ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A General Look At Rites The Social Aspect of Worship Essentially, worship represents the relation- ship between man and his Lord. It provides this relationship with elements of survival and stabil ity. But this has been formulated in the Islamic j urisprudence 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 who practise 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 other rituals 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 the congrega- 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 in practising the rituals.

The tenet of pilgrimage has definite timings and places, and each participant in it has to practise 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 the fitr 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 of zakat creates spontaneously a relation between him and his patron to whom he pays it, or to the poor man, or to the charitable project channelled directly by zakat.

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 of genuinity and distinction.