect which has drifted from the Straight Path has strayed in this aspect of worship. The deviation of the other Religions in this regards is clear for all to see: "God is Love! Jesus is Love!" say the Christians, denying the fact that God should be feared too. As for the Jews, then their hearts are filled only with hope - hope in the belief that the Fire will not touch them since they are the "Promised People".
In Islaam however, no worship is complete without the presence of all three qualities: LOVE of Allah, Hope in His Mercy and FEAR of His Punishment. Contemplate the opening Soorah of the Qur'aan - Sooratul Faatihah - and you will see for yourself.
Aaayah 1: "All Praise [and Thanks] are for Allah, Rabb of all the worlds."
In this opening aayah (verse) of the Qur'aan, we have LOVE of Allah and every time we recite this aayah we are testifying to our love for Allah. How is that you ask? IT is because in this aayah, we are acknowledging that Allah is our Rabb and the Rabb of all the worlds. Rabb is usually translated as 'the Lord', but this translation does not do justification to this name of Allah and all the meanings that this name carries. In reality Rabb means that Allah is the Creator of everything; He sustains and nourishes everything; He gives life and death; anything good which we have is from Him; everything is dependent on Him and nothing can happen unless He wills it. Furthermore, for the Muslim He - the Rabb - is the One who has guided us to the Truth and given us good morals and manners.
Thuis when we testify that Allah is out Rabb, then we are acknowledging that He is the One who has given us so many blessings - so many that is we tried to enumerate His blessings upon us, we could not count them. So how could we not love Him? After all, we know that when someone gives us even a small gift or shows even a small act of kindness towards us, then we develop so much love for them on account of that - so imagine then the love we should[1] have for our Rabb who has given us everything: nice families, shelter, security, food, health, and above all, Guidance to Islaam and the Sunnah. We should be overwhelming in our love for Him and thank Him and say: "All Praises [and Thanks] are for Allah, Rabbil-'aalameen."
Aayah 2: "The Rahman [Merciful] and the Raheem [Mercy-Giving]."
In the first aayah of Sooratul-Faatihah, Allah mentioned that He was ar-Rabb. In the next aayah two more of His beautiful names are mentioned: ar-Rahmaan and ar-Raheem. Ar-Rahman means that He is the Most Merciful, that is, His Nature or His Essence is Merciful. Ar-Raheem means that He is the Giver of Mercy, in other words, His actions are full of Mercy and He shows Mercy to His creation.[2]
When we mention these two names of Allah, then we have HOPE. Since He has described Himself as so full of Mercy then we have hope that He will forgive out sins, and no matter how numerous out sins may be, we should never lose this hope, because Allah has told us: "O My slaves who have transgressed against themselves! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah verily Allah forgives all sins [except shirk]. Truly He is the Oft-Forgiving, the Mercy-Giving." [az-Zumar (39):53].
The need to have FEAR in our worship is shown by the next aayah of Sooratul-Faatihah:
Aayah 3: "King/Master of the Day of Judegment."
When we recite this aayah we are reminding ourselves of the Day of Judgement - that awful Day, when we shall all stand before Allah, naked, uncircumcised and barefooted. Some will be sweating so much that it will go seventy arm-length into the earth. People will appear drunk though they are no. On this Day, every person will stand before Allah and account for his sins, knowing that not even the smallest action which he did is hidden from Allah:
"So whosoever does good equal to the weight of an atom shall see it. And whosoever does evil equal to the weight of an atom shall see it." [az-Zalzalah (99):7-8].
Taken From:
http://www.salafipublcations.com
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| The Foundations of Ibadah |
| The Truth About Ibaadah (Worship) in Islaam |
| Author: Abu Iyaad as-Salafi
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| Article ID : IBD010005 [3542] |
The Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) said: "The right of Allaah upon His servants is that they should worship Him (alone) and not associate anything with Him" [Bukhaaree and Muslim].
Allaah created us that we may worship Him alone and not associate anything with Him. Allaah has said {I did not create Jinn and Men except that they may worship me.} [51:56]. So what is this Ibaadah, what are its types and conditions and how should it be performed?.
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].
The types of Ibaadah are many and include supplication, fear hope, reliance, love of obedience to Allaah, hatred of disobedience to Him, remorse, repentance, seeking aid from Him, vowing, sacrifice, bowing and prostrating and others besides these. Thus the first thing which a Muslim acknowledges is that he has been created for Ibaadah and that is due to his declaration of Laa ilaaha illallaaha (There is none worthy of worship except Allaah alone). He must then know of its form and types.
The second thing the Muslim should realise is that a necessary condition of worship is that it is sincere. 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] and the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) said "Indeed 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 else's sake as well as Mine, will have that action rejected by Me to him whom he associated with Me" [Muslim].
Another vital condition of worship is that it is correct and therefore acceptable to Allaah. Our Ibaadah of Allaah should be as He and His Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) have commanded us. Allaah says {O you who believe! Obey Allaah and obey the Messenger and do not let your actions become nullified.} [47:33] and 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 taabi'ee, 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).
Allaah has also commanded us {So call upon Him (out of) Fear and Hope.} [6:56] and the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) used to supplicate "I ask Allaah for Paradise and I seek refuge in Him from the Fire" [Abu Daawood - Saheeh]. And this is the fourth point : that our Ibaadah should be in between hoping for Allaah's Mercy and reward and fearing His punishment. Some of the pious predecessors used to say "Whoever worships Allaah with Love only is indeed a Zindeeq (a heretic) and whoever worships Him with Hope only is indeed a Murji' (one who believes sins impart no harm to a persons faith) and whoever worships Him with Fear only is indeed a Harooree (one of those believe that sins take a person out of Islaam) but whoever worships Him with Love, Fear and Hope is indeed a believing Muwahhid (one who performs the Tawheed of Allaah)."
Therefore, in all our actions we should fear Allaah's displeasure and punishment and then balance this with hoping for His pleasure and reward. Furthermore, we should love Him and love obedience to Him.
Another characteristic of our Ibaadah is being aware of the presence of Allaah, that His knowledge is with us and He sees and hears us. This fifth point is Ihsaan. Allaah says {The One Who sees you when you stand up for the prayer and when you move amongst those who prostrate themselves} [26:218] and also in the hadeeth of Jibreel when he said to the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) "Ihsaan is that you worship Allaah as if you see Him and while you see Him not yet truly He sees you" [Muslim].
So these are five points concerning our Ibaadah namely:
- Acknowledgement of the purpose of our existence, which is to worship Allaah alone without any partners. This is the requirement and meaning of the declaration of faith: There is none worthy of worship except Allaah.
- Extreme sincerity in fulfilling that purpose
- The correctness of our Ibaadah and that is upon the Sunnah of the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam)
- Worshipping Allaah by combining Love, Fear and Hope in all of our actions
- And accompanying all of that with Ihsaan.
The example of the one who learns these five points concerning the Ibaadah of his Lord and builds all of his actions upon them and the one who does not and is careless about his worship is like the example Allaah has given {Which then is best? - he who lays the foundation of his house upon Taqwa and His Good Pleasure or he who lays the foundation of his house upon an undetermined brink of a precipice ready to crumble down, so that it crumbles down with him into the Fire of Hell?} [9:108].
So respected brothers and sisters lets not be careless and make our actions vain like Allaah has mentioned regarding some people, {And We shall turn to whatever actions they did and turn them into scattered dust.} [25:23] but rather let us become cautious and send something foreword for the Day of Judgement, the Day when we will be in great need for good actions, that is our sincere and correct Ibaadah.
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When a person spends his entire day with no other concern but Allaah Alone"
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
When a person spends his entire day with no other concern but Allãah Alone, Allãah, may He be glorified, will take care of all his needs and take care of all that is worrying him;
He will empty his heart so that it will be filled only with love for Him, free his tongue so that it will speak only in remembrance of Him (dhikr) and cause all his faculties to work only in obedience to Him.
But if a person spends his entire day with no other concern but this world, Allãah will make him bear its distress, anxiety and pain; He will leave him to sort himself out, and cause his heart to be distracted from the love of Allãah towards the love of some created being, cause his tongue to speak only in remembering people instead of remembering Allãah, and cause him to use his talents and energy in obeying and serving them.
So he will strive hard, laboring like some work-animal, to serve something other than Allãah
Everyone who turns away from being a true slave of Allâah and obeying Him and loving Him will be burdened with servitude, love and obedience to some created being. Allãah says (interpretation of the meaning): And whosoever turns away (blinds himself) from the remembrance of the Most Beneficent (Allãah), We appoint for him a Shaytaan (devil) to be a qareen (intimate companion) to him. [al-Zukhruf 43:36].
Al-Fawaa id, p. 159
It was narrated that Anas (may Allãah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allãah be upon him) said: Whoever is mainly concerned about the Hereafter, Allãah will make him feel independent of others and will make him focused and content, and his worldly affairs will fall into place.
But whoever is mainly concerned with this world, Allâah will make him feel in constant need of others and will make him distracted and unfocused, and he will get nothing of this world except what is decreed for him.
(Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 2389; classed as Saheeh by Shaikh al-Albaani
Taken From:: Al Hujjah Publications
