Being God centered is a way of life for us as Muslims that orients one in daily life. The framework is known as ‘ubūdīya, which is recognizing your servanthood to Allah. As the soul struggles in the worldly life, there are two tools to keep moving forward: tawhīd as the compass and ‘ubūdīya as a way of life. This series of articles aims to highlight this in an effort to construct a paradigm that is Islamic, while speaking to today. The goal of this first one is to lay down the foundation of tawhīd and ‘ubūdīya and how one can live this life through the practice of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. When the individual is sound, society can be sound. How can the individual be sound?
Tawhīd is a verbal noun of the base form w-h-d (وحد). It is defined as, “to be alone, unique, singular, unmatched, without equal, and incomparable (Wehr, 1979).1” These are aspects that speak to the distinctiveness of something over everything else. As creation, we must recognize that Allah is the most distinct. After taking the w-h-d root letters and essentially adding the -ing suffix, w-h-d moves from a time-locked act to a present-future tense. Tawhīd then means, “belief in the unity of God, monotheism, standardization. (ibid.)” We are called to follow through with this and have Allah the focus in our lives. Take w-h-d a step further and you get wahdānī (Wehr, 1979). This is something single, solitary, separate, individual, sole, only, unique, matchless, exclusive, singular, unequaled, all recognizing Allah as unique through the same root letters.
The other term I highlight is ‘ubūdīya. The root letters here are ‘-b-d (عبد). In the second half of the shahāda, the testament of faith, a person must testify Muhammad bring a ‘abd before him being a messenger. What does the letters ‘-b-d mean? The base form is understood as to serve, worship, adore, and venerate. If this is meant to be for Allah, ask yourself, how do you serve Him? How do you worship Him? How do you adore and venerate Him? These are aspects of ‘ubūdīya that need to be unpacked. Here are some ways.
The first is service. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ narrates an interesting hadīth.
Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Verily, Allah, the Exalted, and Glorious will say on the Day of Resurrection: 'O son of Adam, I was ill but you did not visit Me.' He would say: 'O my Rubb, how could I visit you and You are the Rubb of the worlds?' There upon He would say: 'Did you not know that such and such a slave of Mine was ill but you did not visit him? Did you not realize that if you had visited him (you would have known that I was aware of your visit to him, for which I would reward you) you would have found Me with him? O son of Adam, I asked food from you but you did not feed Me.' He would submit: 'My Rubb, how could I feed You and You are the Rubb of the worlds?' He would say: 'Did you not know that such and such a slave of Mine asked you for food but you did not feed him? Did you not realize that if you had fed him, you would certainly have found (its reward) with Me? O son of Adam, I asked water from you but you did not give it to Me.' He would say: 'My Rubb, how could I give You (water) and You are the Rubb of the worlds?' Thereupon He would say: 'Such and such a slave of Mine asked you for water to drink but you did not give it to him. Did you not realize that if you had given him to drink you would have found (its reward) with Me?"' [Muslim].
Service to Allah is service to His dīn like His Prophet ﷺ did. How can you be Muhammadan in your ways? This hadīth is one way. Secondly is da‘wa How do you call a person to Islam? Are you that Quranic example people read about?
Worship is third. There is the obvious act we should fulfill which is praying our five daily prayers. Do not just stop here though.
On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Allah (mighty and sublime be He) said: Whosoever shows enmity to someone devoted to Me, I shall be at war with him. My servant draws not near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have enjoined upon him, and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him. When I love him I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he walks. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him, and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it. I do not hesitate about anything as much as I hesitate about [seizing] the soul of My faithful servant: he hates death and I hate hurting him. [al-Bukhari]
Through worship, closeness and proximity are attained to Allah that is beyond words. Reaching this rank needs consistency and constant self-evaluation. Who are you? What are your strengths? the virtues you live by? At the same time, what are your growing edges? What are the bad habits that need to be kicked? If you take this journey of self-discovery with Allah, imagine what type of person you will end up being!
Finally, there is adoration and veneration of Allah. Adoration is one of the first stops to love. The one taking the journey to Allah expresses a love to Him. That love fuels the journey and is to be expressed in various ways. Historically, Muslims loved words. We wrote a lot, especially poetry to express that love. Being thankful for what you have is a way to increase your adoration to Allah. Veneration calls us to be respectful to Allah and His commands. How do we carry ourselves when it is time to pray or fast or read Quran? Fasting is an act that holds great weight. It is a great way to venerate Allah because fasting increases love of the Sustainer whereby we are reminded of His sustenance. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ used to celebrate by fasting. He ﷺ would fast Mondays because he ﷺ was born on that day.
Returning to the dictionary, a ‘ibād is the doer of these things. ‘ibāda is the process of doing said actions. When Allah speaks of the ‘ibād al-Rahmān in sura Furqān of the Quran, these are people who are at a station where mercy is the defining attribute. For the word ‘ubūdīya, we return to the verbal noun, this time for the base form. It is a constant worshipping, serving, adoring and venerating of Allah. All these things mentioned are done as second nature. How does this happen? I like to explain it by a three-step tier.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said in a foundational hadīth where it was,
Narrated 'Umar bin Al-Khattab: I heard Allah's Messenger ﷺ saying, "The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended. So whoever emigrated for worldly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration was for what he emigrated for." (al-Bukhari)
Intentions are necessary. They are the foundation for every action we do. Next is sincerity. Intentions can be layered. Sincerity keeps it simple. Are you doing it for Allah first? Are you doing it for Allah solely? Developing sincerity is a journey. In day-to-day life, what are your priorities? Where is Allah on that list? Is He on top? Are you sure? Are you really sure? The nafs is the two-year old brat that lives inside of us. It does is best to justify what it wants. Be careful, this is how your sincerity can get muddled. Thus, it is necessary to check yourself often. In this process, you develop consistency. Consistency keeps this going. Remember, the reward of deeds depends on the intention. Work to make it sincere. Do it consistently.
How then to bridge the two, tawhīd and ‘ubūdīya? ‘Ubūdīya is the vehicle to realizing tawhīd and living a Muhammadan life. Tawhīd is the goal, the lighthouse in the dunyā. Realizing and testifying to the Oneness of Allah, His place in life, worship to Him as al-Samad, and everything we heard in a YouTube video, podcast, the local imam and more is the goal. Allah provides. Who is He to you? How well do you know Him?
Here is where the Quran comes into play. For twenty-three years, Allah was in communication with the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. I would argue that chapter two, verse two is the verse that summarizes the Quran the best.
Quran 2:2 { ذَٰلِكَ ٱلۡكِتَٰبُ لَا رَيۡبَۛ فِيهِۛ هُدٗى لِّلۡمُتَّقِينَ }
Abdul Haleem: This is the Scripture in which there is no doubt, containing guidance for those who are mindful of God,
The Quran is described as a book of guidance for those searching. Scholars sometimes describe it as a human’s instruction manual. Every page has a piece of advice, a golden rule, a principle that we can all live by. Growing up, I was taught the attributes of the servants of the Lord of Mercy mentioned in sura Furqān. These are good verses to live by. Anyone on the religious journey can take these attributes and live by them. There is always room for improvement too. Another set of verses is found in sura Mu’minūn, the Believers. The Quran is filled with verses that speak of the ideal human, warning the reader to not fall astray and that the devil is your enemy. This is why, especially in Ramadan, interacting with the Quran is essential to living a Muhammadan life. It is the map, providing directions when traveling the dunyā. If you do not use a map, you will forget the safest path to your ideal destination.
This completes the first of a series of articles. I will unpack more the centrality of the Quran throughout the following articles in this series. With being a person of tawhīd as your goal and following through with what it means to be a ‘ābid and the process of ‘ubūdīya, you have the foundation of being Muslim, where Allah is in every part of your life. This practice keeps you grounded so when the next test comes, you'll be ready for it. Allah never leaves. It is us so sometimes lose our way in life. A decline in faith and practice is gradual. Be careful! Hence the importance of staying on your (spiritual) toes and keeping watch. Students of sacred knowledge are always told of the importance of reviewing and going back to the basics. Now you know why.
Wehr, H. (1979). The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. In J. M. C. Cowan (Ed.), Arabic-English Dictionary (4th ed., p. 1236). Spoken Language Service, Inc.