Quran Garden

Session 18, Chapter 1, Verse 5, A continuation

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ

You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help.  (Chapter 1: Verse 5)

Please take a moment to consider your goals in life and how to achieve them.  If you want to succeed in your exams, you must study.  The thought of succeeding, which is your goal, was present in your mind first, and that motivated you to study.  Likewise, if you want to spend a weekend in New York City, you may start by buying a plane ticket.  The motive behind leaving your house and going to the airport was your desire to travel to New York.

God created us so that we may worship Him, as He clearly states in the following verse:

And I did not create the jinn and the humans except that they may worship Me. 

(51:56)

Therefore, worship is the reason and goal of creation.  But the "goal first and actions later" argument we highlighted earlier does not apply to Allah.  Our Lord is free of need, and no cause or goal rewards Him with benefit or fulfills a desire.  Goals and achievements are meant to motivate us.  Worship pays you dividends and rewards you with vast benefits in this world and the hereafter.  It is the goal that our Creator set for us.  Thus, if you align your goal in life with God's guidance and strive to attain worship at the highest level, you will fulfill your mission and reap the greatest reward of Paradise. 

This brings us to the most critical question: What is the true meaning of worship?  Does it mean sitting in a mosque in prayer and praise all day? Is it fasting every day or performing Hajj multiple times?  No!  Listen to the following Aya,

When your Lord told the angels, 'I am putting a successor on earth,' they said, 'How can You put someone there who will cause damage and bloodshed, when we celebrate Your praise and proclaim Your holiness?' but He said, 'I know what you do not.' (2:30)

Had Allah intended only prayer and praise from us, He wouldn't have given us freedom of choice; instead, He would have compelled us to worship Him like the Angels and other creations.  He says, 

You may perhaps wear out your heart because they do not come to believe.  If We wished, We could send down a sign to them from heaven, before which their heads would be bowed low in subjection.  (26:3-4)

If Allah wanted us to submit to Him by force, no one would have been able to stray from His path.  In fact, God gave us clues to His power of subjugation within our very beings and through events in our lives.  For example, your body performs certain functions without your conscious choice: your heart beats at God's command, your stomach digests food, and your kidneys filter blood, all while you're unaware.  Likewise, you are compelled by circumstances that befall you in life.  You cannot stop a sickness that might weaken or disable you, a car that might crash into you, or many of the matters God decreed in the world.  You have no say in the day of your birth, who your parents are, your looks, height, or skin color. 

On the other hand, when it comes to matters of faith and action, Allah gave you full freedom.  You can think and do as you like.  So we ask again: What is the true meaning of worship?  Does it mean sitting in a mosque in prayer and praise all day? Or is worship a way of life that encompasses all your actions, in your house as you raise your family to be righteous, at your job as you strive for the betterment of life, and to serve those around you? 

We answer that if you choose to turn to your Creator out of love, and exercise your freedom according to His guidance, you would avoid what displeases Him and do as He asks.  Not only do you pray and fast, but you also tell the truth even when lying benefits you more.  You do not engage in gossip even if it makes you popular.  When you make all your life choices based on Allah's guidance, you attain true worship, fulfill the goal of life, and become one of God's servants, not slaves.   

Let me explain the difference between the two.  We are all slaves of God in that we are compelled to do certain things in life, whether we choose to or not.  For example, we did not choose to come to life, and we do not choose our time and place of death. 

On the other hand, God's faithful servants are those who willingly exercise their freedom of choice according to His teachings.  Now, every aspect of their lives —the parts they control and those they don't —perfectly aligns with God's guidance.  Listen to the following Ayat,

The servants of the Lord of Mercy are those who walk humbly on the earth, and who, when the ignorant address them, reply, 'Peace.' Those who spend the night for their Lord, prostrating and standing.  And those who supplicate: 'Our Lord, turn away from us the suffering of Hell, for it is a dreadful torment to suffer!  It is an evil home and a foul resting place!" Those who, when spending, are neither wasteful nor miserly, but keep to a just balance.  They are those who never invoke any other deity besides God, nor take a life, which God has made sacred, except in the pursuit of justice; nor commit adultery, and whoever does these things will face the due penalties. (25:63 to 68)

Listen to the wonderful reward for God's servants,

When My servants ask you about Me, I am indeed nearmost.  I answer the supplicant's call when he calls Me.  So let them respond to Me, and let them have faith in Me, so that they may fare rightly.  (2:186)

God describes the true believers in the previous verses and refers to them as "servants." But when He addresses the entire humankind, He refers to them as "slaves" as the following verse illustrates,

That is on account of what you did.  And your Lord is not tyrannical to the slaves. 

(3:182)

As you read the Quran, you will come across one verse that seemingly deviates from this rule.  Listen to this Aya,

On the Day when the unbelievers and whatever they had been worshipping besides God will be resurrected, He will ask the idols, "Did you mislead My servants or did they themselves go astray from the right path?" (25:17)

This verse talks about the sinners and the misguided, yet it describes them as "servants." Why?  We answer that the events in this verse occur in the hereafter, where all of mankind will be servants of God, because on that Day everyone will be compelled to obey God in all aspects.  Our freedom of choice ends at the time of death, and at that moment, we all become servants of God.

Here we should take a moment to recognize the high honor and status that Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, attained with the Lord.  The Prophet perfected worship and mindfulness in all aspects of his life, as God desires of all of us.  And, when you recall that worship is the reason for creation, you realize that Prophet Muhammad embodied humanity's potential, and understand why the Prophet attained the highest status and honor in the sight of our Creator.

God wants to relieve you from the humiliation of need in this world.  In the verse "You alone we worship and from you alone we seek help," God paired His worship with seeking help from Him.  This is because, when you seek support from anyone besides Allah, you are relying on someone limited by human nature, regardless of their current power and affluence.  We live in a world where circumstances change in a matter of moments.  The powerful can lose control in a day, and wealth vanishes in minutes.  More importantly, any person you seek support from can be overtaken by death. 

The only way you can rise above this uncertainty is to seek help from the All-Living Who does not die, the All-Powerful Who does not weaken, and the All-Knowing Who has your best interest first and foremost.  That is the only way you can attain true honor and strength.  Sadly, more often than not, people gain power and influence by exploiting and transgressing the rights of others.  This often puts the believer in conflict with those who hold power.  In the struggle between right and wrong, where the odds look stacked high against the believer, God guides you to seek Him so He can be your protector and pillar of support.  

Please, do not misunderstand relying on God and seeking His help with laziness and inaction.  Seeking Allah means that you should always do your best and exhaust all means available to you.  But, if all fails, you do not despair because you have faith in your heart and a Lord supporting and rewarding you for your patience and effort.