Du`a – Essence of `Ibadat Part One - `Ibadat (Worship)
`Ibadat (Worship)
Tags: `Ibadat, Love, Hope, Fear
The first condition of `ibadat (worship), du`a (prayer) and dhikr (remembrance) is ikhlas (purity), which has been discussed in previous chapter. Thus “Iyyaka na`budu = You alone we worship” means: We worship You with purity, free from the dirt of idolatry of thoughts. In short, the way of doing `arifanah `ibadat is taught in this verse, so that every mu'min may gradually reach the highest stage of `ibadat and ma`rifat. However, the question now arises: What is the means through which ikhlas or purity of a mu'min may progress to such an extent that, during `ibadat, there remains in his heart nothing but attention towards God and everything else is forgotten? The answer is that God has created two means to make a human being's headstrong carnal soul follow and obey his intellect: one is fear and the other is hope, as mentioned in the definition of faith (iman): “al-imanu bayna'l-khawfi wa'r-raja' (faith lies between fear and hope)”. Just as horror and hatred are hidden in the meaning of fear, affection and love are hidden in the meaning of hope. Thus, in a Qur'anic example of fear, it is explained that the headstrong human nafs becomes frightened and starts to work according to the suggestions of the `aql and how, as a result, the practical ikhlas (sincerity) of a human being rejects the worldly desires of the nafs, and his heart's attention and chain of prayers become strong and unbreakable as long as the fear lasts.
The same is the result of hope, that is, true and ardent love. In fact, mu'mins' ikhlas, which is based on true and ardent love is stronger and more fruitful than the one based on fear. However, a question still remains: What is the means through which true love can be created for God? A satisfactory answer to this most essential and important question is given in the noble Qur'an itself where God says: “Say: (O Muhammad to humankind): If you love Allah, follow me; Allah will love you and forgive your sins. Allah is Forgiving, Merciful” (3:31).
This shows that God does not love those who are trying to love God on their own without following and loving the Prophet. However, when they start to follow and love the Prophet, God also starts to love them and as a result forgives all their sins in this life, so that they may be purified to such an extent that pure love for God may manifest from them. Thus, it is evident that the means of true love for God is to follow and to love the holy Prophet Muhammad(s).
Now, if someone asks: “What is the means of truly following the holy Prophet, according to the Qur'an?” The answer is that the only means of following him is love and friendship of his relatives, as God says, “Say (O Muhammad unto humankind): I ask of you no reward for it (for conveying the message of God), save friendship for [my] relatives” (42:23).
According to this verse, although the friendship of the Prophet's relatives is an obligation upon every religious person, we have to reflect in the light of intellect and wisdom that it is not something that has been forcefully enjoined upon a group or an individual as a fee for conveying the message, or that one should accept it without knowing about its reality and benefit and expect that this friendship is what God and His Prophet like. Rather, this friendship is such that the reality of their spiritual closeness to the Prophet and their luminous relationship to him must be understood from the very beginning of his mission. For the relationship of `Ali, Fatimah, Hasan and Husayn and their pure progeny, the true Imams, to the Prophet is not only physical, but more so and on a higher level it is luminous and spiritual.
Thus the love and friendship of the luminous relatives of the Prophet mean that they must be obeyed and followed after God and the Prophet. For, to love the higher ranks of religion means to obey them. Those higher ranks love and befriend mu'mins in the sense of guiding them and having mercy on them. Thus one of the meanings of verse (3:31) is: “Say (O Muhammad unto humankind): If you (think that you) love God then (the correct form of loving God is that you should) follow me. (As the result of that) God will love you, (and His love and friendship means) that He will forgive you all your sins.”
It is evident that mu'mins can love and befriend God, the Prophet and his relatives in the form of [their] obedience. Thus, the means of loving the Prophet is to love his relatives and the means of loving God is to love His Prophet. The love for God has the miraculous effect that it helps mu'mins to do His `ibadat in a true sense. It is this true love for God, which is the source of hope and sincerity. It is this love due to which the attention of their hearts remains focused on God, as there is spiritual happiness and luminous peace of a higher kind in this kind of `ibadat.
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