On Servanthood (ʿUbūdiyya)
باب فی العبودیۃ
بَابٌ فِي الْعُبُوْدِيَّةِ — Concerning ʿUbūdiyya (Servanthood)
قَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوْنِ
(al-Dhāriyāt 51:56)
Vocabulary: wa-mā khalaqtu'l-jinna wa'l-ins — I did not create jinn and mankind; illā li-yaʿbudūn — except for this purpose: that they worship Me, that they serve Me.
Translation: Allah Most High says: I have created jinn and mankind only so that they should serve Me (worship Me).
قَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: يٰٓأَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اعْبُدُوْا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِيْ خَلَقَكُمْ وَالَّذِيْنَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُوْنَ
(al-Baqara 2:21)
Vocabulary: yā ayyuha'l-nās — O people! When a word bearing the definite article (alif-lām) is made the one addressed and the vocative particle yā is brought, then ayyuhā or yā hādhā is placed in between. But with the word Allāh the vocative particle comes without hādhā and ayyuhā. In the Qurʾān the addressees of yā ayyuha'l-nās are mostly the Meccan people, and the addressees of yā ayyuha'lladhīna are the Medinan people.
uʿbudū — adopt servanthood, worship. Worship (ʿibāda) is the name of utmost humility. ṭarīqun muʿabbadun — a trodden path, which many people have walked so much that it is worn down. To regard God Most High as existing by His own essence (mawjūd bi'l-dhāt), to regard everything other than Allah as existing by an accidental existence [mawjūd bi'l-ʿaraḍ], to regard God Most High as the One whose obedience is obligatory and as described by the other attributes of perfection — this is worship. Worship is of the heart too, which is called ʿaqīda (belief), and of the limbs etc., such as ṣalāh and fasting. Of these two, the worship of the heart, i.e. belief, is the root. Without right knowledge and right belief, ṣalāh, fasting — everything is in vain. One of corrupt belief is a rebel, and one of corrupt deeds is a sinner.
rabb — Sustainer, the one who nurtures, the one who rears; from the pattern naṣara [yanṣuru]. rabbakum — your Sustainer. alladhī — who. khalaqa — this comes in two meanings: (1) to bring from non-being into being, to bring forth from what is not, to bring from non-existence onto the stage of existence; (2) to measure, as in khalaqa'l-naʿl — he took the measure of the shoe, measured it out; as in fa-tabāraka'llāhu aḥsanu'l-khāliqīn — how blessed is Allah, the best of all those who measure out
— He is the best of all who measure out.
khalaqakum — He created you; wa'lladhīna — and those people; min qablikum — who were before you; laʿallakum — perhaps you; so that you; tattaqūn — adopt taqwā. Taqwā is originally waqwā, from waqā – yaqī – wiqāyatan, which means to protect, to guard, to abstain. From it, on the pattern iftiʿāl, comes ittiqāʾ.
Translation: Allah Most High says: O people! Adopt the servanthood of your Lord, who clothed you in the robe of existence, and [who created] also those people who passed before you, so that you may become muttaqī (become God-fearing, obey His commands, avoid forbidden things).
See! In this verse He is turning the servants' attention towards the majesty of Lordship (rubūbiyya): that you are in need of Him for the help of existence at every instant and every moment; you exist by an accidental existence (mawjūd bi'l-ʿaraḍ) and are forever in need of the One who exists by His own essence (mawjūd bi'l-dhāt). The moon is in need of the sun for its light at every instant and every moment.
See! When someone does a favour (iḥsān) to someone, the one who received the favour expresses his gratitude to him and serves him. A soldier gives his life for fifteen rupees a month ☆. Servants and attendants serve night and day for a monthly wage, or a monthly wage and food. Then is the servanthood of that Sustainer not necessary, who created you and also created those who passed before you, and whose nurturing continues without a break? If He were to withhold the help of existence for a single moment, the world would become non-existent and annihilated; nothing would remain in existence.
[Footnote:] ☆ A hundred years ago, in the time of the English, a soldier's pay used to be only 15 rupees. (Academy)
Just reflect on your own birth. Where were you a hundred years ago? You have been born — in return for what service of yours? All this is the grace of God, the majesty of God's Lordship. It would be a matter of great regret if you were to take as objects of worship those people who were created before you, whom God brought from non-being into being — who, just like you, were in need of God at every instant and every moment — and regard them, like God, as ones whose obedience is obligatory. Just think! Where is Rāmchandra-jī? Where is Krishna-jī? Where is Gautama Buddha? Where is ʿUzayr (peace be upon him)? Where is ʿĪsā (peace be upon him)? All were servants of God; and the greater one was, the more prominent in him were the signs of servanthood.
(Half-verse, Persian:) "Those who are the richer are the more in need."
Therefore abandon kufr and shirk, adopt the servanthood of God, become God-fearing — not rebels and the insolent, not those who defy God's commands, nor those who do not carry out His orders. Whose tongue is there that could fully describe God's favours?
Understand well! ʿAbdiyya (servanthood) is a great relation with God, one that is not subject to decline. The more you reflect on your life, the more you will go on losing your own things [losing what you took to be your own]. Just reflect on "ashhadu anna Muḥammadan ʿabduhu wa-rasūluh" [I bear witness that Muḥammad is His servant and His Messenger]: the rank of servanthood is higher even than the rank of messengership. Messengership was for the period of conveying the message; it was in the world. This servanthood has been forever and will remain forever.
وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: إِنَّ اللّٰهَ رَبِّيْ وَرَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُوْهُ هٰذَا صِرَاطٌ مُّسْتَقِيْمٌ
(Āl ʿImrān 3:51)
Vocabulary: inna'llāh — indeed Allah; rabbī wa-rabbukum — is my Lord, and yours too; fa-ʿbudūhu — so worship Him,
serve Him; hādhā ṣirāṭun mustaqīm — this is the straight path.
Translation: And Allah Most High says: Indeed Allah is my Lord, and yours too. So worship Him. This is the straight path.
قَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: لَنْ يَّسْتَنْكِفَ الْمَسِيْحُ أَنْ يَّكُوْنَ عَبْدًا لِّلّٰهِ وَلَا الْمَلٰٓئِكَةُ الْمُقَرَّبُوْنَ وَمَنْ يَّسْتَنْكِفْ عَنْ عِبَادَتِهِ وَيَسْتَكْبِرْ فَسَيَحْشُرُهُمْ إِلَيْهِ جَمِيْعًا
(al-Nisāʾ 4:172)
Vocabulary: nakafa — to be separate from something, to dislike; lan yastankifa'l-masīḥ — the Messiah will never feel it beneath him, will never consider it a disgrace; an yakūna — that he be (originally ʿan an yakūna); ʿabdan li'llāh — a servant of Allah; wa-lā'l-malāʾikatu'l-muqarrabūn — nor the angels brought near: the angels close to God who remain in the divine court; wa-man yastankif — and whoever considers it a disgrace, dislikes it; ʿan ʿibādatihi — His servanthood, being His servant; wa-yastakbir — and considers himself great, is arrogant, is rebellious; fa-sa-yaḥshuruhum — then He will soon gather them; ilayhi — towards Himself; jamīʿan — all of them.
Translation: Allah Most High says: The Messiah and the angels brought near (to the divine court) will never consider it a disgrace to be servants of Allah; and whoever considers His (Allah's) servanthood a disgrace and is arrogant (considers himself great), He will soon gather them all before Himself.
Gentlemen! Some gentlemen think that the rank of the angels is higher than that of the prophets, but this is not correct. The angels are non-material; they have nearness to the Real (al-Ḥaqq). Man is not merely material; rather he is a combination of both spirit and body. The comprehensiveness (jāmiʿiyya) that is in man — where is it in the angels? The knowledge of the angels is specific and limited. Man's knowledge is unlimited — "lā yanfadu ʿinda ḥadd" [it is not exhausted at any limit]; it never comes to an end. Therefore when man does evil deeds he is worse than the animals, because the animals have no reason that would restrain them from evils; and when man does good deeds he is better than the angels, because he does good in spite of obstacles.
What to say of the prophets — especially the Master of the Messengers ﷺ — there is no question about their being superior to the angels. The perfect man (insān-i kāmil) is the one to whom the angels prostrated; he is the locus of divine manifestation (tajallī).
(Persian verses:) "Bravo! Creation takes from him, and in him, the hue of a candle; he is the light of the eye of the master of the house, and the lamp of the house as well. The purpose of the creation of the world, the mirror of the Names and Attributes; he adorns the throne, and is the royal crown as well." (Ḥaḍrat Ṣiddīqī) [reading uncertain]
وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: إِنْ كُلُّ مَنْ فِي السَّمٰوٰتِ وَالْأَرْضِ إِلَّآ اٰتِي الرَّحْمٰنِ عَبْدًا
(Maryam 19:93)
Vocabulary: in kullu man fi'l-samāwāti wa'l-arḍ — there is no one in the heavens and the earth; illā āti'l-raḥmān — but that he presents himself before the Merciful God; ʿabdan — as a servant.
Translation: And Allah Most High says: All who are in the heavens and the earth present themselves in the divine court as servants.
وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى: قُلْ لَّآ أَمْلِكُ لِنَفْسِيْ نَفْعًا وَّلَا ضَرًّا إِلَّا مَا شَآءَ اللّٰهُ وَلَوْ كُنْتُ أَعْلَمُ الْغَيْبَ
لَاسْتَكْثَرْتُ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ وَمَا مَسَّنِيَ السُّوْٓءُ
(al-Aʿrāf 7:188)
Vocabulary: qul — O Prophet, say; lā amliku li-nafsī — I am not the owner even for my own self; even what is for me is not in my hand; nafʿan wa-lā ḍarran — neither benefit nor harm; illā mā shāʾa'llāh — except to the extent that God wills.
People of ordinary understanding think that they or others are the owners of some good and evil. Those people who are aware of their essential non-being (ʿadam-i dhātī), who affirm that their own existence is an accidental existence, who understand that besides God nothing is in anyone's hand — they alone understand servanthood. They have perception of their own helplessness. Whatever they do, they do understanding that this is the manifestation of God's power and of His strength.
(Half-verse, Persian:) "Those who are the richer are the more in need."
Great people know their own helplessness and poverty (faqr) more than others do. shirk fi'l-qudra (associating others with God in power) does not come near them. They always keep lā ḥawla wa-lā quwwata illā bi'llāh [there is no might and no power except through Allah] before their eyes. The delights that are in servanthood are not in the claim to divinity. wa-law kuntu aʿlamu'l-ghayb — and if I had knowledge of the unseen; la-stakthartu mina'l-khayr — then I would have obtained much good and benefit. [What is the outcome of this essential poverty, this essential ignorance? Allah Most High says: innā aʿṭaynāka'l-kawthar — We have given you abundant good. wa-ʿallamaka mā lam takun taʿlam — and He taught you all that which you did not know. In the hadith there is: ūtītu ʿilma'l-awwalīna wa'l-ākhirīn — I have been given the knowledge of all, the first and the last; I have been honoured with the knowledge of those before and those after. All this was so, yet before God he kept his relation as the servant of servants, the poor one of the poor. A hundred bravos to this poverty, a hundred praises to this not-knowing!] wa-mā massaniya'l-sūʾ — and no harm would reach me.
Translation: And Allah Most High says: (O Prophet!) say: Benefit and harm are not in my hand even for my own self, except as much as God wills; and if the things of the unseen were known to me, I would have obtained a great deal of good, and no harm of any kind would have reached me.
عَنْ أَبِيْ هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ لَمَّا نَزَلَتْ "وَأَنْذِرْ عَشِيْرَتَكَ الْأَقْرَبِيْنَ" دَعَا النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قُرَيْشًا. اَلْحَدِيْثَ وَفِيْهِ: يَا فَاطِمَةُ أَنْقِذِيْ نَفْسَكِ مِنَ النَّارِ فَإِنِّيْ لَا أَمْلِكُ لَكُمْ مِنَ اللّٰهِ شَيْئًا.
(Reported by Muslim; Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ.)
Vocabulary: lammā nazalat — when the verse came down; wa-andhir — and warn; anqidhī nafsaki — save yourself.
Translation: Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that when this verse was revealed, "Warn your near relatives," the Prophet ﷺ summoned the Quraysh; and in this same hadith there is this: "O Fāṭima! Save your own self from the Fire, for I own nothing for you people against Allah."
[Bībī Fāṭima (may Allah be pleased with her) was young at that time. — Academy]