4. The Belief in the Oneness of Allah in Worship:
True belief in the Oneness of Allah is incomplete without worshipping Allah faithfully. He is the Creator and the Owner of His creatures. He grants them His grace. He is, for such consideration, entitled to be worshipped. All divine messages have called Man to submit and yield to Allah alone. The Most Exalted says: Verily, I am God (Allah): There is no god but I: So serve thou Me (only), and establish regular prayer for celebrating My praise . (Sura Ta-Ha, No. 20, verse 14).
He taught Man to say: Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek (Sura Fatiha, No. 1, verse 5).
Worship is the gratitude shown to the source of grace and blessing, and acknowledgement of His favor, and performance of the duties ordained by Allah. Simultanously, it leaves its perfecting impact on the human spirit, by guiding the instinct of religiousness buried in the depths of the human soul to the right direction. Thus, Man does not go astray, or wind up in the grip of tyrants.
Being a slave to Allah propels Man, really, to break the shackles which servitude intensifies in Man. Moreover, being a slave to Allah means turning one's face to Him, the source of grace, and beauty and rightness. The soul yearns for such attributes and seeks to attain perfection and progresses towards them. They become the sublimest objective and the highest ideal of Man's thought and actions. The Muslim knows with certitude that his Creator owns the most glorious attributes. He is the Just, Merciful, Wise, Oft-returning to Mercy, Kind to His servants who sin, Truthful, etc.
Man works to reflect the coloring of these attributes on his life, and to build human society and relations on the basis of these attributes. Consequently, he objectifies justice, love, mercy and grace in his life.
Islamic rites of worhship have, moreover, educational and reformatory effects on the life of the individual and the group.
Supplication:
O Lord! Make us firm in monotheism throughout our life.
O Lord! Polytheism, like monotheism, has many branches. Being saved from polytheism is not possible but by Your Grace; envelop us in Your Mercy and Your Grace.
O Lord! Keep us alive with monotheism, put us in death with monotheism, and unite us on the Resurrection Day with the reality of monotheism.
(1) Bihar-ul-Anwar, vol. 3, p. 221, Tradition 12.
(2) Ibid., p. 222.
(3) Ibid.
(4) Bihar-ul-Anwar, vol. 3, p. 222.
(5) Bihar-ul-Anwar, vol. 3, p. 223
(6) Ibid.
(7) Majma'-al-Bayan, vol. 10, p. 565.
(8) Bihar-ul-Anwar, vol. 3, p. 224, and Majma'-aI-Bayan, vol. 10, p. 566.
(9) Nahj-ul-Balaqa, Sermon 186 (Arabic version).
(10) Nahj-ul-Balaqa, Sermon 1.
