What is prophets life of worship?
After faith, reverence and love for Allah, worship is the second most important issue in Islam, because worship is the main purpose for the creation of humans.
Worship means servitude, obedience, and submission. A general meaning of worship consists of the entire actions, words, feelings, and thoughts of a servant, which he/she performs, feels, or thinks about according to his/her Lord’s Will. In other words, it denotes to be a servant before the Creator of the universe. The more specific meaning of the term “worship” denotes the acts of obedience performed in a specific way. In this chapter we will deal with the latter meaning.
Worship is the manifestation of gratitude for the blessings of Allah the Almighty and they are His rights on His servants. Worship and servitude are obligations, which must be performed with intentions of highest reverence, sincerity, and love for all-knowing and omnipotent Allah the Almighty. This obligation can be carried out through special remembrances, actions, and particular movements, which show our absolute servitude, obedience and submission to Allah. Acts of worship are principles, which must be followed in order to reach perfection. From this point of view, acts of worship are really for the benefit of the servant, because worship saves the servant from being stuck into a material world, and directs the sights and thoughts towards higher causes. A poet nicely expresses this:
Acts of obedience are for the discipline of your soul
If not, Allah needs neither obedience nor worship
The highest level of worship is to obey Allah sincerely and reverently and only for His contentment not for any other benefit. That is why worship is the spiritual manifestation of the combination of absolute weakness and absolute power. The conceited who are not aware of their weakness; the heedless who do not feel any fear or worry; and the pessimistic who have completely lost their hope are deprived of this honor. Since worship is the manifestation of our soul and conscience, if it is performed according to the directions of our Prophet (pbuh), it plays an important role in protecting and strengthening the essence of our faith. Consciously fulfilled acts of worship also embellish our morals.
Prophet’s (pbuh) life of worship began with the contemplation of the Creator of the universe. It was molded with ardent desire, submission, love, and yearning, and then was embellished with all kinds of beauties. During his days of seclusion in the cave of Hira, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) contemplated the creation and its absolute Judge. After he was honored with prophethood, he continued to perform his worship just as Allah the Most High taught him to do.
Source: An Excellent Exemplar, Osman Nuri Topbaş, Erkam Publications
