The First Condition – Sincerity
The Order to Worship Allaah in Sincerity:
Allaah ordered us in His Book (the Quraan) to worship Him in sincerity. He said:
{ He is the Ever Living, there is no one that has the right to be worshipped but He, so invoke Him (call upon Him = make Du’aa to Him), making all your worship sincere for Him Alone. All praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the Worlds(all that exists) } [Surat Ghaafir (65)].
{ He is the Ever Living }; He was, is , and will always be Living. He does not die, while everything else does.
{ There is no one that has the right to be worshipped but He, so }, meaning: if you believe that He is the Ever Living and that there is no true God but He, then:
{ Invoke Him (make Du’aa to Him), making all your worship sincere for Him Alone }, meaning: worship this God in sincerity; do not associate any other thing in His worship. This is done by doing the righteous deeds sincerely for Allaah's sake only, and not to show off, and not to set up rivals (partners) with Him in worship.
In another Aayah, Allaah said: { So, call upon (invoke = make Du’aa to) Allah, making your worship sincere for Him (Alone), even if the disbelievers hated (it) } [Surat Ghaafir (14)].
{ So, call upon (invoke = make Du’aa to) Allah, making your worship sincere for Him (Alone) }. Again, Allaah says that Du’aa (invocation) and all other acts of worship (apparent and secret) must be performed in sincerity, meaning: directed to Allaah alone.
{ Even if the disbelievers hated (it) }, meaning: do not care if the disbelievers hate what you do of worshipping Allaah (alone) in sincerity. Do not let that turn you away from your Religion.
In some other Aayaat, Allaah orders the prophet (SAAWS) to worship Him in sincerity and to inform the people of this.
Allaah said: { Surely, We have sent down the Book to you (O Muhammad) in truth, So worship Allah(Alone), making all your acts of worship sincere for Allah's sake only } [Surat Az-Zumar (2)].
And he said: { Say (O Muhammad): "Surely, I was commanded to worship Allah (Alone), by making all my acts of worship sincere for Allah's sake only } [Surat Az-Zumar (11)].
Even the nations before us were ordered to do the same thing; to worship Allaah in sincerity. Allaah said, talking about the people of the Scripture (the Jews and the Christians):
{ And they (the people of the Scripture) were only commanded to worship Allaah (alone), performing all their acts of worship in sincerity, and turn away from anything else that is worshipped besides Allaah, and to perform the Prayer and to give the Zakat. And that is the correct Religion } [Surat Al-Bayyinah (5)].
{ And they (the people of the Scripture) were only commanded to }, meaning: in all previous legislation.
{ Worship Allaah (alone), performing all their acts of worship in sincerity }, meaning: to perform all acts of worship (apparent and hidden) with the intention of pleasing Allaah, seeking His reward, and avoiding His punishment.
{ And to turn away from anything else that is worshipped besides Allaah }. This is the translation of the meaning of one word in the Aayah; the word is (Honafaa’), which we will talk about a little more.
{ And to perform the Prayer and to give the Zakat }. Allaah specified these two acts of worship because of their high status.
{ And that is the correct Religion (path) }, meaning: the one that leads to Paradise, while all other paths lead to the Hellfire, we seek refuge with Allaah from the Fire.
Now back to that word (Honafaa’). The origin in the Arabic language is (Hanaf), with the (H) pronounced like the (H) in (Al-Hamdu lillaah). It means to turn away from something by turning to another. It is used in this Aayah (and other Aayaat) to mean: turning to Allaah, alone, and turning away from everything else other than Him.
This is the sincerity of worship that we were talking about, and it is the true meaning of: Laa Ilaaha Illa Allaah (= no true God but Allaah = there is nothing else that deserves to be worshipped but Allaah).
And this is a topic that deserves a little more mention.
To be continued, if Allaah wills.