If the deed practised by the worshipper is understood in all its dimensions...

If the deed practised 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 benefit practised 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 with obedi- 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 and yielding require the assump- tion of the existence of an unseen aspect and the attempt to question this unseen aspect of worship. Demanding its interpretation and limi- tation of interest means stripping worship off i 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 of zakat 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 of zakat is generally understood by the person who pays it, neither jihad nor zakat 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 he sacri- fices both life and property - is indeed a great deal of submission and obedience.

Add to this the fact that jihad and zakat, 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.