A Free Slave

The desire to determine the ultimate purpose of human life compels us to understand human beings better. Humans can’t be defined according to functionalism. We are not labeled as homo sapiens just because we were able to function/pretend like a conscious being, hence, passing the turing test . According to the Islamic tradition, Humans can be defined in terms of heart, spirit, original disposition (Fitrah), ego (Nafs), and intellect which is a function of the heart. The focus of this article will be Fitrah.

A child is born with the natural instinct to believe in God(Allah) which is referred to as Fitrah. However, the upbringing and environmental factors can make it clouded. Following are examples of the methods that can help uncloud Fitrah.

• Spirituality: Nature of our relationship with God and why Allah is worthy of worship?
• Rational arguments: Thinking critically and arguments based on logical reasoning. e.g Kalam cosmological argument.
• Revelation: Listening Quran and pondering over its meaning.
• Character: Positive character of a purpose-driven person.

• Experiences: Positive experiences, traumas, and experiencing the natural beauty of the world can serve the purpose of unclouding the Fitrah. Experiences especially the negative ones are a powerful reminder to awaken the truth within. We all go through phases of life when we feel helpless which coerce us to rely on the omnipotent God. However, as soon as that hardship is over we tend to go back to chasing the materialistic things in life again. The Quran describes such a event elegantly:

  If they happen to be aboard a ship ˹caught in a storm˺, they cry out to Allah ˹alone˺ in sincere devotion. But as soon as He delivers them ˹safely˺ to shore, they associate ˹others with Him once again˺. The Quran 29:65 (Translated by Dr. Mustafa Khattab)

What is worship?

Worship constitutes of followings acts.

• Know God: Knowing Allah means recognizing that He is the unique creator and maintainer of everything that exists. His names and attributes are unique and maximally perfect. The focus is to acknowledge that He is one and only one worthy of worship. Associating partners with Allah is the gravest sin in Islam.
• Love God
• Obey God: Submission to His will
• Direct acts of worship to God: Gratitude, praise, prayer, and supplication.

Becoming a free slave

The definition of worship described above can be universalized and applied to other ideologies. Nationalism is one of them and is described in the figure below.

There are a plethora of ideologies that we knowingly or unknowingly worship e.g materialism, communism, and in particular scientism and hedonism being most prevalent in today’s society. When we ponder, We come to the realization that we are worshiping one or the other thing in this world. A human can never become completely free. In the words of Rousseau “Man is born free but everywhere is in chains.” The narrative of the Quran is that if you worship only one God then He will set you free from the shackles of other ideologies.

Allah has given an example: There is a man (enslaved and) owned by some partners having a rivalry with each other, and (on the other hand,) there is a man solely owned by a single man. Can they be equal in comparison? Praise be to Allah! (The truth stands established). But, most of them do not know. — The Quran 39:29

Hence, the only way to become a free slave is to worship one and only God. Allah liberates your soul from being enslaved to all the other masters.

Why Allah is worthy of worship?

• God’s right to worship is a necessary fact of His existence. We praise the people by the virtue of who they are all the time. For instance, if you like a football player you would admire and praise him by the virtue of his skills and athletic ability even though his skills and attributes are not perfect. Therefore, we need to worship God by the virtue of who He is, as He is maximally perfect in His attributes.
• God has created and sustains everything.
• Allah is the most loving. The attributes of God can’t be compared with human attributes. A mother needs to love her children in order to make herself complete. However, God does not need anything to make Him complete, and yet He is the most merciful and loving.
• It is in our nature to worship(Fitrah)
• The rational arguments also lead us to the conclusion that only God is worthy of worship. More one this in upcoming articles.

Why did God create us to worship?

The creation of human beings is the manifestation of God’s names and attributes. A painter is regarded as a painter because she manifests her artistic skills by painting. The painting is the manifestation of the painter’s attributes. Likewise, God has manifested His names and attribute by creating human beings as He is Al-Khaliq(The creator).

God’s wisdom can not be comprehended by using human’s limited understanding. Even if there was no one to worship God it does not take from the fact that God is worthy of worship. As we discussed that God does not need anything to make Him complete as his attributes are unlike human attributes. Instead, human needs worship to be free slave. So the worship is necessary for the benefit of humans not for God.

The article is based on a seminar by sapience institute: Born To Worship — explaining how everyone worships and why Allah is worthy of our devotion

Feedback is most welcomed.