DEVOTION TO GOD,
SERVICE TO MAN
Islamic acts of worship are primarily intended for the remembrance and worship of God. However, their structure is such that they also serve as a means for the moral development of humanity. In performing these rituals, Muslims not only fulfill their duty to God but also cultivate the discipline needed to fulfill their responsibilities toward fellow human beings.
Take, for example, the prescribed act of worship known as salat (prayer). Along with remembrance of God and supplication to God, salat has also become a means of promoting equality among people. In the congregational salat, performed five times a day, worshippers stand shoulder to shoulder to offer their prayers. Whether someone is rich or poor, powerful or powerless, educated or uneducated, all stand on the same floor in the same row. No distinction remains between them. In this way, salat, while being an act of worship, also becomes a powerful lesson in human equality.
Consider another prescribed act of worship—sawm
(fasting) during the month of Ramadan. During this month, every individual refrains from food and drink from dawn to dusk. No matter how wealthy a person may be, they too must go without food just as everyone else does. In this way, fasting becomes both a form of devotion to God and a means of personally experiencing the needs of the less fortunate. Fasting not only turns a person into a devoted worshipper of God but also helps develop empathy for others.
The nature of zakat (almsgiving) remains fundamentally the same. In zakat, a person allocates a portion of their earnings and gives it, in the name of God, to the poor and the needy. In this manner, zakat functions both as an act of worship to God and as a form of service to others. By giving zakat, an individual recognises God as the true Giver and simultaneously reinforces their sense of responsibility towards fellow human beings.
Hajj, the pilgrimage to the Kaaba in Makkah, is another obligatory act of worship in Islam. During Hajj, pilgrims are instructed to avoid arguments and conflict. (Quran, 2:197) Throughout this journey, one encounters people of various kinds, yet the pilgrim consciously avoids confrontation out of concern that it may compromise the validity of their pilgrimage. In this way, Hajj becomes not only a journey of devotion to God but also an annual exercise in peaceful coexistence with others.
