Salafus-Saaliheen سلف صالحين

Taken from: www.spubs.com article ID: SCL010003


All praise is due to Allaah, Lord of the Worlds and prayers and peace upon His Messenger, Muhammad.

In this lesson we shall try to develop an understanding of some of the characterstics of worship (ibaadah) - which begins in the heart. Thus, this lesson is really dealing with the ‘actions of the heart’ - you should remember what this is from the first lesson.

Ibn Taymiyyah (rh) gave the definition of worship as follows:

"Worship is everything that Allaah loves and is pleased with from the inward and outward sayings and actions."

In other words this is very similar to the complete and comprehensive definition of eemaan that we dealt with in Lesson 1. This lesson will deal with the ‘inward actions of the heart’ which really form the basis of a Muslim’s servitude to Allaah.

As usual we shall summarise the lesson with a quotation. Today’s quotation should be easy for everyone. It is the first few verses of Surah Faatihah!





So what has this to do with our lecture? Lets take the verses one by one.

1. All Praise is due to Allaah, Lord of all the Worlds.

In this verse we praise Allaah, who is the Rabb. ‘Lord’ is a poor translation for the word ‘rabb’. Rabb means the one who creates everything, sustains everything, owns everything -the one who guides, misguides, gives life, takes life, shapes, fashions, sends down the rain etc… It means that Allaah has complete power over everything. When we understand this, we come to know, that it is Allaah who created us as individuals, gave us life, provided us with shelter in our mother’s wombs and outside of them. Granted us parents who looked after us and provided us with whatever we needed, whether that was food, drink or even emotions. That Allaah bestowed upon us many favours and gave us wealth, clothes etc…That Allaah is continuously bestowing each of us many favours and that His favours cannot even be enumerated. Every single breath that one of us takes, is a favour from him etc… On top of that in times of distress, He gives us ease, in times of poverty He gives us wealth, in times of sickness He grants us health, in times of hunger, He gives us to eat etc… So all of this, when a Muslim reflects over this and thinks about it carefully, should bring about a state of the heart, which we describe as ‘Love’. Our hearts develop ‘love’ for Allaah due to all these things, that He is our Creator, Fashioner, Provider, Sustainer, Protector, Guider, Healer etc…

From another point of view, we see that in this verse we begin with declaring that all praise is rightfully due to Allaah. The scholars of the Salaf (Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn Uthaimeen and others etc.) explain that Allaah is praised on account of his Most Beatiful Names and His Attributes. In other words when we know that Allaah is ar-Razzaaq (the Provider), ash-Shaafi’ (the Healer) al-Khaaliq (the Creator), al-Haadee (the Guider) etc. then our hearts develop ‘love’ for Him. Likewise when we know Allaah’s Attributes we come to know more about Him and therefore our hearts develop a greater love of Him. So the fact that the verse contains praise of Allaah, this should in turn remind us that He is praised on account of His Names and Attributes, because they indicate his perfection and freedom from any defects. And this in turn causes love in the hearts to develop.

From yet another point of view, the Name of Allaah, which is ‘Allaah’ has been mentioned in the verse. And this in itself gives indicates all the other names of Allaah. So we say, ar-Rahmaan is a name of Allaah, and ar-Razzaaq is a name of Allaah and al-Quddoos is a name of Allaah. So when we say Allaah, it is inclusive of all the other names of Allaah. But this is not the case if we say ar-Rahmaan. This does not include all the other names, likewise as-Salaam or al-Muhaimin, or ar-Raheem. These are individual names and they in themselves, don’t represent the other names. For example, the name ‘Allaah’ is inclusive of the meanings of all those other names, but the meaning of al-Aleem is not the same as the meaning of as-Samee’ or al-Baseer etc. [Refer to Ibn Uthaimeen in al-Qawaa’id ul-Muthlaa]. Therefore the fact that Allaah is mentioned in this verse, it reminds us of all His Names, those which He revealed and those which He did not. And again, when we think of this, our hearts develop ‘love’ of Him.

Some verses mentioning the love aspect of worship:



And of mankind are some who take (for worship) others besides Allâh as rivals (to Allâh). They love them as they love Allâh. But those who believe, love Allâh more (than anything else). If only, those who do wrong could see, when they will see the torment, that all power belongs to Allâh and that Allâh is Severe in punishment. [Baqarah 2:125]

O you who believe! Whoever from among you turns back from his religion (Islâm), Allâh will bring a people whom He will love and they will love Him… [Maa’idah 5:54]

And the well known hadeeth:

"There are three qualities, whoever possesses them will taste the sweetness of eemaan… … that he loves Allaah and the Messenger over everything else…"


2. The Vast in Mercy (ar-Rahmaan), Ever-Merciful (to His Believing Servants)

The word ‘ar-Rahmaan’ is such in the arabic language that it denotes an overflowing quality. In other words it shows that Allaah is vast and overflowing in His Mercy, or that He is the Most-Merciful and that His mercy comprehends and envelopes everything. As the Angels say:

O our Lord, You have encompassed everything with Your knowledge and mercy… [Ghaafir 40:7]

The word ‘ar-Raheem’ means one who constantly bestows mercy, is always being merciful in His actions.

The first of the two names ‘ar-Rahmaan’ is general for the whole of creation. In other words Allaah gives blessings and shows mercy to the disbelievers and the hypocrites etc. since He gives them food, drink, saves them from harm and other such things. So this is general for the whole of creation. The second of the two refers only to the Believers, those whom Allaah favours with knowledge, guidance, forgiveness, eemaan etc.

This verse contains the element of hope in the sense that we hope in Allaah, either for our worldly needs and more importantly for the needs with respect to the religion and the hereafter. So when we come to know of these two names of Allaah it produces the feelings of hope in our hearts. That is we hope that Allaah grants us mercy, forgives us, turns to us, guides us, increases in knowledge and faith. And also we hope that He provides for us, sustains us, protects us, etc.


3. Master/King of the Day of Judgement

It is clear why this verse is linked to and produces fear in the hearts. This reminds us of the terrors of the day of Judgement, the various events that will take place such as being held to account, standing in front of Allaah with Hellfire to the right and left, being presented with the scrolls, either in the right hand, the left hand or behind our backs, when we will be tested to see if we can prostrate when Allaah reveals His Shin, the crossing over the bridge, the settling of the accounts and disputes that occurred amongst the believers - those who manage to get over the other side of the bridge, the fact that everything we have done will be laid out in front of us to see - and all the other things which are too numerous to mention.

So this no doubt, will inculcate fear in our hearts, fear of Allaah’s anger, His punishment, His rejection of our actions and our worship etc.

Now we are aware of the foundations of worship, or the characteristic features of worship - love, hope and fear. We shall now make some additional points to give us a better understanding of this topic.



POINT 1 : Combining Hope and Fear
We have been requested to combine both hope and fear, in our worship and prayers and all other actions. Allaah said:

And call upon Him out of fear and hope [A’raaf 7:56]

Their sides forsake their beds, to invoke their Lord in fear and hope [Sajdah 32:16]

So we have been requested to combine both these qualities. In other words - for example -when we make supplication, we hope that Allaah answers our prayers and we fear that it might be rejected. Doing this protects from two things - despairing of Allaah’s Mercy, and not being too confident or arrogant that somehow Allaah will and must respond.

In fact the above two verses and others like them can be understood and linked to verses such as the following:

Declare (O Muhammad SAW) unto My slaves, that truly, I am the Oft-Forgiving, the Most-Merciful. And that My Torment is indeed the most painful torment. [Hijr 15:49-50]

The Forgiver of sin, the Acceptor of repentance, the Severe in punishment, Extensive (in His Favour, Grasp, Power) [Ghaafir 40:3]

See how Allaah mentioned His mercy along with His punishment? He did not mention mercy alone - but He coupled it with His punishment and likewise He did not mention punishment alone but coupled it with His mercy. This shows that we should worship Allaah with both of these states...

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