Brethren in faith! I implore you to fear Allaah and be dutiful to Him. Allaah says, “O you who believe! Fear Allaah as He should be feared and die not except in a state of Islaam.” (Aal ‘Imraan 3:102)
Fellow Muslims! Allaah certainly has no need of His creatures and their acts of worship. Their obedience does not avail Him of any benefit nor does their disobedient harm Him. Human being by nature either worships Allaah or worships any other thing. He either worships Allaah or worships wealth, desires, lusts, evils among men and jinn or any other thing he can think of. It then shows here that, worshipping only Allaah means freeing oneself from worshipping other deities besides Allaah knowingly or unknowingly. For the heart cannot be reformed, have bliss and tranquility except through worshipping Allaah alone and returning to Him in repentance.
If man has all the enjoyments of this life, he cannot have peace of mind. There will always be in him an inherent need for his Lord. And it is only through worshipping Him that he can have real happiness and peace of mind. He is always in need of the real meaning of the verse:
“You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help (for each and everything).” (Al-Faatihah 1:5)
If man has all the pleasures of this world and has not yet had the pleasure of worshipping Allaah, he has got nothing but pains and loss. And he will not be freed from the torments of this world except through loving Allaah sincerely and making Him his object of hope. Allaah then will be dearer to him than all other things and everything that he loves will be for the sake of Allaah alone.”
Ibn Taymiyyah used to say: “Whoever wants to have eternal happiness should always be a sincere worshipper of Allaah.”
Fellow Muslims! Almighty Allaah has greatly facilitates acts of worship. He opened many doors of good deeds. Burden of observing prayers is little in comparison to its many rewards. Prayers are to be observed five times in day but they are fifty in the scale of good deeds. They are distributed at different times during day and night so that weak-minded people will not feel bored. A prayer with the congregation is twenty-seven times greater in reward than the one prayed alone. All the supererogatory prayers made along with the obligatory ones earn for one a house in Paradise. Allaah accepts the charity made with a sincere intention and from lawful earnings with His right Hand. He develops it for its owner so much so that an equivalent of a fruit in charity becomes as big as a huge mountain in reward.
Brethren in Islaam! It is a manifestation of Allaah’s mercy that He diversifies ways of doing good deeds for His servants. For the concept of worship in Islaam includes all deeds done with good intention, to seek the pleasure of Allaah and to avert His forbidden things.
Widening the concept of worship aims at directing people to righteous deeds. This makes people help one another. Had ritual acts been the only means to earn rewards, many people would have stopped doing righteous deeds.
Fellow Muslims! Every useful social work is regarded as act worship in Islaam if the intention is good. Worship does not include abandoning social life and confining oneself in the mosques. Acts of worship are ordained in Islaam as practical aspects of belief. Allaah says,
“It is not righteousness that you turn your faces towards east and (or) west (in prayers); but righteousness is (the quality of) the one who believes in Allaah, the Last Day, the Angels, the Book, the Prophets and gives his wealth, in spite of love for it, to the kinsfolk, to the orphans, and to the poor, and to the wayfarer.” (Al-Baqarah 2:177)
Every aspect of our life is worship. The work we do is act of worship. When a man goes out of his house to fend for his family, he is doing an act of worship. The Messenger of Allaah said, “When a Muslim spends something for his family seeking therefrom a reward from Allaah, what he spends is a charity.” (Muslim)
Seeking for knowledge is an act of worship and even an obligation. The Messenger of Allaah said, “Seeking for knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim.” (Ibn Maajah)
Being kind to the parents is an act of worship. The Prophet told the man who came to him to make the allegiance of Hijrah and jihaad: “Do you have parents?” The man answered: “Yes, both of them.” The Prophet then said: “And you are seeking for reward from Allaah?” The man said: “Yes.” The Messenger of Allaah then said: “Go back to your parents and take good care of them.” (Muslim)
Being kind to the kith and the kin is also an act of worship. The Messenger of Allaah said: “The bond of kinship hangs on the Throne of Allaah and says: ‘Let Allaah have mercy on him who keeps me and let Allaah cuts down him who cuts me.” (Muslim)
Cleaning pathways from harmful things is an act of worship. The Prophet said, “There was on a pathway a branch of a tree that harmed people. A man removed it and on that account entered Paradise for that.” (Ibn Maajah)
Meeting your brethren with a smiling face is also an act of worship. The Messenger of Allaah said, “Do not underestimate any good deed even if it be meeting your brother with a smiling face.” (Muslim)
Imaam An-Nawawee said: “This means that ordinary lawful things become acts of worship if the intention is good.”
Brethren in Islaam! Worship is a complete way of life. Doing a section of worship and neglecting others is wrong and contravenes the way of the Messenger of Allaah. Anas bin Maalik[1] said: “A group of three men came to the houses of the wives of the Prophet to know how the Prophet worshipped (Allaah). When they were told of that, they considered the Prophet’s worship too little and they said, “Who are we to be compared to the Messenger of Allaah whose past and future sins have been forgiven.” Then one of them said, “I will offer the prayer throughout the night forever.” The other said, “I will fast throughout the year and will not break my fast.” The third said, “I will keep away from the women and will not marry forever.” Allah’s Apostle came to them and said, “Are you the same people who said so-and-so? By Allah, I am more submissive to Allah and more afraid of Him than you; yet I fast and break my fast, I do sleep and I also marry women. So he who does not follow my tradition in religion is not from me (not one of my followers).” (Al-Bukhaaree)
Brethren in faith! Hold tenaciously unto the good that you have earned by doing more righteous deeds.
Among the signs of an accepted good deed is that one’s condition should be better after doing that good deed. Some scholars said: “The reward of good deed is to do another good deed after it and the reward of an evil deed is to do another evil deed after it.” Good deeds attract one another and evil deeds attract one another.
Brethren in Islaam! Doing good deeds continuously indicates good relationship between one’s heart and Allaah and this gives one strength and steadfastness. Some scholars regard this effect as one of the reasons for ordainment of Adhkaar.
Allaah loves being consistent in good deeds. Allaah says in a qudsee Hadeeth, “And the most beloved things with which My slave comes nearer to Me, is what I have enjoined upon him; and My slave keeps on coming closer to Me through performing supererogatory deeds till I love him.” (Al-Bukhaaree)
It is therefore, of Sunnah to be consistent in doing righteous deeds. ‘Aaishah narrated that the Messenger of Allaah always established any good deed that he did. When he slept in the night or he was sick, he would observe in its place twelve raka‘hs during the day.” (Muslim)
[1] Anas RA was the Prophet’s (Sallallahu Alayhi Wa Sallam) housekeeper.
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