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The
Spirit of `Ibadah in Islam*
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By Abul A`la Mawdudi**
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Mar.
9, 2006
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`Ibadah
(act of worship) is an
Arabic word derived from `abd (a
slave) and it means submission. It portrays that God is your Master
and you are His slave and whatever a slave does in obedience to and
for the pleasure of his Master is `ibadah.
The Islamic concept of `ibadah is
very wide.
If
you free your speech from filth, falsehood, malice, and abuse and
speak the truth and talk goodly things and do all these only because
God has so ordained to do, they constitute `ibadah,
however secular they may look in semblance. If you obey the law of
God in letter and spirit in your commercial and economic affairs and
abide by it in your dealings with your parents, relatives, friends,
and all those who come in contact with you, verily all these
activities of yours are `ibadah.
If you help the poor and the destitute, give food to the hungry, and
serve the ailing and the afflicted persons, and do all this not for
any personal gain of yours but only to seek the pleasure of God,
they are nothing short of `ibadah.
Even your economic activities, the activities you undertake to earn
your living and to feed your dependants, are `ibadah
if you remain honest and truthful in them and observe the law of
God.
In
short, all your activities and your entire life are `ibadah
if they are in accordance with the law of God, and your heart is
filled with His fear, and your ultimate objective in undertaking all
theses activities is to seek the pleasure of God.
Thus,
whenever you do good or avoid evil for fear of God, in whatever
sphere of life and field of activity, you are discharging your
Islamic obligations. This is the true significance of `ibadah,
namely total submission to the pleasure of Allah; the molding into
the patterns of Islam your entire life, leaving out not even the
most insignificant part thereof. To help achieve this aim, a set of
formal `ibadat (acts of worship)
has been constituted, which serves as a course of training. These `ibadat
are thus the pillars on which the edifice of Islam rests.
In
the following three parts, sheikh Mawdudi clarifies the sprit of `ibadah
in Islam:
Part
One: The Spirit of Prayer
Part
Two: The Spirit of Fasting & Zakah
Part Three: The Spirit of Hajj
*
Part of the author’s book
Towards Understanding Islam, Chapter 5, “Prayer and Worship.”
**
Abul A`la Mawdudi (1903-1979)
was one of the most eminent Islamic thinkers, reformers, and
scholars of the last century. His thought has spread all over the
world and greatly influenced the work of Islamic da`wah.
His books and articles covered most topics that needed guidance for
the revival of Islam. He also wrote many articles on the critique of
the Western thought and strategy of Islamic da`wah which were
published in the journal he started in 1932 called Tarjuman
al-Qur’an.
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