O you people! Worship your Lord and Sustainer, Who has created you and those [who lived] before you, so that you might remain conscious of Him; ❋ Who has made the earth a resting‑place for you and the sky a canopy, and has sent down water from the sky and thereby brought forth fruits for your sustenance: then set not up rivals to Allah, when you know [the truth]. (Yā ayyuhā al‑nās u‘budū rabbakum alladhī khalaqakum wa alladhīna min qablikum la‘allakum tattaqūn • Alladhī ja‘ala la-kum al-arḍa firāshan wa al-samā’ binā’an wa anzala min al-samā’ mā’an fa-akhraja bi-hi min al-thamarāt rizqan la-kum fa-lā taj‘alū li’llāhi andādan wa antum ta‘lamūn.)
Introduction
You should know that it is worship that instils the tenets of belief [in the believers] making them a very part of their character. For if matters pertaining to the conscience and reason are not nurtured and strengthened by worship, which consists of carrying out Allah’s commands and abstaining from His prohibitions, they remain ineffectual and weak. The present state of the Islamic world testifies to this.
Know too that worship is the cause of happiness in this world and the next, and is a means of ordering life here and there, and a cause of attainment and perfection, both individual and collective. It is an exalted, esteemed relation between Creator and bondsman.
There are several reasons worship is the cause of happiness and prosperity in this world, which is the tillage of the hereafter:
Firstly:
Man has been created with a strange, subtle nature distinguishing him from all other living beings and making him an exception to them. By virtue of this there have arisen in him the desire to choose, and the wish for the most beautiful things and for fine decoration, and a natural desire to have a livelihood and position befitting humanity.
For his food, dress, and accommodation – the need for which arises due to the above‑mentioned desires – to be prepared proficiently man has need of multiple arts and crafts, but he is incapable of practising all of these on his own. He needs therefore to mix with his fellow men and to co-operate with them, and for all of them to assist each other and exchange the fruits of their labour.
However, since so as to allow men’s progress by means of the mainspring of the will the All‑Wise Maker placed no innate limits on the [three] human powers of appetite, anger, and intellect – as with the animals and their limited powers – tyranny and aggression have arisen. And since no limit has been placed on them, the powers [tend to] aggression and the [human] community is in need of justice when exchanging the fruits of its labour.
But because the intellects of single members of society are incapable of comprehending justice, the human race as a whole needs a general or universal intellect [to establish] justice from which all may benefit. And that intellect is the universal law, and that law is the Shari‘a.
Then in order to preserve the effectiveness of the Shari‘a and its enforcement, a lawmaker is necessary, someone to lay claim to it and promulgate it, an authority, and that is the Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace).
Then in order to perpetuate his outward and inward domination over [people’s] minds and hearts the Prophet needs to be eminently superior both physically and spiritually and morally, and in conduct and appearance, and by nature and in character. He is in need too of proof of the strength of his relations with the Lord of All Sovereignty, the Master of the World, and such a proof is his miracles.
Then in order to secure obedience to [its] commands and avoidance of [its] prohibitions he is in need of perpetuating the idea of the Maker’s grandeur, the Master of all Sovereignty, and that is [possible] through the manifestation of the tenets of belief. Then in order to perpetuate this idea and fix the tenets of belief firmly in [people’s] minds, he needs a constantly repeated reminder and renewed act, and that reminder is nothing but worship.
Secondly:
The purpose of worship is to turn minds towards the All‑Wise Maker. And this turning towards induces obedience and submission, and this includes [the worshippers] under the perfect order [in the universe] and binds them to it. To follow this order leads to the realization of the mystery of wisdom, and the wisdom is testified to by the perfect art in the universe.
Thirdly:
Man resembles a pole to the top of which are joined electric cables, for attached to his head are the tips of all the laws of creation; the natural laws extend to him, and the rays of the divine laws and principles in the universe are reflected and centred on him. So man has to complete them and adhere to them and cling on to them to facilitate the general current lest his foot slips and he falls and is crushed under the wheels of the machinery turning in the levels [of the world]. And this is achieved through worship, which consists of conforming to the commands and prohibitions.
Fourthly:
By complying with the commands and prohibitions, numerous connections are formed for a person with the many levels of society, and the individual becomes like a species. For many of the commands, especially those that touch on the marks [of Islam] and the general good, resemble threads to which are tied [people’s] honour and through which their rights are set in order. If it were not for them, all those rights and duties would be torn up and scattered to the wind.
Fifthly:
The Muslim has firm relations with all other Muslims and there are strong bonds between them. By reason of the tenets of belief and [the Muslims’] Islamic traits, these relations give rise to unshakeable brotherhood and true love. And it is worship that makes manifest the tenets of belief and renders them effective, and roots them firmly in the pysche.
How Worship Is the Cause of Personal Attainment and Perfection
Consider this: Together with being physically small, weak, and powerless, and being one of the animals, man bears within him an exalted spirit, and has vast potentiality, unrestricted desires, infinite hopes, uncountable ideas, and unlimited powers, and he has a nature so strange he is as though an index of all the species and all the worlds.
As for worship, it expands his spirit and raises his value;
it causes his abilities to unfold and develop, allowing him to become worthy of eternal happiness.
Worship is also a means of rectifying and purifying his inclinations,
and of realizing his hopes and making them fruitful, and of marshalling his ideas and setting them in order,
and also of reining in and limiting his [three] powers [of appetite, anger, and intellect].
Worship also removes the rust of nature from his members, physical and spiritual, each of which when transparent is like a window onto his private world and that of humankind.
Also, when performed with both conscience and mind and heart and body, worship raises man to the dignity of which he is worthy and to his appointed perfection.
It is a subtle, elevated relation, an illustrious lofty connection between the bondsman and the One Worshipped. This relation constitutes the utmost degree of human perfection.
Sincerity in worship is this, that it is performed only because it is commanded, although it comprises numerous instances of wisdom [and benefits]. Each of these may be a reason (‘illa) for performing worship, but sincerity makes it imperative that the [true] reason be the command to perform it. If the wisdom or benefit is made the reason, the worship is null and void, but if it merely encourages the person to perform the worship, it is permissible.
When those addressed hear the words O you people! Worship‥, they ask through the tongue of disposition: “Why and for what reason? What is the wisdom in it? Why should we? And what for?” You learnt the wisdom in the introduction above; concerning the reason (‘illa), the Qur’an replies with proof of the Maker and His unity with the words: Your Lord and Sustainer who created you… Then with the verse: If you are in doubt about what We have revealed, it proves prophethood.