The Essence of Obedience

Requirements of Worship The set of commandments I have grouped under the title “obedience” includes a second category, which we can call collective commandments. These are commands whose enforcement does not rely solely on an individual’s will; they can only be carried out when the entire society is ready to support them. This is why such commandments were revealed only after believers had established a political organization among themselves, giving them the power to enforce social laws with authority. The collective commandments of Shariah are aimed at an empowered Muslim society, not isolated individual believers. Throughout the history of the Children of Israel, we see that while they were in Egypt, they were not given the legal commandments of the Torah. However, once they left Egypt and became a free and empowered community, Allah immediately sent down the laws. The same pattern was followed in Arabia. In Makkah, only the parts of Shariah that were individually required of each believer and had to be maintained under all circumstances were revealed initially. The rest of the Shariah was revealed gradually as circumstances permitted. These commandments were given later, once the believers had gained control over a land. The order in which the commandments were revealed shows that, under normal circumstances, the essential part of faith for believers is limited to what was revealed