Pillars of Ibadah (Worship)

As worship was the sole reason for our creation. It is important for us to make sure that all our are acts of worship are performed in a correct manner. In order for an act of worship to be complete it must contain three vital elements:

1) Fear – which repels a person from those things that anger Allah.

2) Hope – which causes a person to anticipate the mercy of Allah.

3) Love – causes the hearts to be content with the commands and prohibitions of Allah.

So these three are the pillars of Ibadah (worship). 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 the aspect of worship.

This can be seen through contemplation of Surat Al-Fatihah.

First ayah: “All Praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds” (1:1)

We praise him for his favours he bestows upon us, his kindness and good treatment. So this necessitates that we have Love for Allah.

Second Ayah: “The Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy” (1:2)

Allah is the Most merciful, the Bestower of Mercy. So we hope that Allah has mercy upon us.

Third ayah: “Master of the Day of Judgement ” (1:3)

This contains intimidation and fear from the day of ressurection, and the verdict we may face due to our evil actions.

So if someone observes only one of them he is astray. Whoever worships Allah with love only, resembles the soofiyah, who say ‘we don’t worship Allah fearing the fire, or hoping in his mercy we only worship him because we love him. ‘ This is a clear error as the messengers and angels (the best of creation), fear Allah and place hope in him.

“Verily, they used to hasten to do good deeds, and they used to call on us with hope and fear, and used to humble theselves before us” (21:90)

“those whom they call upon (besides Allah) desire (for themselves) means of access to their lord, as to which of them should be the nearest. And they hope in his mercy and fear his punishment” (17:57)

Whoever worships Allah upon Hope only, resembles the murj’ah, those who depend on hope only, not fearing their sins and disobedience.

Whoever worships Allah upon fear only resembles the khawarij, those who adhere to the texts of threat only, and abandon the texts of the promise, forgiveness and mercy.

After these three verses, the next ayah is:

“You alone we worship, and your aid do we seek” (1:4)

‘You alone do we worship’, so we worship Allah with these three, love, Hope and fear. Because al-Ibadah is not actualised without these three. So these are the pillars of worship, love, Hope, and fear. And directing these to other than Allah is shirk.

[Source: Some of the Benefits of Surat Al-Fatihah, by Skaykhul-Islam Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahaab. Explained by Skaykh Saalih Ibn Fawzan al Fawzan. Publisher: Troid]

Conditions of Ibadah (Worship)

We have been created for one purpose, and one purpose only, and that is to worship Allah alone. So we need to be sure it is correct.

For worship to be correct, it has to fulfill two conditions:

1) It has to be sincerely for the sake of Allah

Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said:

“the reward of actions depends upon the intentions, and every person will have the reward for that which he has intended. Thus, he who’s migration was for Allah and his messenger, his migration was for Allah and his messenger, and he whose migration was for some worldy benefit or take the hand of a woman in marriage, his migration was for that which he migrated” (Bukhari, Muslim)

So every action has an intention, so you will only get the reward according to what your intention was. So if you did it for other than the sake of Allah it will be rejected. So it has to be in agreement with ‘la ilaha ilaAllah’ (there’s non worthy of worship except Allah)

2) It has to be in accordance with the Sunnah of Allahs Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wasallam)

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wassalam) said:

“whoever innovates into this affair of ours that which is not from it shall have it rejected. ” (Bukhari and Muslim).

in another narration of Muslim:

” whoever does an action that is not from this affair of ours will have it rejected.”

It shouldn’t oppose, add or remove anything from the manner in which the prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) performed it. If it isn’t in accordance with the sunnah of the prophet(sallallahu alayhi wasallam) it will be rejected, even if the individual had a good intention. Due to the testification, ‘Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah’, which entails that one worships Allah only with what the prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam)  prescribed.

Listen to:

http://www.tawheedfirst.com/the-two-conditions-of-worship-abu-hafsah-kashiff-khan/

Pillars of Ibadah (Worship)

As worship was the sole reason for our creation. It is important for us to make sure that all our are acts of worship are performed in a correct manner. In order for an act of worship to be complete it must contain three vital elements:

1) Fear – which repels a person from those things that anger Allah.

2) Hope – which causes a person to anticipate the mercy of Allah.

3) Love – causes the hearts to be content with the commands and prohibitions of Allah.

So these three are the pillars of Ibadah (worship). 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 the aspect of worship.

This can be seen through contemplation of Surat Al-Fatihah.

First ayah: “All Praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds” (1:1)

We praise him for his favours he bestows upon us, his kindness and good treatment. So this necessitates that we have Love for Allah.

Second Ayah: “The Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy” (1:2)

Allah is the Most merciful, the Bestower of Mercy. So we hope that Allah has mercy upon us.

Third ayah: “Master of the Day of Judgement ” (1:3)

This contains intimidation and fear from the day of ressurection, and the verdict we may face due to our evil actions.

So if someone observes only one of them he is astray. Whoever worships Allah with love only, resembles the soofiyah, who say ‘we don’t worship Allah fearing the fire, or hoping in his mercy we only worship him because we love him. ‘ This is a clear error as the messengers and angels (the best of creation), fear Allah and place hope in him.

“Verily, they used to hasten to do good deeds, and they used to call on us with hope and fear, and used to humble theselves before us” (21:90)

“those whom they call upon (besides Allah) desire (for themselves) means of access to their lord, as to which of them should be the nearest. And they hope in his mercy and fear his punishment” (17:57)

Whoever worships Allah upon Hope only, resembles the murj’ah, those who depend on hope only, not fearing their sins and disobedience.

Whoever worships Allah upon fear only resembles the khawarij, those who adhere to the texts of threat only, and abandon the texts of the promise, forgiveness and mercy.

After these three verses, the next ayah is:

“You alone we worship, and your aid do we seek” (1:4)

‘You alone do we worship’, so we worship Allah with these three, love, Hope and fear. Because al-Ibadah is not actualised without these three. So these are the pillars of worship, love, Hope, and fear. And directing these to other than Allah is shirk.

[Source: Some of the Benefits of Surat Al-Fatihah, by Skaykhul-Islam Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahaab. Explained by Skaykh Saalih Ibn Fawzan al Fawzan. Publisher: Troid]

Conditions Of Ibadah (worship)

We have been created for one purpose, and one purpose only, and that is to worship Allah alone. So we need to be sure it is correct.

For worship to be correct, it has to fulfill two conditions:

1) It has to be sincerely for the sake of Allah

Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said:

“the reward of actions depends upon the intentions, and every person will have the reward for that which he has intended. Thus, he who’s migration was for Allah and his messenger, his migration was for Allah and his messenger, and he whose migration was for some worldy benefit or take the hand of a woman in marriage, his migration was for that which he migrated” (Bukhari, Muslim)

So every action has an intention, so you will only get the reward according to what your intention was. So if you did it for other than the sake of Allah it will be rejected. So it has to be in agreement with ‘la ilaha ilaAllah’ (there’s non worthy of worship except Allah)

2) It has to be in accordance with the Sunnah of Allahs Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wasallam)

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wassalam) said:

“whoever innovates into this affair of ours that which is not from it shall have it rejected. ” (Bukhari and Muslim).

in another narration of Muslim:

” whoever does an action that is not from this affair of ours will have it rejected.”

It shouldn’t oppose, add or remove anything from the manner in which the prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) performed it. If it isn’t in accordance with the sunnah of the prophet(sallallahu alayhi wasallam) it will be rejected, even if the individual had a good intention. Due to the testification, ‘Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah’, which entails that one worships Allah only with what the prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam)  prescribed.

Listen to:

http://www.tawheedfirst.com/the-two-conditions-of-worship-abu-hafsah-kashiff-khan/

Definition of Worship

As worship was the reason for which we were created it is important to understand what it is.

“And I did not create the jinn and men except that they should worship me (alone).” (51:56)

‘Worship (ibaadah) is a comprehensive term that brings together everything that Allah  loves and is pleased with, from the sayings and actions, both inward and outward’

This is the definiton given by Ibn Taymiyyah.

We know what Allah loves and is pleased with through the revelation, whereby Allah:

a) praises the action

b) praises the doer of the action

c) orders the action

Likewise for those things that are prohibited:

d) Allah dispraises the action (which shows he loves and is pleased with it’s avoidance)

e) Allah dispraises the doer of an action (showing he loves and is pleased with those who avoid doing the action)

f) Allah forbids the action (which means he loves and is pleased with its avoidance)

So when we see the above in the revealed texts we know it falls under worship, it is whatever Allah loves and is pleased with.

[Source: http://www.tawhidfirst.com/monotheism/articles/phcgo-the-definition-pillars-and-conditions-of-worship.cfm]