WORSHIP
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THE cIBAADAH (SERVICE)
The word cABD and its derivatives, which quite frequently appear in the Quran and which have been interpreted as WORSHIP, is not a perfect interpretation. When I analysed all the verses of the Quran containing this word I found that the message of the verse was far from understood and whatever was understood was vague.
cABD in Arabic means SLAVE and slave do not worship but rather serve, and serve his master by obeying and executing his commands.
SLAVE a person who is owned by another person and must work for him (Longman Dictionary)
Verily, Allah has purchased of the believers their lives and their properties; for the price that theirs shall be the Paradise. They fight in Allah's Cause, so they kill (others) and are killed. It is a promise in truth, which is binding, on Him in the Taurat (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel) and the Qur'an. And who is truer to his covenant than Allah? Then rejoice in the bargain which you have concluded. That is the supreme success. (The believers whose lives Allah has purchased are) those who repent to Allah who worship Him, who praise Him, who fast (or go out in Allah's Cause), who bow down (in prayer), who prostrate themselves (in prayer), who enjoin (people) for Al-Ma'ruf (i.e. Islamic Monotheism and all what Islam has ordained) and forbid (people) from Al-Munkar, and who observe the limits set by Allah and give glad tidings to the believers. 9111/112
Although Allah created all mankind but of the believers He has purchased their lives and their properties therefore the believers with their properties are the slaves of Allah and therefore it becomes incumbent upon them to obey and execute the commands of ALLAH ONLY.
WORSHIP OR OBEYING THE COMMANDS
Worship of the believers
'INNA FE HAADHAA LA- BALAAGH(AN) LI- QAWM cAABIDEN 21106
Verily, in this (the Qur'an) there is a plain Message for people who worship Allah 21106
"Verily! I am Allah! There is no god so worship Me, AND establish prayers for My Remembrance. 2014
And We made them leaders, guiding (mankind) by Our Command, and We inspired in them the doing of good deeds, performing Salat and the giving of Zakat and of Us (Alone) they were worshippers. 2173
"It is Allah who is my Lord and your Lord; then worship Him. This is the straight path 351
Say thou I am but a human being like yourselves; revealed unto me is that your God is One God. Whosoever then hopeth for the meeting with his Lord, let him work righteous work, and let him not associate in the worship of his Lord anyone.
Worship Allah and join none with Him in worship, and do good to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, Al-Masakin (the poor), the neighbour who is near of kin, the neighbour who is a stranger, the companion by your side, the wayfarer (you meet), and those (slaves) whom your right hands possess. Verily, Allah does not like such as are proud and boastful; 436
Believers are commanded to WORSHIP Allah Alone (obey Allah and His commands) and should not associate in His WORSHIP (obedience) ANY ONE and that is the straight path
Worship of the disbelievers
And they worship, beside Allah, that for which He hath revealed no authority and that whereof they have no knowledge; and for the wrongdoers there shall not be a helper. 2271
They said "We worship idols, and to them we are ever devoted." 2571
"You do not worship besides Him but only names which you have named (forged), you and your fathers, for which Allah has sent down no authority. The command (or the judgement) is for none but Allah. He has commanded that you worship none but Him that is the straight religion, but most men know not. 1240
"Is it a falsehood aaliha (gods) other than Allah that you seek? 3786
"You worship besides Allah only idols, and you only invent falsehood. Verily, those whom you worship besides Allah have no power to give you provision, so seek your provision from Allah (Alone), and worship Him (Alone), and be grateful to Him. To Him (Alone) you will be brought back. 2917
And those who disbelieve will say "Our Lord! Show us those among jinns and men who led us astray, we shall crush them under our feet, so that they become the lowest." 4129
The idols are only names and it is falsehood gods, which they have fabricated, and it will lead them towards the burning fire of hell and ON THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT they will ask Allah to show those jinn and men who strayed them so that they may crush them under their feet.
On the Day when their faces will be turned over in the Fire, they will say "Oh, would that we had obeyed Allah and obeyed the Messenger (Muhammad SAW)." And they will say "Our Lord! Verily, we obeyed our chiefs and our great ones, and they misled us from the (Right) Way. 3366/67
By Allah we were truly in an error manifest` When we held you as equals with the Lord of the Worlds; and none led us astray except the Culprits. Now we have no intercessors, nor a close friend (to help us). Were there for us a return, we would be of the believers. 2697/98/99/100/101/102
DISBELIEVERS will not be in hell because they worshipped the idols but because they obeyed those people (WORSHIPPED) besides Allah who were their Chiefs and great ones and whom they held equal with the LORD and who invented this idol worship and for which they did not have any authority from Allah. It is the WORSHIP OR OBEDIENCE of such people that strayed them from the right path and made them disbelievers.
Worship of the people of the Book
According to the Holy Quran there is a group of persons who have been and are given an equal status with God and have been the object of WORSHIP by people of different ages. Such persons are the religious leaders
They have taken their priests and their monks for their Lords besides God, and also the Masih son of Maryam; whereas they Were commanded not but to worship the One God no god is there but he. Hallowed be He from that which they associate' .931
The people of the Book were commanded to WORSHIP (obey Allah and His command only) but they took their priests and their monks as their Lord and obeyed them blindly.
For the people of the Book if the Divine laws did not forbid something, it was declared forbidden by their leader, they abided by this; similarly things their religious leaders declared permissible were also accepted. Therefore the words in the above verse means the acceptance of the priests' decisions, and considering them to be final and beyond reproach, instead of obeying the laws of God. The Jews and the Christians made this mistake because they did not consult the authority of their respective Divine books for a particular issue, and thus considered all that the priests said to be the will of God.
Worship of Satan
"Did I not enjoin on you O ye children of Adam that ye should not worship Satan; for that he was to you an enemy avowed? "And that ye should worship Me (for that) this was the Straight Way? "But he did lead astray a great multitude of you. Did ye not then understand? 3660/61/62
But Satan whispered evil to him he said "O Adam! shall I lead thee to Tree of Eternity and to a kingdom that never decays?" Then they both ate of the tree, and so their private parts appeared to them, and they began to stick on themselves the leaves from Paradise for their covering. Thus did Adam disobey his Lord, so he went astray. 20120/121
Allah ordained the Children of Adam not to WORSHIP Satan (obey his commands). Adam obeyed the Satan and disobeyed his Lord and he went astray and was expelled from the paradise.
Worship of mankind
And they took (aalihah) gods other than Allah to become honour for them! Nay, but they will belie in their (cIBAADAH) WORSHIP (obedience) and will become opponents to them (on the Day of Resurrection). 1981/82
These gods are not idols but from among us, like Kings, Political Leaders, Tribal Chiefs, Scholars, Imams, Priests, Monks, Wealthy, and Great People etc. We don't worship such people but we obey and follow them in our worldly life and the tag of such people on our back is a kind of honour for us. Among such people are those who are strayed from the way of Allah and follow their own desires and tend others to follow them. But on the day of resurrection these very people will deny their WORSHIP and will become opponents of those who followed them in the worldly life to gain honour.
But when He gave them a Salih (good in every aspect) child, they ascribed partners to Him (Allah) in that which He has given to them. High be Allah, Exalted above all that they ascribe as partners to Him. (Tafsir At-Tabari, Vol.9, Page 14. Do they attribute as partners to Allah those who created nothing but they themselves are created? No help can they give them, nor can they help themselves. And if you call them to guidance, they follow you not. It is the same for you whether you call them or you keep silent. Verily, those whom you call upon besides Allah are slaves like you. So call upon them and let them answer you if you are truthful. Have they feet wherewith they walk? Or have they hands wherewith they hold? Or have they eyes wherewith they see? Or have they ears wherewith they hear? Say (O Muhammad SAW) "Call your (so-called) partners (of Allah) and then plot against me, and give me no respite! "Verily, my Wali (Protector, Supporter, and Helper, etc.) is Allah Who has revealed the Book (the Qur'an), and He protects (supports and helps) the righteous. "And those whom you call upon besides Him (Allah) cannot help you nor can they help themselves." And if you call them to guidance, they hear not and you will see them looking at you, yet they see not. Show forgiveness; enjoin what is good, and turn away from the foolish (i.e. don't punish them). 7190/191/192/193/194/195/196/197/198/199
To Allah belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. He creates what He wills. He bestows female (offspring) upon whom He wills, and bestows male (offspring) upon whom He wills. Or He bestows both males and females, and He renders barren whom He wills. Verily, He is the All-Knower and is Able to do all things. 4249/50
It is Allah Who bestows males and females and the partners (shurakaas) do not have any share in such creation because they are themselves created by Him and they are helpless and they cannot render help, to those who call them. These other Gods whoever they are but are slaves like us and do not possess the mystic powers that can match the powers of Allah
And (remember) the Day when He will call to them, and say "Where are My (so-called) partners whom you used to assert?" Those about whom the Word will have come true (to be punished) will say "Our Lord! These are they whom we led astray. We led them astray, as we were astray ourselves. We declare our innocence (from them) before You. It was not us they WORSHIPPED." And it will be said (to them) "Call upon your (so-called) partners (of Allah), and they will call upon them, but they will give no answer to them, and they will see the torment. (They will then wish) if only they had been guided! 2862/63/64
And the Day whereon We shall gather them all together, then We shall say to those who did set partners in worship with Us "Stop at your place! You and your partners (whom you had worshipped in the worldly life)." then We shall separate them, and their (Allah's so-called) partners shall say "It was not us that you used to WORSHIP." "So sufficient is Allah for a witness between us and you, that We indeed knew nothing of your worship of us." 1028/29
Mankind do not WORSHIP mankind but obey each other. Those who were obeyed will belie the WORSHIP (obedience) of those who obeyed them and confess that they were themselves strayed and led others also stray.
Worship of Pharaoh
They said" shall we believe in two men like ourselves, and their people to us are WORSHIPPERS. 2347
And We sent Moses with Our Clear (Signs) and an authority manifest To Fir'aun (Pharaoh) and his chiefs, but they followed the command of Fir'aun (Pharaoh), and the command of Fir'aun (Pharaoh) was no right guide. 1196/97
Thus did he make fools of his people and they obeyed him Truly were they a people rebellious (against Allah). 4354
People of Pharaoh did not WORSHIP him but obeyed and followed his command
Say (O Muhammad SAW) "I have been forbidden to worship those whom you worship besides Allah, since there have come to me evidences from my Lord, and I am commanded to submit (in Islam) to the Lord of the 'Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists). 4066
It is not (possible) for any human being to whom Allah has given the Book and Al-Hukma (the knowledge and understanding of the laws of religion, etc.) and Prophethood to say to the people "Be my worshippers rather than Allah's." On the contrary (he would say) "Be you Rabbaniyun (learned men of religion who practise what they know and also preach others), because you are teaching the Book, and you are studying it." Nor would he order you to take angels and Prophets for lords (gods). Would he order you to disbelieve after you have submitted to Allah's Will? (Tafsir At-Tabari). 379/80
It is forbidden to WORSHIP ANYONE besides ALLAH including the prophets
Summary of the above
Worship Allah (obey His commands) ONLY
Do not worship besides Him ANY ONE including the prophetsAnd whosoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad SAW), and transgresses His limits, He will cast him into the Fire, to abide therein; and he shall have a disgraceful torment. 414
If a person who worships other (obeys his command) besides Allah then he has disobeyed Allah and transgressed his limits and his place in the hereafter will be in the fire and he will dwell therein.
Those who do not wear gold and silk, obey Bukhari, associate partners in the WORSHIP of Allah, disobey Allah, and transgress the limits of Allah.
(They like to) listen to falsehood, to devour anything forbidden. So if they come to you, either judge between them, or turn away from them. If you turn away from them, they cannot hurt you in the least. And if you judge, judge with justice between them. Verily, Allah loves those who act justly. And how shall they ask thee for judgment, whereas with them is the Taurat wherein is Allah's judgment? And they turn away thereafter? And those are no believers.. 542/43
Leaving their Book behind them they came to Prophet for decision only to listen to falsehoods, to eat anything that is forbidden. Everything was mentioned in the Torah but still they approached the prophet in the hope that the prophet would give the judgement in their favour and according to their evil wish and such people who leave their Books and look for decisions outside are called (WA- MAA 'OLAA'IKA BI- AL- MU'MINEN) SUCH PEOPLE ARE NOT BELIEVERS.
The Muslims also committed the same mistake, which the Jews committed. They had everything in the Quran but they kept the Quran behind them and followed other books to learn what is lawful and what is unlawful, what is forbidden and what is not forbidden, what is good and what is bad, what is piety and what is not piety, what is the punishment of this and what is the punishment of that, and what is Sadaqah and what is Zakaat, etc. etc.
The Muslims are required to use their own intellect, learn the Quran by themselves, and take direct guidance from it. But unfortunately very few people take efforts in this direction. They do not use the Quran as a source of law and guidance; they rather use it for purposes of taking oaths or use it as an Amulet or read in the month of Ramadan with the belief that they will be rewarded seventy times for one reading For guidance in the matters of "Den" they often approach the Imam. The Imam when consulted for any particular issue pertaining to "Den" quotes the authority of some hadith or some so-called learned man and seldom quotes the authority of the Quran; thus taking the Imam as his lord in degradation of God. His reason for doing so is that the Imams could supposedly understand the Quran better than other people.
Say thou I am but a human being like yourselves; revealed unto me is that your God is One God. Whosoever then hopeth for the meeting with his Lord, let him work righteous work, and let him not associate in the worship of his Lord anyone.
And whosoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad SAW), and transgresses His limits, He will cast him into the Fire, to abide therein; and he shall have a disgraceful torment. 414
ALLAH KNOWS THE TRUTH