For this reason...

For this reason, worship [ ‘ibādah ] denotes submission and humility with respect to Allah and no other condition is involved. Concordance between the meaning of supplication [du‘ā] and worship [‘ibādah] In Qur’anic verses, the words worship and supplicate (or invocation) have been used synonymously. We assert that these two words have one and the same meaning. Worship [ ‘ibādah ], as has been clarified, means submission, docility and obedience.

Supplication or invocation [ du‘ā ] also means the same, and there are Qur’anic verses which prove this: First verse: “And they invoke none but females besides Him, and invoke none but a froward Satan.” [^10] “ Majma‘ al-Bayān ” asserts that ‘ they invoke ’ means ‘ they worship ’, that is to say, they worship none but idols and Satan. It ought not to be left unsaid that worshipping idols is the same as worshipping Satan because worshipping idols was done upon orders from Satan.

It is clear that worshipping Satan means obeying him, and listening to his orders. It has thus been written in “ Tafsīr al-Mīzān ”, “The first ‘ they invoke ’ [in the above quoted verse] means worship and the second one denotes obedience, because polytheists used to ask idols to alleviate their needs.”[^11] The assertion of “ Tafsīr al-Mīzān ” that there is a difference between the two is, in my opinion, not correct, but that of “ Majma‘ al-Bayān ” that they both mean worship is correct, because worship means the same as obedience.

Second verse: “Say, ‘O people! If you are in doubt about my religion, then [know that] I do not worship those whom you worship besides Allah. Rather, I worship only Allah, who causes you to die, and I have been commanded to be among the faithful, and that dedicate yourself to the religion, as a hanīf, and never be one of the polytheists.

Nor invoke besides Allah that which neither benefits you nor can do you any harm; for if you do so, then you will indeed be among the wrongdoers’.” [^12] It becomes clear from the above quoted verse that the words ‘worship’ and ‘invoke’ are used synonymously; for instance, ‘ you worship besides Allah ’ and ‘ invoke besides Allah ’.