What Worship Really Means

So when the servant recognizes that God is his Lord and his Creator.

And that he is in need of Him and dependent on Him.

He recognizes the servitude related to the Lordship of God.

And this servant asks his Lord, implores Him, and trusts in Him.

But he may obey His command, disobey Him, and yet worship Him.

And he may worship Satan and the idols.

And the example of this servitude does not distinguish between the people of Paradise and the people of Hell.

And by that a man does not become a believer, as God the Exalted said:

Most of them do not believe in Allah; they are polytheists.

The polytheists acknowledged that God was their Creator and Provider, yet they worshipped others besides Him.

And many of those who speak about the truth testify to it.

No one testifies except this reality.

And it is the universal reality in which all participate.

And in its witnesses and in its knowledge are the believer and the disbeliever, the righteous and the wicked.

Rather, Iblis and the people of the Fire acknowledge this reality.

Iblis said, "My Lord, then show me the Day when they will be resurrected."

And he said, My Lord, because You have led me astray, I will surely make what is on the earth appear attractive to them, and I will lead them all astray.

And he said: By Your might, I will surely lead them all astray.

So whoever pauses at this truth and at its witnesses.

And he did not fulfill what God commanded regarding the religious reality.

which is His worship related to His divinity, and obedience to His command and to the command of His Messenger.

He was of the same kind as Iblis and the people of the Fire.

If, even so, he believes that he is among the select friends of God and among the people of knowledge and realization.

Those for whom the religious command and prohibition had ceased to apply were among the most wicked of the people of disbelief and denial.

And whoever believes that the Green One and others besides him were exempted from the command in order to behold the Divine Will and the like.

This statement of his was among the worst sayings of the disbelievers concerning Allah and His Messenger.

until it enters the second sense of the word "slave", which is the sense of "worshipper".

So he becomes a worshipper of God who worships none but Him, and he obeys His command and the command of His messengers.

He befriends his allies, the believers and the God-fearing, and he is hostile to his enemies.

And this worship pertains to the divinity of God, the Exalted.

For this reason, the title of monotheism is "There is no god but Allah", in contrast to one who merely acknowledges His lordship.

and does not worship Him or associate any other god with Him.

God is the One whom the heart deifies with the perfection of love, exaltation, reverence, honor, fear, hope, and the like.

And this worship is what God loves and is pleased with.