The Kinds of Worship

Imam Sadiq (as) says: 
العُبَّادُ ثَلاَثَةٌ: قَوْمٌ عَبَدُوا اللَهَ خَوْفاً فَتِلْكَ عِبَادَةُ العَبِيدِ. وَقَوْمٌ عَبَدُوا اللَهَ طَمَعاً فَتِلْكَ عِبَادَةُ الاُجَرَاءِ. وَقَوْمٌ عَبَدُوا اللَهَ حُبّاً فَتِلْكَ عِبَادَةُ الاَحْرَارِ
The servants are of three kinds: a group worship God for fear, and that is the worship of slaves; another group worship God for the sake of greed, and that is the worship of merchants; yet there is another group that worships God for the sake of His love, and that is the worship of freemen. 

Careful reflection over these words will show that the worship of the first two groups is not real worship, because their worship is not of God and for the sake of God but derives from their egoism and self‑worship. In reality they have worshipped themselves, not God, the Exalted, for the motives behind their worship are their self‑seeking appetites and attachments. And since self‑worship is not consistent with the worship of God, therefore, at first sight, this group are unbelievers in God and His Divinity. However, as the Noble Qur'an explicitly describes God‑worship as being innate to the human being, it has negated any kind of change and alteration in creation:

فَأَقِمْ وَجْهَكَ لِلدِّينِ حَنِيفًا فِطْرَةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي فَطَرَ النَّاسَ عَلَيْهَا لَا تَبْدِيلَ لِخَلْقِ اللَّهِ ذَلِكَ الدِّينُ الْقَيِّمُ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ

 [So set your face toward religion as a man of pure faith (hand; that is theoriginal creation of God wherewith He originated mankind. There is nochanging the creation of God. That is the right religion, but most people donot know it.] (30:30)

Accordingly, this is not a deviation of man from the path of God‑worship but from the path of tawhid, as they do not consider God to be One in His Act and Attribute and so make others His partners. Accordingly, the Qur'an, throughout, has stood up to affirm the Unity of God and to negate any partner in relation to Him. On this basis, the first two groups consider God as a sharer in their purpose, and while they worship God they do not leave off worshiping themselves, and carry out their acts of worship with a dual purpose and this is shirk (polytheism). In reality these two groups are mushrik (polytheist) in respect of God, the Exalted, which is unforgivable in accordance With express Qur'anic texts:

إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يَغْفِرُ أَن يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَن يَشَاء وَمَن يُشْرِكْ بِاللّهِ فَقَدِ افْتَرَى إِثْمًا عَظِيمًا

[Verily, God does not forgive that anyone should assign partners to Him, yet He forgives anything besides that for anyone He wills.] (4:48)

Accordingly, their worship will never be fruitful or bring them close to God, the Exalted.

As to the third group of persons, who worship God for their love of Him, that is the worship of freemen, and it is mentioned in some traditions

that:

تِلْكَ عِبَادَةُ الكِرَام

[That is the worship of the noble ones.]

This is the real and correct kind of worship which is not attained by anyone except the pure ones of the Divine Threshold:

فَهَذَا مَقَامٌ مَكْنُونٌ لاَ يَمَسُّهُ إلاَّ الْمُطَهَّرُون.

[This is the hidden station, untouched by anyone except the pure ones.]

Love consists of attraction, that is one's being gravitated towards some thing or towards some reality. The third group consists of those who have based their worship on the foundation of love and attraction towards God, and they have no purpose in. view except being drawn towards Him and coming closer to Him. It is the sole attraction towards the Beloved that they feel in themselves which is the motive that drives them towards the Beloved and impels their journey towards His sanctity.

It is mentioned in some traditions that we should worship God, the Exalted, because He is worthy of worship. Obviously, this worthiness does not derive from the Divine Attributes but from the station of His Sacred Being, glorious is His Majesty and great is His station. Accordingly, it means that we must worship God because He is God.

إلَهِي مَا عَبَدْتُكَ خَوْفاً مِنْ نَارِكَ وَلاَ طَمَعاً فِي‌ جَنَّتِكَ، بَلْ   وَجَدْتُكَ أَهْلاً  لِلْعِبَادَةِ فَعَبَدْتك.             

[My God, I did not worship You for the fear of Your hell, nor in the hope of Your paradise. Rather, I found You worthy of worship and so I worshipped You.]

Source: Lubb al Lubab

The Characteristics of the Pious

Hammam was one of the companions of Imam' Ali (A), a very pious and God fearing man. He once asked Imam to explain at length the qualities of pious person. He wanted the explanation to be so graphic and so vivid that he could get the picture of a pious man in his mind's eyes. Imam knew that Hammam had a very tender heart and was disinclined to explain piety in the way that Hammam had requested and evading the subject he replied.

"Hammam! Fear God and do good deeds. Remember that God is always a companion of pious and good people! " But Hammam was not satisfied with this reply and wanted to say something more. He pressed so much and others joined him and seconded his request that Imam reluctantly delivered the following sermon. After praising the Lord and praying Him to bless the Holy Prophet (A) Imam thus, continued the sermon as follows:

"When God created mankind He was not in need of their obedience and prayers, neither was He nervous of their disobedience. Because, disobedience or insubordination of men cannot harm Him, similar obedience of obedient people cannot do Him any good. He is beyond the reach of harm and benefit. After creating man He decided for hi the variety of food which his body could absorb and assimilate, and the places which were congenial for him to live and to propagate. Among these human beings excellent are those who are pious and who fear God.”

"They possess pre-eminence and excellence because they always speak truthfully, rightly and to the point, their way of living is based upon moderation, and their mode of dealing with other men is founded on their good will, fellow feeling and courtesy towards them. They deny themselves the things prohibited by God. They concentrate their minds upon knowledge of things which will bring them eternal bliss. They bear hardships and sufferings as happily as they enjoy comforts and pleasures. If God had not fixed the span of life for each one of them, their souls in desire of attaining His Heaven and out of fear of falling into His displeasure, would not have stayed in their bodies for long."

"They have visualized mentally the glory of God in such a way that beyond him nothing in this world alarms, frightens or awes them. Everything other than His might appears to them as insignificant and humble. They believe in the Heaven and its blessings like a person who has been there and has actually seen everything of the Heaven with his own eyes. Similarly, their faith in the Hell and its torments is as strong as that of a person who had passed through its sufferings. They feel that the tortures of the Hell are around them and very near to them.”

"The ways of worldly people make them sorry. They harm nobody. They do not indulge in excessive eating and pleasure seeking. Their wants are limited. Their wishes are few. They have accepted patiently sufferings and adversities in this mortal and transitory life for the sake of eternal bliss which by the grace of God proved for them a very profitable transaction. The vicious world desired their fellowship but they turned their faces away from it. It wanted to snare them, but they willingly accepted every trouble and discomfort to free themselves from its clutches.”

“Their nights they spend in carefully studying the Quran, because, of their weaknesses and short-comings, and try to find ways from this Holy book for improvements of their minds. In the study of the Quran when they came across a passage describing the Heaven they feel highly attracted towards it and develop such a keen desire to reach it; that the Heaven with all its blessings is visualized by their minds, while a passage about the Hell frightens them and makes them feel as if they are seeing and hearing the raging fire and the groans and lamentations of those who are suffering the tortures of the Hell.”

"Nights they spend in praying before the Lord and requesting and beseeching Him to deliver them from the Hell. Days find them occupied with such works that clearly indicate their wisdom, depth of knowledge, virtuousness, and piety. Constant fasting, simple diet: avoidance of every aspect of luxury and regular hard work make them look lean and haggard, but they possess very sound and robust health. When people hear them  discussing various problems of life they often take them to be whimsical fanatic or even half-witted. But it is not so, they are not satisfied with the quality and quantity of the work done by them in the cause of religion and humanity .The more they work the less they feel satisfied. Having set up a very high standard of efficiency for their work they fell nervous that indolence may not make it impossible for them to attain those heights.”

"If anyone of them is praised for piety, virtuousness and the good deeds done by him, he does not like to be so complimented; he is afraid that such praise may not allure him towards vanity, self flattery, and self glorification. He says, I know my mind and my work more than others, and God knows much more than me. O Lord! Please do not hold me responsible for what they have said about me. You know very well that I did not instigate them for such praises. Please Lord! Grant me excellence far greater than what they complimented me for. And Lord! Please forgive those of my sins short-comings which they do not know.”

"You will find every pious person possessing the following attributes. He is resolute though tender-hearted and kind. He is unwavering in his convictions and beliefs. He is thirsty for knowledge. He forgives those who harmed him, fully knowing that they have wronged him. Even when owning wealth his ways of life are based upon moderation. His prayers are models of humility and submissiveness to God. Even when starving he will maintain his self-respect. He will bear sufferings patiently.”

“He will resort only to honest means of living. Leading others towards truth and justice, will give him pleasure. He disdains avarice and greed. Though he does good deeds all the time, yet he feels nervous of his short-comings. Every night, he thanks God for having passed one more day under His Grace and Mercy. Every morning finds him starting the day with the prayers of the Lord. Of nights he is cautious that he may not carelessly waste those hours in comfort and ease. He starts his days happy with the thought the Lord has given him another day to do his duty.”

“If his mind wishes for something unholy and impious he refuses to obey its dictates. He desires to achieve eternal bliss. Worldly pleasures do not interest him. His wisdom is mixed with patience. His deeds reciprocate his words (he does what he says). Inordinate desires do not trouble him. He has few defects in him. He is courteous to others. He possesses a contended mind. He eats little, he does not harm anybody. He is easy to be pleased. He is strong in his faith. His passions are dead. His temper is controlled.”

"People expect good out of him and consider themselves immune from his harm. Even if he is found among godless people his name will be written in the list of Godly persons. If he is in company of those who always remember God, naturally his name will not be included amongst those who forget Him. He forgives those who harm him. He helps those who have forsaken him and have refused to help him. He is kind to those who have been cruel to him. He does good to those who do evil to him. He never indulges in loose talks. He has no vice in him, and his good qualities are outstanding, noticeable, and prominent, when facing dangers and disasters he is calm and undisturbed. In sufferings and calamities he is patient and hopeful. In prosperity he is thankful to God. He would not harm his worst enemy. He will never commit a sin even for the sake of his best friend.”

"Before anybody has to bear testimony to his fault he accepts and owns it. He never misappropriates anything entrusted to him. He never forgets what he has been told. He does not slander anybody. He does not harm his neighbors. When misfortunes befall any person he does not blame him, neither is he happy at the losses of others. He neither goes astray from the right path nor follows a wrong one. His silence does not indicate,. his moroseness nor his laughters are loud and boisterous. He bears persecution patiently and God punishes his oppressor. He is hard to himself and very lenient to others. He bears hardships in this life to attain eternal comfort and peace. He never wrongs a fellow being. If he avoids anybody it is to retain his piety and uprightness. If he forms contract with anybody it is on account of his kindness and clemency. He does not avoid anybody because of his pride and vanity, and he does not mix with others with ulterior motives of hypocrisy, pretense, and vile."

source: Nahjul Balagha; Sermon 193

When You Are In Prayer

Remember:

Then the right of your ritual prayer is that you should know that it is an arrival at the threshold of God and that through it you are standing before God. And when you realize that, then you will stand in the station of him who is lowly, vile, beseeching, trembling, hopeful, fearful, and abased, and you will magnify Him who is before you through stillness, and bowing of the head , and humbleness of the limbs, and yielding of the wing , and by saying the best supplications to him by yourself and beseeching Him to save you from the responsibilities which rest on your shoulders-surrounded by your faults and exhausted by your sins. And there is no power but in God. From the Treatise on Rights by Imam Sajjad (as)

It is stated in Misbahush-Sharu'ah that Imam as-Sadiq  said: "By Allah he will not be a loser the one who performs the sujud as it really should be, even if for a single time in his life. No one will be successful if he takes to privacy with his Lord, in a similar position, resembling the deceiver of himself, unaware of; and neglecting, what Allah has arranged for the sajidin (the prostrate worshippers) of immediate intimacy and adjourned comfort. The one who is good at approaching (Allah) in the sujud, will never be far from Him, whereas the one who observes not the discipline of; and loses the respect for, the sujud, can never be near Him by longing for other than Him in his sujud. So, let yours be the sujud of a submissive and humble to Allah, the Exalted, knowing that he has been created from the dust which is trodden upon by the creatures, and that He has made you of a nutfah (semen) which is regarded filthy by everybody, and was brought into existence though not existed before. The concept of the sujud has been made by Allah, the Exalted, a cause for getting near Him with the heart, the inside and the spirit. So, whoever nears Him turns away from other than Him. Do you not realize that, in the external form, the position of the sujud is not complete except by hiding oneself from everything, and turning away from all things visible to the eyes? Similar is the question of the internal position. Whoever his heart is attracted, during the salat, to other than Allah,the Exalted, he will be near to that which attracted him, and far from the reality of that which Allah wanted him to be in his salat. Allah, the Exalted, says: `Allah has not made for any man two hearts within him,' and the Messenger of Allah  said that Allah, the Exalted, told him: `Whenever I look into the heart of a servant and find in it his love to be sincere in obeying Me for My sake and for obtaining My pleasure, I undertake setting him aright and managing his affairs. But whoever is indulged in other than Me, he is among those who mock themselves, and his name is registered in the Book of the Losers."' From Adabus Salat

The Final Analysis

I have come across this poem a number of times. It is certainly food for thought.


People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; ...Forgive them anyway! 
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; ...Be kind anyway! 
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; ...Succeed anyway! 
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; ...Be honest and frank anyway! 
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; ...Build anyway! 
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; ...Be happy anyway! 
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; ...Do good anyway! 
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; ...Give the world the best you've got anyway! 
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway.

Numbers

So many issues in our lives are governed by and gravitate around numbers. Our age, the digits of our dream salaries, deadlines, hours, minutes. Closer home, the fourteen lights we aspire to follow on the path of our lives, the number of units in our prayers, the dreams of belonging to, or serving the 313. The mention of numbers is found often in the religious texts, and which can give us some good guidelines on the path of servitude. After attending an enlightening, thought provoking session with some scholars a couple of days ago, I am dedicating this post to a different kind of number, a One which is neither preceded nor followed by any number, and whose unity is  not bound by the confines of numerical limits. Al ‘Ahad.

The Prophet (pbuh) advised his companion Abu Dharr to make use of five things before they are replaced by five things:

·         Youthfulness before old age;

·         Health before sickness;

·         Independence before dependence;

·         Free time before being busy/occupied; and

·         Life before death.

Another related and sobering reminder related to numbers and age: It is said that Satan the accursed strokes the face of one who has reached the age of forty years and has not attained salvation and says: May my father and mother be ransomed for the face that shall never prosper. The Qur’an also gives significance to this number. In a verse in the Qur’an (surah Ahqaaf), the importance of this number in our spiritual dispensation is also mentioned:

وَوَصَّيْنَا الْإِنْسَانَ بِوَالِدَيْهِ إِحْسَانًا ۖ حَمَلَتْهُ أُمُّهُ كُرْهًا وَوَضَعَتْهُ كُرْهًا ۖ وَحَمْلُهُ وَفِصَالُهُ ثَلَاثُونَ شَهْرًا ۚ حَتَّىٰ إِذَا بَلَغَ أَشُدَّهُ وَبَلَغَ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً قَالَ رَبِّ أَوْزِعْنِي أَنْ أَشْكُرَ نِعْمَتَكَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيَّ وَعَلَىٰ وَالِدَيَّ وَأَنْ أَعْمَلَ صَالِحًا تَرْضَاهُ وَأَصْلِحْ لِي فِي ذُرِّيَّتِي ۖ إِنِّي تُبْتُ إِلَيْكَ وَإِنِّي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ

“And We have enjoined on man doing of good to his parents; with trouble did his mother bear him and with trouble did she bring him forth; and the bearing of him and the weaning of him was thirty months; until when he attains his maturity and reaches forty years, he says: My Lord! grant me that I may give thanks for Thy favor which Thou hast bestowed on me and on my parents, and that I may do good which pleases Thee and do good to me in respect of my offspring; surely I turn to Thee, and surely I am of those who submit.”

In another tradition we are told: Verily, a man has an amplitude [of freedom] until forty years; but when he reaches forty, God, the Almighty and Glorious, reveals to His angels, "Verily, I have made My servant come of age, so now be strict and severe with him and record and write down his every action, whether it is a minor one or a major one, and whether his works are abundant or sparse."

Looked at in line with the earlier tradition where we are told to make use of five things before five others, the number forty is only a heartbeat away. If we do not train our selves in servitude today, by the time we get to forty, the habits we have inculcated into our nature will be like the proverbial tree which started as a weak sapling, easy to uproot, but has now become next to impossible to get rid of.

The Prophet (pbuh) has also assured us that whoever dedicates [himself] to God for forty days, God makes springs of wisdom flow from his heart on his tongue. It is also narrated from Imam al Baqir (as) that a servant does not refine his remembrance of God for forty days without God making him detached toward the world and granting him the vision to see its ills and their remedies and establishing wisdom in his heart and making his tongue speak with it. One must then ask themselves, what is dedication to God? Put simply, it is ensuring that every step, every breath, every moment of your day and night is spent in serving Allah (swt) and worshipping Him in the various ways and keeping away from those things, actions, thoughts, words, inactions which are displeasing to Him. How easy is that to achieve given the distractions of this world that we have accustomed ourselves to?

On numbers with societal implications, we are told that everyone's neighborhood extends until forty houses in the four directions. Looked at in light of the rights of one’s neighbor as elaborated in the Treatise of Rights of Imam Sajjad (as) which are that we should protect his interests when he is absent; show him respect when he is present; help him when he is inflicted with any injustice. Do not remain on look-out to detect his faults; and if, by any chance, you happen to know any undesirable thing about him, hide it from others; and, at the same time, try to desist him from improper habits, if there is any chance that he will listen to you. Never leave him alone in any calamity. Forgive him, if he has done any wrong. In short live with him a noble life, based on the highest Islamic ethical code.

The Holy Prophet (S.A.) has also said: “That man is not from me who sleeps contentedly while his neighbor sleeps hungry”.  He also said: “Gabriel always used to advise me to be generous with the neighbors, till I thought that Allah was going to include the neighbours among the heirs of Muslim” Forty neighbours in each direction... do the math.

In all the numbers we deal with in our life, be it the 30 days we observe of Shahr Ramadhan, or the everyday numbers we deal with in business, in keeping tabs on events in our life, or our age, we must remember that all our functions, practices, roles, deeds, words, actions and numbers must be dedicated to ONE purpose: that of knowing and worshipping the One.