THE ESSENCE OF RELIGION—PART I
Worship of God
The only true religion in God’s sight is complete submission to God. And those who were given the Book disagreed only out of rivalry, after knowledge had been given to them—he who denies God’s signs should know that God is swift in His reckoning.
WORSHIP: What God most earnestly desires from human beings is worship. The Quran says: ‘I have not created jinn2 and mankind except to worship Me.’ (51: 56) There are numerous such verses in the Quran which elaborate on how the prophets were sent for this very purpose, that is, to warn or to remind man of this responsibility (16: 36). This is so important a matter that if a man cannot find opportunities for worship in his own country, he is enjoined to leave it for some other place (4: 97).
In the Islamic Shariah the word worship is used to express a condition
of extreme love coupled with extreme humility and apprehension.
The dictionary defines worship as bowing before someone and humbling oneself. According to the Lisan al Arab (The Arabic Dictionary), ‘The essence of worship is fearfulness and humility’. That is why the Quran uses the word ‘arrogance’ as the antonym of worship. It says, ‘Those who are too arrogant to worship Me will certainly enter Hell.’
Although worship’s real connotations are humility and fearfulness, when the word is used in relation to God, it also includes the concept of love. In the Islamic Shariah (moral code and religious law of Islam) the word worship is used to express a condition of extreme love coupled with extreme humility and apprehension.
The essence of worship then is the adoption of an attitude of humility before God. In the Quran, this is expressed by different Arabic words in many verses. Enshrined in each of these words is the concept of Godconsciousness. To worship God means utter prostration of oneself before Him. The Being before whom the act of worship is performed is no tyrant or tormentor but an extremely kind and compassionate Being, to whom we owe limitless blessings. So this expression of lowliness before Him is necessarily tinged with love.
The relation of man to God is the relation of extreme humility with an extremely beloved Being. At the very moment when man is shivering nin awe of God, when his eyes fill with tears at the thought of Him, his best feelings are reserved for his Lord, and he draws closer to God in great attachment. Man, then, finds himself rapt in a love of the greatest poignancy. Though his humility in the presence of God is undoubtedly the result of fear, this fear is not of the kind produced by the sight of a fearful object. It is a feeling which no single word can properly convey. It is a mixed feeling of extreme hope and extreme apprehension. Man is never able to decide which of the two is to be preferred—hope or apprehension. It is a situation of love and fear in which man runs towards the very Being he fears, hoping to receive from Him, His divine blessings. It is a state of mental anguish, yet at the same time it is a state of complete solace.
Thus we learn that prayer is basically a psychological experience rather than an external event. Man, in the last analysis, is a sensitive thinking being: so in its definitive form, prayer in relation to man, is the expression of an inner state rather than of an external happening. The Prophet has clearly stated that, “righteousness is a thing of the heart.” According to the Quran, the essence of worship is to be God-fearing. This finds expression in a Hadith (sayings and deeds of the Prophet of Islam). Once the Prophet observed pointing to his heart, ‘The fear of God lies here.’ (Bukhari).
The relation of man to God is the relation of extreme
humility with an extremely beloved Being.
The Quran states: 'People, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, so that you may become righteous.' (2: 21)
Worship, in terms of external expression means bowing before the Sustainer, while in its inner sense it stands for that deep realization of and strong attachment to God in which man is so involved that he can experience the very presence of God. The Prophet is reported to have said, “Pray to God as if you are seeing Him.” (Mishkat). According to this saying, the most sublime form of worship is that in which the worshipper is so lost in thoughts of God that he finds himself very close to Him. His apprehension of the divine presence should be as keen as if God were actually seeing him. This state of psychological proximity is the most sublime state of prayer.
All rites of worship are aimed at arriving at that state. The postures to be adopted in the performance of these rites are ordained by God Himself. Anyone who asserts that it is possible to pray to God independently of these God-ordained rites, is making a false claim. Without performing these rites, no one can become a worshipper in the real sense of the word. Although man is another name for that particular soul which is not visible to us, it is also a fact that man’s existence cannot be conceived of in this world without a human body. Similarly, worship may be a psychological reality, but it cannot be conceived of without external God ordained religious rites.
Although the word ‘worship’ covers the entire Shariah, in the sense that it embraces whatever man does to follow God’s commandments and to seek His pleasure, it is his adoration for God which provides the stimulus for all of his actions. Basically and primarily, worship denotes this particular relationship between man and God. When a man is offering salat (prayer) he is directly engaged in the worship of God. He bows before the Almighty Who has no equal. Whereas, when he obeys God’s commandments relating to moral and social dealings with his fellowmen, he fulfils his duties in relation to his fellowmen. From the point of view of performance, these requirements are as obligatory as particular acts of worship. But the difference in nature between the two must be kept in view, for otherwise the true concept of religion cannot be properly understood. While human duties are always contingent upon circumstances, religious duties are absolute.
The most sublime form of worship is that in which the worshipper is so
lost in thoughts of God that he finds himself very close to Him.
Let us take an example to clarify the above statement. According to God’s law, it is the duty of a Muslim to distribute to certain entitled people whatever he receives in inheritance. This however does not mean that everyone must strive to acquire property so that this religious obligation may be fulfilled. It means rather that if a Muslim should receive an inheritance—some property or wealth—his faith demands that he deals with it according to the commandment regarding inheritance. It is a duty which is obligatory only on having inherited something, far from it being incumbent on every individual in an absolute sense, as worship is.
This explanation of worship makes it clear that the relationship of love and fear of God is not just to serve as an “incentive” in practical life, but is rather the actual goal that we must strive to achieve in this world. All our acts have one aim—to become the means to the psychological discovery which is known as ‘entering into a relationship with God’ and ‘reaching God.’ That is to say that the relation between God and man is not just one of supposition (e.g. if we repeat certain words and actions, God in heaven will be pleased with us). Far and beyond this there is a direct link between God and man. This attitude of adoring servitude, in its external form, is obedience to God’s commandments, but its inner reality means carrying man to the point where he can ‘meet’ God, where he may whisper to his Lord, where he may cry and break down in His presence, where he may feel that he is prostrate at the feet of his Creator. To find God thus in this life is the highest and most sublime reality of religion. The aim of all rites and commandments of religion is to raise man to this level. One who finds God thus in this world, will surely find Him in the next world; one who has failed to find Him on earth should not expect to find Him in the world hereafter.
What are the signs of having found this spiritual wealth? One of the signs is that man begins to receive divine provision (THE QURAN 20: 131). In complying with God’s commandments, whatever one does is apparently a matter of one's own choice: one may or may not carry them out. But during the performance of these acts, or rites of worship, one experiences particular inner feelings which are not a matter of one’s own choice, that is, one cannot produce them on one’s own.
Although worship is a psychological reality, it cannot be
conceived of without external God ordained religious rites.
Then where do these inner feelings come from? These actually come from God. This is ‘food’ for the believer without which his spiritual personality cannot not be developed. It is like the divine provision which Mary received directly from God when living in the care of the Prophet Zakariya (THE QURAN 3: 37). When one observes a religious practice, one becomes aware of a special kind of feeling. This feeling is a reward from God for good deeds. The believer receives it the very moment he makes himself deserving of it.
When our Lord accepts any of our deeds, we surprisingly experience spiritual feelings within ourselves. This is the introduction to Paradise that God has promised to righteous believers. It is the fragrance of the Garden of Paradise which believers find in this world. Although these inner feelings take the form of a spiritual anguish, they are more piquant by far than anything in this world. They cannot be compared with worldly delights. Intuition tells us that these inner feelings are reflections of that superior, divine reward which is called Heaven. It is said, therefore, in the Quran that the Heaven into which the believers will enter in the Hereafter will be a “known provision”(37: 41) to them. It will not be a thing unknown, but a thing with which they were already acquainted in the life of this world:
He will admit them to Paradise He has made known to them. (THE QURAN 47: 6)
The Prophet has said, “The man who goes to Heaven will recognise his home even better than he recognised his house on earth.” (Bukhari).
When men give charity “with their hearts filled with awe…” (23: 60); when they are able to recite the Quran in such a way that their eyes are “filled with tears” (5: 83); when, while intensely remembering God, they “forsake their beds to pray to their Lord in fear and hope” (32: 16); when they experience such painful moments as realising the truth of what is stated in the Quran: “…and the love of God is stronger in the faithful” (2: 165); when they have the most sublime spiritual experiences; when some hidden truths are unveiled before them; when, with restless hearts and quivering lips, they call their Lord with such inspired words as had never before come to their lips, then they are actually receiving divine provision from their Lord. They are tasting one of the many fruits that their Lord has reserved for them.
In this world these fruits take the form of spiritual experiences; in the next world they will take the form of heavenly rewards. Then the faithful will feel that these are the very things of which they had been given a foretaste on earth: “Whenever they are given fruit to eat, they will say: ‘This is what we were given before,’ for they shall be given the like.” (2: 25) What the people of Paradise are going to receive in the life hereafter has already been introduced to them in the life they left behind. How foolish it would be if they imagined that in the next life they would be introduced to tastes, with which they had been previously unacquainted. Similarly, in this life, if one has not previously passed through phases of feeling closer to God than to all others, how can one expect proximity with God in the Hereafter? Surely, prayer deserves such a great reward as will cool the eyes of the worshippers in the Hereafter. But this reward will be shared only by those who had known in the world such prayers as had been alluded to by the Prophet: “I found the balm of my eyes in worship” (Nasai).
The Heaven into which the believers will enter will not be a thing unknown, but
a thing with which they were already acquainted in the life of this world.
2. In this world in addition to human beings and angels, there is another set of creatures known as jinn. Human beings cannot see them but, in the Quran they have been mentioned in several places. These verses show that among the jinn also there are guided and misguided types.