CHAPTER ONE — The Essence of Religion

(Al Bahr al Muhit, Vol. 1, p. 23). That is why the Quran uses the word “arrogance” as the antonym of worship. It says, “Those who are too arrogant to worship Me will certainly enter Hell.” (40:60). Although worship’s real connotations are humility and fearfulness, when the word is used in relation to God, it also includes the concept of love. Ibn Kathir writes: “According to the dictionary, worship stands for lowliness. In the Islamic Shari‘ah it is used to express a condition of extreme love coupled with extreme humbleness and apprehension.” (Tafsir al Quran, Vol. 1, p. 25). Ibn Taymiyah says: “The word worship expresses a mixture of extreme humility and extreme love.” (Pamphlet on Ubudiyah, p. 28) Ibn Qayyem also writes: “There are two components of worship: extreme love and extreme humility” (Tafsir Ibn Qayyem, p. 65). The essence of worship then is the adoption of an attitude of humility before God. In the Quran, this is expressed by different Arabic words, such as Khashiyyah, Tadhurru, Ikhbat, Inabat, Khushu, Khudu and Qunut, etc. Enshrined in each of these words is the concept of God-consciousness. To worship God means utter prostration of oneself before Him. The Being before whom the act of worship is performed is no tyrant or tormentor but an extremely kind and compassionate Being, to whom we owe limitless blessings. So this expression of lowliness before Him is necessarily tinged with love. The relation of man to God is the relation of extreme humility with an extremely beloved Being. At the very moment when man is shivering in awe of God, when his eyes fill with tears at the thought of Him, his best feelings are even then reserved for his Lord, and he draws closer to God in great attachment. Man, then, finds himself rapt in a love of the greatest poignancy. Though his humility in the presence of God is undoubtedly the result of fear, this fear is not of the kind produced by the sight of a fearful object. It is a feeling which no single word can properly convey. It is a mixed feeling of extreme hope and extreme apprehension, and man is never able to decide which of the two is to be preferred—hope or apprehension.