Concept of Worship in Islam
Worship is generally taken to near performing ritual acts like prayer, fasting, charity etc. This understanding of worship is only one part of the meaning of worship in Islam. Worship is a comprehensive term. It includes all open and secret acts which are liked by Allah and which are the means of winning His pleasure.
The concept of worship in Islam includes almost everything in any individual’s activities. For instance, Islamic beliefs, the prescribed prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, recitation of the Quran, love of Allah and His Prophet, patience, truthfulness, honesty, fulfilment of promise, obedience to parents, kindness to neighbours, orphans and needy and similar good deeds that contribute to the welfare of one’s fellow beings are included in the term worship.
In other words, worship is everything that one does for the pleasure of Allah. Worship is the objective for which mankind was created. The Quran says: “I have only created firms and men that they may serve Me.” (51:56) This means that Allah who is man’s Creator, Master and Provider deserves that worship should be directed only towards Him.
The Quran repeatedly enjoins the Muslims to accept Allah as the only one worthy of submission, to accept Him as the law giver, to obey His orders, to adopt the code prescribed by Him and consider only that as lawful which he has declared so and treat that as unlawful what He has forbidden. The concept of worship in Islam is so comprehensive that it includes all the positive activities of an individual.
It regulates human behaviour at all levels — individual, social, economic, political and spiritual. It trains the individual in such a way that he loves his Creator the most and thereby gains the will to wipe out all evil and oppression from society.