The subject of ‘ibadah (worship) is a core subject of tawheed (the oneness of Allah), because tawheed revolves around it. Tawheed al-uluhiyah is tawheed al-ibadah; meaning, the slaves act of singling out Allah as the one true god is to single out Allah with worship. Now, just as Tawheed al-uluhiyah is tawheed al-ibadah, the ‘Ibadah is the obedience. This is because the slave’s ‘ibadah of Allah is done through the performance of acts of worship solely through obedience. The obedience of Allah is the worship of Him. When you remove the obedience, you remove the worship. This is why the worship is the obedience.
Allah says,
They will say: Glory be to You! You are our wali (ally, guardian, protector, provider), not they. Rather they used to worship the jinn; most of them believed in them. (34:41)
Commenting on this verse, Imam Al-Sadi said,
(Glory be to You!) that is, we declare You to be Holy and far above having any partner or rival
(You are our wali (ally, guardian, protector, provider), not they) and we are in desperate need of Your protection, so how could we call others to worship us? How could we be fit to be taken as allies and partners besides You?
Rather these polytheists (used to worship the jinn) that is, the devils who instructed them to worship us or to worship others, and they obeyed them in that. Their obedience to them was their worship of them, because worship is obedience, as Allah says, addressing all those who take others as gods besides Him:
‘Did I not instruct you, O children of Adam , that you should not
worship the Shaytan, for he is to you an avowed enemy, and that you
should worship Me, for that is a straight path?)’ (YaSeen 36: 60-61)
(most of them believed in them) that is, they believed in the jinn and submitted to them, because faith is that belief which leads to submitting and following. (Tafsir Al-Sadi, 34:41)
And when talking about the ‘ibadah, ahkam (judgements, orders, commands, rules) are something that cannot be separated because they are the ‘ibadah. ‘Ibadah is everything Allah loves and likes, and He decided and set this with judgements, orders, commands and rules. For example, the prayer is worship and it is a command from Allah. The shahadah, laa ilaha ila Allah, is from the shari’ah of Allah like the prayer. It is a command and an act of worship. It is an act of ‘ibadah like everything else. The love of Allah more than everyone and everything is an act of worship. It is an act of worship Allah commanded. If a slave turns away from the hukm of Allah, which means turning away from the obedience of Allah, he turns away from worshipping Allah. This is why the hukm is the ‘ibadah and the ‘ibadah is the obedience to the hukm of Allah.
If following the legislation of Allah, obeying His commands, is only an act of worship from the acts of worship then we only need to find one act of ‘ibadah not related to the command of Allah, i.e., doing an act of worship without Allah being the one who commands this act of worship. However, if you can not find any act of ‘ibadah without Allah being the one who commands it, then the hukm is the ‘ibadah, and that necessarily means that following other than the hukm of Allah is worship of other than Him.
Allah says,
You worship not besides Him except [mere] names you have named them, you and your fathers, for which Allah has sent down no authority. Al-hukm is not but for Allah. He has commanded that you worship not except Him. That is the correct religion, but most of the people do not know. (12:40)
So, worship is obedience. To give the obedience to Allah is the worship of Him, whereas, shirk al-ta’ah, the shirk of obedience, is giving the obedience to other than Allah.
There are many verses explicitly illustrating that the worship is the obedience, and that giving the obedience to other than the hukm of Allah is shirk.
Allah says,
Or have they partners [i.e., other deities] who have ordained for them a religion to which Allāh has not consented? But if not for the decisive word, it would have been concluded between them. And indeed, the wrongdoers will have a painful punishment. (Ash-Shura: 21)
In the above the verse, Allah speaks about polytheists who had taken partners besides Allah by giving their obedience to them. The verse clearly explains, using the word shara’oo which means (to legislate, make laws) that these partners were legislating laws which Allah had not given permission for. The polytheists had taken these people as partners besides Allah by giving the obedience to their orders over the orders of Allah.
Another verse illustrating this shirk is where Allah says,
They have taken their scholars and monks as lords besides Allāh, and [also] the Messiah, the son of Mary. And they were not commanded except to worship one God; there is no deity except Him. Exalted is He above whatever they associate with Him. (At-Tawbah: 31)
In this verse, Allah tells us about the shirk of the Jews and Christians. Allah states clearly that they took their scholars, their rabbis and monks, as lords (people making laws) besides Allah. They were not worshipping them with ruku’, sujood or du’a. They did not believe they possessed the power to benefit or harm, give life and death or anything for that matter. It was worship with obedience to their commands and prohibitions; the wrong ones, over the commands of Allah. If they were correct, i.e., according to the revelation, it would have been what Allah wanted them to do, but they were the opposite; the wrong ones against the wahi. They were meant to worship Allah by giving the obedience to Him, but they gave the obedience to their rabbis and monks over Allah in the matter of the legislation (orders, commands, rulings).
Again, this shirk is highlighted where Allah says,
And do not eat of that upon which the name of Allāh has not been mentioned, for indeed, it is fisq (a grave disobedience). And indeed do the devils inspire their allies [among men] to dispute with you. And if you were to obey them, indeed, you would be mushrikoon (associators [of others with Him]). (Al-An’am: 121)
In this verse, Allah starts with the prohibition of eating meat not slaughtered in His name stating that it is a sin. The sahabah knew this and they were known as people who stuck to eating halal meat. The verse then moves on to speak about shirk, and eating dead meat is not shirk, so pay attention. That is, Allah speaks about idolators who were loyal supporters of the devils. The devils influenced the idolators to dispute with and question the Muslims about why they ate from what they slaughtered in the name of Allah, but not the dead animals that Allah had caused to die. The Muslims were following the command of Allah in this matter, but the mushrikeen were trying to make the companions of the messenger of Allah think that it made sense to eat what Allah had caused to die because this is Allah who killed it, rather then what they, mere humans, slaughtered in His name. Allah made clear that if the Muslims turned away from obeying Allah’s command which they knew, to obeying the polytheists, i.e., accepting their ruling over the ruling of Allah, giving acceptance and obedience to their ruling over the rule of Allah, they would be doing shirk and they would be polytheists. This is because worship is obedience to commands and giving the obedience to other than Allah’s commands is shirk.
‘Ibadah contains love, fear, hope, humility, submission, glorification/exaltation, the prayer, fasting, helping the oppressed, enjoining the good and other matters. Some are necessary to be a Muslim, and some are not. Some are internal which can only be known by Allah, like love, fear, submission, sincerity, glorification and humility while some are external which can be seen by others, like praying, fasting, enjoining the good and forbidding the evil, helping the oppressed, teaching the good and calling to Allah.
We do not only worship Allah with outward obedience. Some essential ingredients of ’emaan are muhabbah (love), dhul (humility), ta’dhim (glorification/exaltation), khudoo’ (submission) and khawf (fear). ‘Ibadah without love, humility and glorification/exaltation is not real ‘ibadah. A person could obey all of Allah’s orders, but not have submissiveness to Allah in his heart which is not real ‘ibadah. Someone could implement all of the laws of Allah, but without acceptance and humility. This person is not doing real ‘ibadah either. A person performing the salah without love but only fear is not performing real ‘ibadah either. Performing salah without a feeling of love or glorification/exaltation, or doing it with love but without fear or humility, is not ‘ibadah either. If someone loves a person more than Allah, then it’s considered as ‘ibadah for the person they made equal to Allah. If someone has the absolute humility to someone other than Allah even if they don’t love them as they love Allah, they are giving ‘ibadah to other than Allah, because dhul is ‘ibadah that is only for Allah.
When talking about love and humility, people have love for other people and different things, and are humble towards different people. Dhul is the worship of humility which is only allowed to be directed towards Allah, whereas tawaadu’ is the humility that we have with people. Believers are humble towards their parents, the elderly, the believers and other people, and the believers love the prophet, their parents, their children, the Qur’an, the Sunnah, other believers and other things. However, the love and the humility that should be directed to Allah alone is the complete love and the complete humility.
Complete love for Allah means that a servant loves Allah with a love that transcends, goes beyond and rises above, all other types of love, devoting one’s worship to Him alone, fulfilling all that He wants, obeying His commands, avoiding what He forbids, feeling a strong inclination towards Him, and being keen on everything that pleases Him.
The humility which is only for Allah is dhul which is helplessness and weakness before His power and acknowledging ones poverty and inability to do without Him, while simultaneously submitting to and obeying His commands, submitting to Him, being humble and accepting of His commands, and obeying Him. It’s a state of submission and humility that a servant displays before Allah, affirming His acknowledgment of His weakness and need for Allah’s mercy and grace.
We have absolute humility (dhul) towards Allah as we put the most noble part of our bodies; our heads; our foreheads and our noses, on the ground before Him. This is how we get closer to Allah. The more humility we have before Allah, the closer we are to Him and the higher our rank is with Him. Because of the complete humility we have, we feel happy about the more we lower ourselves before Allah. It is through humility that our position is raised with Allah. The more one’s humility before Allah, the higher one’s rank is with Him.
Allah says, “But prostrate and draw near [to Allah ]”. (Surah al-‘Alaq: 19)
And when we have our heads down on the ground, that is the closest we are to Allah.
Abu Huraira reported:
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: The nearest a servant comes to his Lord is when he is prostrating himself, so make supplication (in this state). (Sahih Muslim, 482).
Some people have the idea that they have humility towards others in certain situations and that this is emaan, that this makes them strong in faith or that it is them being strong in faith. In these situations, when it’s not doing what Allah commands in His religion, not according to His rulings, not enjoining the good and forbidding the munkar when one should be, it’s not humility, it’s weakness. It is not something good. In the right place, towards other people, this humility is called tawaadu’ which is something nice, which is not making oneself higher or better than others by not thinking that ones wealth, status or lineage makes one better than others, it is not being arrogant. This humility, tawaadu’, towards the creation is a very good thing like the characteristic of haya (shame, shyness). However, haya (shame, shyness) when not enjoining the good or forbidding the evil when one should be is not haya, it is weakness of emaan. When haya stops obedience, it’s not called haya because haya is all khair (good) according to the hadith of the prophet, and disobeying Allah is not khair. So, when you sit with people who are sinning and don’t forbid the evil without any valid shari’ excuse, and you say I’m shy to say anything, it is not haya, it is weakness of emaan.
If ‘ibadah is done without the required ingredients, it is not accepted. Allah will not accept ‘ibadah unless all of what is required is present. As for obeying other than Allah in tahleel (making the haram halal) and tahreem (making the halal haram) it is ‘ibadah to other than Allah.
Legislation is Allah’s right alone; to say what is permitted and prohibited. The only legislator is Allah who decides what is halal and haram. Whoever makes the halal haram or the haram halal, wants to be equal to Allah.
The clear evidence shows that Allah is the legislator, it is something specific to Him, and it is only Allah who has the right to do this. Nobody has the right to do this. The evidence for this is the verse where Allah says, “Say, “Have you seen what Allah has sent down to you of provision of which you have made [some] lawful and [some] unlawful?” Say, “Has Allah permitted you [to do so], or do you invent [something] about Allah ?”” (Yunus: 59),
On the other hand, whoever gives this right to someone other than Allah is making a shareek (a partner) with Him. The evidence for this is where Allah says, “Or have they other deities who have ordained for them a religion to which Allah has not consented? But if not for the decisive word, it would have been concluded between them. And indeed, the wrongdoers will have a painful punishment.” (ash-Shura: 21). These two verses clearly state, by Allah’s own words, that Allah is the only mushari’ (legislator) and that those who take others as legislators are making shirk with Him.
The sahabah being addressed by Allah in the verse mentioned above, about the dead meat, possessed the essential aspects of emaan that are needed to be a Muslim, which include the obedience, love, fear, submissiveness, humility, and exaltation/glorification. Allah did not say that the companions lacked love, submissiveness, humility, obedience or fear. We know the sahabah possessed everything that was essential for the worship to be correct. However, Allah said that if they accepted their ruling over His ruling; their legislation over His legislation, giving the obedience to other than His command, they would be mushrikeen.
