Comprehensive meaning of Ibadat

SALAH

Brethren-in-Islam!

The real purport of ‘Ibadat’. I have promised to elucidate how can those Ibadat which have been made obligatory in Islam prepare for that big and real Ibadat for which God created jinn and humankind. In this series Salah is the biggest and most important item, and in today’s address I shall speak to you briefly about that only.

Comprehensive meaning of Ibadat

You have come to know the fact that Ibadat min reality denotes servitude and that, being born as a servant of God, you cannot free yourself from His servitude at any time and in any condition.

Just as you cannot say that you are a servant of God for do many hours or so many minutes only, and are not His servant for the rest of the time, in the same way you cannot say that so much time you will spend in His Ibadat and in the remaining period you are free to do whatever you like. You must remember that you are a born slave of God. He has created you for His servitude only. Therefore your whole life should be spent in service to Him and not for a single moment should you be negligent of His Ibadat.

Ibadat dose not mean keeping oneself aloof from the day-to-day work of the world and sitting in a corner chanting “ALLAH”. On the other hand, the real meaning of Ibadat is that whatever you do in this world should be in accordance with the law of God. Your sleep, your wakefulness, your acts of eating and drinking, your moving about, in fact each of your action should be strictly in obedience to the law of God. When you are in your house with your wife and children, brothers and sister and dear relatives, you should behave them just as God has ordered you to behave. When you talk with your friends and amuse yourself, at that time too you must be mindful of the fact that you are not free from being a servant of God. When you go out to earn your livelihood and enter into dealings with the people, there also you must keep in view the commandments of God about each and every point and about each and every deed, and never exceed the limits fixed by God. When darkness of night you feel you can commit a sign which nobody in the world can see, then also you must remember that God is seeing you and it is       He Who deserves to be feared and not the people of the world. When you are going alone in the jungle where you can commit a crime without fear of the police and any witness, there also you must desist from it by remembering God, and discard any possible benefit from the lest God should be displeased. And when by following truth and honesty you apprehend a serious loss, then also you must ungrudgingly bear it simply because by doing so “ALLAH” will be pleased with you. So, abandoning the world and sitting in secluded places and counting beads of rosary is not at all Ibadat. On the other hand, it is Ibadat to be engaged in worldly affaires and yet follow the law of God.   Remembering God dose not mean that “ALLAH” “ALLAH” should be continuously uttered by tongue but the real remembrance of God consists in recalling “ALLAH” to mind even entangled in worldly wrangles and disputes, and to be engaged in pursuits which make one forget God and yet not forget Him. In the life of this world where opportunities abound for breaking the law of God, where temptations of huge profits and fear of heavy damaging lurk, you must unfailingly remember God and remain steadfast in following His law. This is the genuine remembrance of God. The Holy Qur’an has made a reference to this remembrance thus---

“And when the Salah is ended, then disperse in the land and seek  of “ALAH’s bounty (i.e., exert yourself in search of lawful means of sustenance), and remember “ALLAH” profusely, so that ye may gain success and we-being.”

 {(62:10)}

Fundamentals of Islam

Sayed Abul A’la Maudoodi