An excerpt from a khutbah discussing what it means to truly worship Allah.
Summary:
– Allah says, ” يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اعْبُدُوا رَبَّكُمُ – O mankind, worship your Lord”. The word اعْبُدُوا has two origins: 1) to worship 2) to enslave/be a slave of someone
– Worshiping Allah is doing things that make Allah happy.
– Being a slave of Allah is being happy with what Allah does to us.
– Allah gives us several reasons to worship Him in the ayaat without even mentioning how to worship Him, highlighting how important it is to make the “why” a part of our discourse.
The discussion is based on the following ayaat from Surah Baqarah (2):
“O mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, that you may become righteous – (21) [He] who made for you the earth a bed [spread out] and the sky a ceiling and sent down from the sky, rain and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you. So do not attribute to Allah equals while you know [that there is nothing similar to Him]. (22)”
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اعْبُدُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ وَالَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ ﴿٢١﴾ الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الْأَرْضَ فِرَاشًا وَالسَّمَاءَ بِنَاءً وَأَنزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَأَخْرَجَ بِهِ مِنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ رِزْقًا لَّكُمْ فَلَا تَجْعَلُوا لِلَّـهِ أَندَادًا وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ ﴿٢٢﴾
