It may come to the minds of some people when they read the Almighty’s word: {And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me} (51:56), that God the Almighty is in need for entities to worship Him!
This is an incorrect concept, as one of the names of God the Almighty is “Al-Ghaniyy” and it means the One who is self-sufficient, Glory be to Him, that does not need anyone.
And in the hadith, the prophet (ﷺ) quoted Allah (ﷻ) in the Holy Hadith saying: “O My slaves, you can neither do Me any harm nor can you do Me any good.”[1]
God the Almighty is not the one who needs and benefits from acts of obedience from His servants, but rather humans themselves are the beneficiaries. We can see that in many references like when Allah (ﷻ) said: {Recite, what has been revealed to you of the Book and establish prayer. Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing, and the remembrance of Allah is greater. And Allah knows that which you do} (29:45) which indicates that prayer is meant to help you abstain from evil things. Or, when the prophet (ﷺ) said: “If one does not eschew lies and false conduct, Allah has no need that he should abstain from his food and his drink.”[2] That indicates fasting is meant to help you keep away from evil actions like false testimonies.
So, if the purpose of creation is to worship God, but God is the All-Sufficient, then what is the purpose of worship itself?
The answer is in this verse where Allah (ﷻ) said: {O people, worship your Lord who created you and those before you that you may become righteous} (2:21). Righteousness or (Taqwa) is the criterion for the approach of the servants to one another. But as for the servant’s share with his Lord, it is closeness.
We understand this from the conclusion of Surat Al-A’laq, in which this surah serves like an intellectual road map for Muslims, as it begins with an exhortation to knowledge and learning {Read in the name of your Lord who created} (96:1), then it warns about the cause of tyranny and that it is embedded in the ego and the feeling of being self-sufficient. {No, indeed, man is tyrannical because He saw him becoming self-sufficient} (96:6), then it ended by explaining the servant’s share of God in worship in the Almighty’s saying: {And prostrate and draw near} (96:11).
If God is essentially close, as Allah (ﷻ) said: {And when My servants ask you, concerning Me – indeed I am near} (2:186), then how can you approach One who is near already? What kind of distances bring you closer to Him?
It is the distance of worship, which at its core is the distance of submission, humiliation, and self-abandonment.
Meaning, whenever you let go yourself, you find God.
This distance culminates in abandoning oneself by returning to the dust through prostration. {And prostrate and draw near} (96:11). The Prophet, (ﷺ) said: “A servant is closest to his Lord is when he is prostrating, so supplicate often.”[3] That is because “supplication is the essence of worship.”[4]
If you find that you are nothing, you find God.
One of the beautiful things is what Al-Bukhari reported as a classification index of the hadith on the path of approaching God and then achieving real closeness: “And my servant continues to draw near to Me by means of means until I love him, and if I love him, I will be his hearing with which he hears and his sight with which he sees.”[5] Imam Bukhari classified this Hadith under the chapter of humility. Which means, the more a person abandons himself, the more the breezes of divine closeness become evident to him.
Sujood or prostration which is one of the highest levels of worshiping God is not meant for you to stop there, but rather to be closer to God.
Imam Kifah Mustapha
[1] Muslim
[2] Bukhari
[3] Muslim
[4] Tirmizi
[5] Bukhari
