Remembering the abundant blessings of God can be the...

📌Remembering the abundant blessings of God can be the strongest motive for worshipping Him. In the litanies { munajat } of the infallible Imams ( ‘a ), the blessings of God, including those that are related to those prior to the birth of man, are initially mentioned, and in this way man shows his love to God and than he humbly presents his requests.

God also says: ﴿ فَلْيَعْبُدُوا رَبَّ هَذَا الْبَيْتِ ٭ الَّذِي أَطْعَمَهُم مِّن جُوعٍ وَآمَنَهُم مِّنْ خَوْفٍ ﴾ “Let them worship the Lord of this House, who has fed them {and saved them} from hunger, and secured them from fear.” [^4] In another verse, man is asked to worship God who created him. 4. Human nature {fitrah} Worship is an instinctive and integral part of human nature. Being innate, man sometimes treads the correct path and worships God.

When misled, he is drawn to the worship of the sun, stones, wood, the cow, money, spouses, and taghut s.[^5] The prophets ( ‘a ) have not come to instill the sense of worship in man. Rather, their mission is to guide this natural disposition in the right direction. ‘Ali ( ‘a ) said: فَبَعَثَ اللهُ مُحَمَّداً بِالْحَقّ لِيُخرِجَ عِبادَهُ مِنْ عِبادَةِ الأَوْثانِ إِلى عِبادَتِهِ.

“God thus sent down Muhammad in truth to stop His servants from idol-worship, and invite them to His worship.”[^6] Most of the Qur’anic verses related to worship invite people to the divine unity in worship { tawhid fi’l-‘ibadah } and not to the spirit of worship, because that spirit of worship already exists in man. It is like the desire for food which exists in every infant, but if it is not guided, he will eat mud instead of food and enjoy eating it!

Were it not for the leadership of the prophets ( ‘a ), the direction of this instinct would be elsewhere, and instead of God, false and futile deities would be worshipped. Just as during the forty days of the absence of Hadhrat[^7] Musa (Moses) ( ‘a ), the people through the temptation of Samiri started worshipping the golden calf. Role of worship Worship means devoting all the dimensions of life to the divine will and pleasure.

Giving divine meaning to all activities has significant effects on the life of man, some of which are the following: 1. Making the perishable perpetual Man and all his efforts will perish, but whatever is done for His pleasure will remain as an asset.

✦ ✦ ✦