" thee (alone) do we worship and of thee (only) do we seek help."
commentary :
man in the presence of allahhere, this verse is a start for a servant to plea and ask his needs
from allah. in fact, from here on, the tone of the statements changes.
the former verses were the praise and attributes of allah, and the
statement of faith in his pure unity, consisting of a confession to the
belief in the day of resurrection. but, from this verse on, it seems that
the servant, with that firm foundation of belief in the knowledge of
allah, sees himself in front of him, the pure essence. he addresses
him and speaks, firstly, about his own worship for him and, then, about
his help which he seeks from him. thus he says:
" thee (alone) do we worship and of thee (only) do we seek help."
in other words, when the concepts of the
former verses settle in
one's soul, and his entire entity is enlightened with the light of allah,
the cherisher of the worlds, and when he recognizes his ` general
mercy ' and ` specific mercy ', the individual transforms into a complete
person from the point of ` belief ' and ` faith '. the prime fruit of this
deep belief in monotheism, for a person, in one respect, is to be a pure
true servant of allah, free from any idol and idolatry, far from tyrants
and lusts; and, on the other hand, to seek help only from his pure
essence.
in fact, the former verses state the unity of essence and
attributes, while, here, the statement is regarding the unity of worship
and unity of acts.
` unity of worship ' means that we acknowledge no person or
thing worthy of worship other than allah, whose commands alone do
we obey and whose laws only do we follow, avoiding any kind of
servitude and submission to other than him, the pure essence.
` unity of acts ' means that we clearly recognize him as the only
real ` author of causes ' in the world. it does not mean that we would
refuse the world of ` cause ' and be neglectful of searching for the
causes of things, but it means that we would believe that any effect
from any cause is under his command. it is he who has given heat to
fire, light to the sun, and vivacity to water.
the outcome of this belief is that one relies on allah alone, and
knows that all authority and power are his only. in his view, other than
him is powerless, mortal and perishable.
allah is the only essence to be relied on and worshipped. it is
only he who is deserving of man's reliance for everything.
this kind of thought and belief sets man apart from any one or
any thing else and joins him only to allah. he obeys allah even
when he pursues after ` the world of ways and means ', i.e. he sees the
power of allah, the cause of causes, in control of the means.
this belief elevates the soul of man so high and the scope of his
thought so broad that it reaches eternity and becomes free from any
limited circumstances, in so far as, hadrat amir-ul-mu'mineen, the
master of the virtuous, ali (a.s.), regarding allah, says: " i worship you
neither for the fear of the fire (of your hell) nor for the desire of your
paradise, but i found you fit for worshipping and i worshipped you." 1
* * * *
explanation :
allah : the only
site of reliance
according to the arabic
literature, when the object of the verb
precedes its subject, in that language, the meaning of exclusiveness is
understood, and, here, the word / iyyaka / ` thou ' has
preceded the
words / na`bud / `we
worship' and / nasta`in / ` we seek help ' which
indicates exclusiveness in which its result is the very unity of worship
and unity of acts that were explained before. even in our own
worship, we need his help for which we must ask him. we may be
involved in self-conceit, deviation, hypocrisy and similar things, which
destroy our worshipping and servitude totally. then, in all affairs and
activities, our full attention should be exclusively on allah, the exalted.
in other words, this, in itself, is one of the stages of monotheism, a
high stage of it, which is rendered into `monotheism in speculation'.
that is, one should always and in all circumstances, think of allah
only. he should rely exclusively on allah. he should fear nothing but
allah; and he should trust allah only. he should see nothing save
allah; he should want nothing save allah; and he should love none
save allah. as the qur'an says: " allah has not made for any man two
hearts in his (one) body... ", (sura al-ahzab, no. 33, verse 4).
the social aspect
of worship
the pronoun `we', which is in the
plural form, used in terms
/ na`bud / ` we
worship ' and / nasta`in / ` we seek help ', and in the next
verses, shows that worship, especially prayer, is based on `plural' and
community.
the servant must consider himself among the community even
when he is standing in front of allah for invocation, much less during
his other daily activities.
thus, from the point of view of the qur'an, any individualism,
solitariness, and the like are not accepted in islam. particularly, the
ritual prayer, from the prayer call: /hayya `alas-salat/ ` hasten to the
prayer', which is an invitation to
initiate prayer, to sura al-hamd at the
beginning of the prayer, and the term /assalamu `alaykum.../ `peace be on
you all...' at the end of the
prayer, all are statements of verification to
the concept that this worship basically has a social aspect; viz,it ought to
be performed as a congregational prayer. it is true that the prayer
performed individually is also accepted in islam, but personal worship is
considered as the secondary degree.
we ask allah for
help in confronting forces
we have to confront different
forces in this world, both the forces
in nature and our innate, or inborn natural forces. to be able to
challenge with these destructive, misleading factors, we need to be
helped. hence, we shelter under the protective umbrella of allah.
we get up every morning and repeat the verse / ' iyyaka na`budu wa '
iyyaka nasta`in / (thee
(alone) do we worship and of thee (only) we seek
help) to confess our servitude to
allah and to ask his pure essence
help to make us successful in this great challenge. we do the same in
the evening before we go to bed. we get up in the morning with his
remembrance, and we go to bed in the evening with his remembrance,
and each time we ask help from his pure essence. what an excellent
state this is for the person who is in this stage of faith! he never bows
to any tyrant. he never loses himself for the attraction of material gain,
and as the qur'an reveals about the prophet of islam (p.b.u.h.), saying:
"... truly,
my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death, are
(all) for the cherisher of the worlds ", (sura al-an`am no. 6,
verse162).
therefore, the recitation of this holy
sura may provide the
solution to all problems in our lives. it has plenty of properties which
can bring us to safety. an example is from a narration cited by one of
the companions of the prophet (p.b.u.h.). he said that in one of the
battles, he was with the messenger of allah (p.b.u.h.). when the fight
became difficult, he (p.b.u.h.) lifted his head and said: " o' master of the
day of judgement! thee (alone) do we worship and of thee (only) we seek
help ". at that moment the
army of enemies was defeated and (many
of them) were killed while the prophet (p.b.u.h.) and muslims won. 2
it is stated in another narration: " when a difficulty arises for a
believing servant, and he recites this holy verse, it will become easy for
him". 3