Life and Teachings of the Prophet Muhammad
3. The Concept of Worship in Islam
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enslavement) expresses a mixture of extreme humility and extreme
love.” (The Pamphlet on
Ubudiyah
, p. 28) Hafiz Ibn Qayyem also
writes. “There are two components of worship: extreme love and
extreme humility” (
Tafsir ibn Qayyem
, p. 65).
The essence of worship then is to adopt an attitude of lowliness
and humility before God. In the Qur’an, this is expressed by
different words, such as
Khashiyyah, Tadhurru, Ikhbat, Inabat,
Khushu, Khudu
and
Qunut
, etc. To worship God means utter
prostration of oneself before Him. The Being before whom the act
of worship is performed is no tyrant but an extremely kind Being,
to whom we owe limitless blessings. So this expression of lowliness
before Him is tinged with love.
The concept of
Ibadah
entails that one should first realise his
relation to God. The relation of man to God is the relation of the
humblest creature to an extremely beloved Being. Man shivers in
awe of God but, at the same time, he draws closer to Him in great
expectations. For the fear of God is not of the kind produced by
the sight of a fearful object. It is rather a feeling of extreme hope
and extreme apprehension. It is a situation of love and fear in
which man runs towards the very Being he fears, in the hope of
receiving from Him His divine blessings.
According to the Quran, the essence of worship is to be God-
fearing.
