The Unseen in Explaining Rites
We came to know previously the important role worship performs totally in man's life and that it expresses a fixed need in his civilized march.
From another aspect: if we scrutinize andanalyse the particulars which distinguish each worship from the other, we often are able, in the light of advanced science, to be acquainted with the pieces of wisdom and secrets Islamic jurisprudence expresses in this regard and mod-ern science has been able to discover.
This wonderful agreement between the out- comes of modern science and many particulars of Islamic jurisprudence, and whatever rules and regulations it decided, expresses a dazzling support for the position of this jurisprudence, deeply emphasizing its being God-inspired.
In spite of all this, however, we quite often face unseen points in worship, i.e., a group of details whose secret cannot be comprehended by the personpractising worship, nor can he interpret them materialistically; for must sun- set prayer be three prostrations (rak`ah ) while the noon-time prayer more than that?! And why should eachrak'ah include bowing down once instead of twice, two prostrations instead of one?! .beside other questions of this sort which can be put forth.
And we call such an aspect of worship, which cannot be interpreted, "unseen." We find this aspect, in this manner or that, in most rites brought forth by the Islamic jurisprudence.
From here, we can consider obscurity in the meaning we have already mentioned as a general phenomenon in rites one of their common characteristics.
This obscurityis linked to the rites and to their imposed role jointly, for the role of rites, as we have already come to know previously, is to emphasize the attachment to the Absolute and deepen that practically. The bigger the element of submission and yielding in a worship is, the stronger its effect in deepening the link between the worshipper and his Lord.If the deedpractised by the worshipper is understood in all its dimensions, clear in its wisdom and benefit in all details, the element of submission and yielding gets minimized, and it will be dominated by motifs of interest and benefit, no more a worship of God as much as it is a deed of benefitpractised by the worshipper so that he might derive advantage out of it,bene -fiting of its results.
Just as the spirit of obedience and attach-ment in the soldier grows, getting deepened through military training, by giving him orders and requiring him to perform them withobedi -ence and without discussion, so does the feeling of the worshipping person grow and get deep-ened in its attachment to his Lord through requiring him to practice these rites in their unseen aspects with submission and yielding.
For submission andyielding require theassump -tion of the existence of an unseen aspect and the attempt to question this unseen aspect of worship. Demanding its interpretation andlimi -tation of interest means stripping worship offi ts reality - as a practical expression of sub- mission and obedience - and measuring it by measurements of benefit and interest like any other deed.
We notice that this obscurity is almost ineffective in rites representing a great general interest, one that conflicts with the personal interest of the worshipper, as is the case with jihad that represents a great general interest which contrasts the desire of the person per- forming it to preserve his life and blood, and also in the case ofzakat which represents a great general interest which contrasts the strong desire of the person paying it to preserve his wealth and property.
The issue of jihad is very well understood by the person performing it, and the issue ofzakat is generally understood by the person who pays it, neither jihad norzakat thus loses any element of submission and obedience (to God), for the difficulty of sacrificing life and property is what makes man's acceptance of a worship - for which hesacri -fices both life and property - is indeed a great deal of submission and obedience.
Add to this the fact that jihad andzakat , and their likes of rites,are not meant to be merely aspects of upbringing just the individual, but also the achievement of social benefits secured thereby. Accordingly, we observe that obscurity is high- lighted more and more in rites dominated by the educating aspect of the individual, such as prayer and fasting.
Thus do we derive the conclusion that the unseen in worship is strongly linked to its educating role in attaching the individual to his Lord, deepening his relationship with hisLord ...
Inclusion in Worship
When we observe the different Islamic rites, we find in them an element of inclusion of all different aspects of life. Rites have never been limited to specific norms of rituals, nor have they been restricted to only needs which embody the manner of glorifying God, the Praised, the High, like bowing, prostrating; pray-i ng and invoking; rather, they have been extend-ed to include all sectors of human activity.
jihad , for example, is a rite. It is a socialactiv -ity .zakat is a rite. It, too, is a social activity, a financial one. Fasting is a rite. It is a nutritious system. Both ablution andghusl (ceremonial bath) are norms of worship. They are two ways of cleaning the body. This inclusion of worship expresses a general trend of Islamic upbringing aiming at linking man, in all his deeds and activities, with Almighty God, converting each useful deed to worship, no matter what field or type! In order to find a fixed basis for this trend, fixed rites were distributed to the differ-ent fields of human activity,
preparing man to train himself on pouring the spirit of worship over all his good activities, and the spirit of the mosque over all places of his works: in the field, the factory, the ship or the office, as long as his deed is a good one, for the sake of God, the Glorified, the High.
In this respect, Islamic jurisprudence differs from two other religious trends, one: a trend to separate worship from life; and another: a trend to limit life to a narrow frame of worship as do monks and mystics.
As for the first trend, it separates worship from life, leaving worship to be conducted at places made especially for it, requiring man to be present in these places in order to pay God His dues and worship Him, so much so that when he gets out of them to different fields of life, he says farewell to worship, giving himself up to the affairs of his life until he goes back again to those holy places! This duality of worship and different activities of lifeparalyse worship and obstruct its constructiveupbring -ing role to develop man's motifs and make the objective, enabling him to go beyond his ego and narrow personal interests in various scopes of his deeds.
God, the Glorified and Praised, never insisted on being worshipped for the sake of His own Person, since He is independent of His worshippers, so that He would be sat-isfied with a worship of this sort, nor did He ever put Himself as the goal and objective of the human march, so that man may bow his head down to Him within the scope of his worship, and that is it . ! Rather, He meant such worship to build the good person who is capable of going beyond his ego, participating in a bigger role in the march.The exemplary achievement of this cannot be reached except when the spirit of worship gradually extends to other activities of life, for its extension - as we have already seen - means an extension of objectivity of purpose and the inner feeling of responsiblebehaviour , and the ability to go beyond the self to be in harmony with man within his inclusive cosmic frame, with eternity, immortality that both encompass him !
From here came. Islamic jurisprudence to distribute the rites on the different fields of life, urging the practice of ritual rites in each good deed, explaining to man that the difference between the mosque, which is God's house, and man's home is not in the quality of building or slogan; rather, the mosque has deserved to be God's house because it is the yard whereupon manpractises a deed that goes beyond his ego and wherefrom he aims at a bigger goal than that dictated by the logic of limited material-istic interests, and that this yard ought to extend to include all life's stages. Each yard, whereupon man does a deed that goes beyond his self, aiming thereby to achieve the pleasure of God and all people, does, indeed, carry the mosque's spirit.
As for the second trend, which restricts life in a narrow frame of worship, it tried to confine man to the mosque instead of extending the meaning of the mosque to include all the yard which witnesses a good deed ofman ... !
This trend believes that man lives an inner conflict between his soul and body, and that he cannot accomplish one of these two except at the cost of the other. Therefore, in order he may spiritually grow and be elevated, he has to deprive his body from the good things, shrinking his presence on life's stage, battling continuously against his desires and aspirations in different fields of life, until he finally achieves victory over all of them through long abstention and deprivation and the practice of certain rituals.
Islamic jurisprudence rejects this trend, too, because it wantsrites for the sake of life. Lifecannot be confiscated for the sake of rites. At the same time, it tries hard to ensure that a good man pours the spirit of worship over all of hisbehaviour and activity. This must not be taken to imply that he has to stop his different activities in life and confine himself between the altar's walls; rather, it means that he converts all his activities torituals ... !
The mosque is but a base wherefrom a good man sets to conduct his dailybehaviour , but it is not limited to thatbehaviour only! The Holy Prophet has said to AbuDharr al-Ghifari : "If you are able to eat and drink for the sake of none save Allah.... do it!"
Thus, worship serves life. Its upbringing and religious success is determined by itsexten -sion , in meaning and spirit, to all fields of life.
Worship and Senses
Man's perception is not merely by his senses, nor is it merely an intellectual and non- material reasoning either! It is a mixture of reasoning plus material and non-material feeling.
When worship is required to perform itsfunc -tion in a way with which man interacts perfect-ly , and whereby it harmonizes with hischarac -ter , worship is composed of a mind and senses; worship then must contain a sensitive aspect and a non-material intellect, so that worship will be compatible with the worshipper's person-ality , and the worshipper, while performing his worship, lives his attachment to the Absolute with all his existence.
From here, the intention, as well aspsy -cholological contention of worship, always rep- resents its intellectual and non-material aspect, for it links the worshipper to the True Absolute, the Praised, the High, and there are other aspects of worship representing its material aspect. Theqiblah , towards whose direction each worshipper must direct his face while praying;
and al-Baytu'l -haram , visited by both those who perform the pilgrimage and those who do theumrah , around which they both performtawaf ; and the as-safa and al-marwah , between which he runs; andJamratu'l -aqabah , at which he casts stones;
and the Mosque, which is a place especially made for adoration wherein thewor - shipperpractises his worship . all these are things related to the senses and tied to worship: there is no prayer without aqiblah , nortawaf without al-Baytu'l -haram , . and so on, for the sake of satisfying the part related to the senses in the worshipper and giving it its right and share of worship!
This is the midway direction in organizing worship and coining it according to man's in-stincts as well as his particular intellectual and sensual make-up.
Two other directions face him: one of them goes to the extreme in bringing man to his senses, if the expression is accurate at all, treating him as though he had been a non- material intellect, opposing all sensualexpres -sions of his in worship's sphere, for as long as the True Absolute, the Praised One, has noli mited place or time, nor can He be represent-ed by a statute; then His worship has to stand on such a premise, and in the manner which enables the comparative thinking of man to address the Absolute Truth.
Such a trend of thinking is not approved by Islamic jurisprudence, for in spite of its concern about the intellectual aspects brought forth by thehadith : "An hour's contemplation is better than a year's adoration," it also believes that pious worship, no matter how deep, cannot totally fill man's self or occupy his leisure, nor can it attach him to the Absolute Truth in all his existence, for man has never been purely an intellect !
From this realistic and objective starting- point, rites in Islam have been based on both intellectual andsensous bases. The person per forming his prayers ispractising by his intention an intellectual adoration, denying his Lord any limits, measurements, or the like.
For when he starts his prayer with "Allahu akbar (God is Great)", while taking at the same time the holyka'bah as a divine slogan towards which he directs his feelings and movements, so that he lives worship byboth intellect and feeling, logic and emotion, non-materialistically as well as intellectually.
The other trend goes to the extreme in the part related to the senses, changing the slogan to anidenity and the hint to reality, causing the worship of the symbol to substitute what the symbol really stands for, and the direction 70 towards the hint instead of the reality it points to; thus, the worshipping person sinks, in this manner or that, in shirk and paganism.
Such a trend totally annihilates the spirit of worship and it stops its function as a tool linking man and his civilized march to the True Absolute, converting it to a tool for linking him to false absolutes, tosymbols which change - through false intellectual stripping of the mat-ter - to an absolute. Thus, false worship becomes a veil between man and his Lord, instead of a link between both ofthem ... !
Islam has rejected such a trend because Islam convicted paganism in all its norms, smash-ing its idols and putting an end to all false gods, refusing to take any limited thing as a symbol for the True Absolute, God, the Glorified, or as a personification of Him. But it deeply distinguish-ed between the meaning of the idol which it crushed and that of theqiblah it brought, which meaning conveying nothing more than aparticu -lar geographical spot has been divinelyfavoured by linking it to prayer for the sake of satisfying the worshipper's aspect related to the senses.
Paganism is really nothing but a deviated at- tempt to satisfy such an aspect, and Islamic jurisprudence has been able to correct it,provid -ing a straight path in harmonizing between the worship of God, as being dealing with the Absolute Who has neither limit nor person-ification , and the need of man who is composed of feeling and intellect to worship God by both of his feeling and intellect !
The Social Aspect of Worship
Essentially, worship represents the relation- ship between man and his Lord. It provides this relationship with elements of survival andstabil ity .But this has been formulated in the Islamic jurisprudence in a way which often made it an instrument for the relationship between man and his brother man, and this is what we call the social aspect of worship.
Some rituals force, by their nature,segrega -tion and the establishment of social relations among those whopractise that ritual. For example, jihad requires those fighting worship-pers of God to establish among themselves such relations as would naturally happen among the corps of a fighting army.
There are otherrituals which do not necessarily enforce congregating, but in spite of this, they are linked in this way or the other to congregation, in order to bring forth a mix-ture between man's relation with his Lord and his own relation with his brethren men.
Among prayers' rituals is thecongrega -tion wherein the individual's prayer becomes a group's worship, strengthening the ties among the group, deepening the spiritual links among them through their unity inpractising the rituals.
The tenet of pilgrimage has definite timings and places, and each participant in it has topractise it within those timings and places; hence, such participation evolves as a great social activity!
Even the tenet of fasting, which by nature is a purely individual act,is tied to thefitr Feast, as the social facet of this tenet, uniting its participants in their ecstasy of vanquishing their desires and inclinations!
While siding by man's relation with his Lord, the tenet ofzakat creates spontaneously a relation between him and his patron to whom he pays it, or to the poor man, or to the charitable projectchannelled directly byzakat .
So do we observe that the social relation is found in this way or the other side by side with the relation between the worshipper and his Lord in performing one ritualistic practice of a social role in man's life, and it cannot be considered successful except when it becomes a dynamic force properly directing whatever social relations it faces.
The social aspect of worship reaches its zenith through whatever slogans worship puts forth on the social stage as spiritual symbol to the nation's unity, feeling ofgenuinity and distinction. Theqiblah orharam House, is but a slogan put forth by Islamic jurisprudence through its legislation of worship and prayers.
Such a sloganhas not been taken as merely a religious dimension, but it also has its social dimension as the symbol of this nation's unity andgenuinity . Therefore, when thisjurispru -dence legislated for them their newqiblah , Muslims faced a great deal of harassment from the mongers, as the Holy Qur'an states, for those mongers realized the social implication of this jurisprudence, and that it was aphenom -enon which endowed the nation its personality, making it an even nation:
Thus have We made of you anummah justly balanced, that ye might be witnesses over the nations, and the Apostle a witness over yourselves; and We appointed theqiblah to which thouwast used, only to test those who followed the Apostle from those who would turn on their heels (from the Faith). Indeed it was (a change) mo-mentous , except to those guided by Allah.And never would Allah make your faith of no effect. Allah is to all people most surely full of kindness, most Merciful.
We see the turning of thy face (forguid -ance ) to the heavens: now shallWe turn thee to aqiblah that shall please thee. Turn thenthy face in the direction of the sacred Mosque: wherever ye are, turn your faces in that direction . (Qur'an, 2:143- 144)These are just few remarks on rites in Islamic jurisprudence.
In addition to all this, there are other general important lines representing the role of rites in man's life and their social characteri stics as we have discussed above, the roles and detailed particulars of each rite. For each rite brought forth by Islamicjurisprudence there are effects, characteristics and hues of output for the worshipper, and for man's civilized march as a whole. There is no room here to deal with that in detail. Therefore, we leave the roles, detailed particulars and the exposition of axioms and benefits implied in the instructions of the legislator concerning each of these Islamic rites to another level of discourse. We have already given some of ourstudents permission to cover that.
From God do we derive assistance, and Him do we implore not to deprive us of thehonour of worshipping Him, praying Him to reckon us and His pleased servants, to forgive us through His Mercy and Bounty; verily, His Mercy has encompassed all things:
Why should I not worship Him Who has created me, and to Him do ye return?! (Qur'an, 36:22)
This book has been finished onJamadi al-awwal 2, 1396Hijri .
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds; prayers and salutationsbe upon Muhammad and all those purely-guided ones among his progeny.
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