Subtleties and Allusions

The secrets of placing “iyyā-ka” before “naʿbudu”:

The exclusivity of worship and seeking help in the Divine Essence could have also been expressed with phrases such as “lā naʿbudu illā iyyāka” (we do not worship except You) or “naʿbuduka wa lā naʿbudu ghayraka” (we worship You and we do not worship other than You). However, in this noble verse, it is expressed by placing the object (“iyyāka”) first. There are secrets hidden in choosing this specific style, some of which we will point out:

A monotheist who considers the Divine Essence to be the embodiment and origin of all perfections and beauties, and believes in His absolute lordship and ownership, first and foremost sees Him and by placing “iyyāka” first, considers worship to be His exclusive right.

A person who has torn the veil of heedlessness only sees Him, and that is why he speaks of Him first. For this reason, the word “shahīd” in the noble verse “ʾa_-wa-lam yakfi bi-rabbika_ ʾannahu ʿalā kulli shayʾin shahīdun” (41:53) means “witnessed” (mashhūd), not “witness” (shāhid). That is, a person first sees God in his view of everything, then sees others which are His signs. And since God is a Witnessed One above all other witnessed things, the word “ʿalā” is used for this reason.

The ease of worship for those who witness the beauty of God:

For a worshipper who first sees the Worshipped One and recognizes Him as pure beauty and absolute perfection, the hardship and difficulty of worship becomes easy. Worship for the wayfarers and travelers on the path of truth has difficulties in the beginning, and based on this, patience in obedience is one of the best virtues and the head of faith: “For patience is to faith as the head is to the body.”(261)

The Glorious God has referred to prayer as a great and heavy matter, and this is for those who have not reached the station of humility (khushūʿ): “And indeed, it is difficult except for the humble.” (2:45) Although establishing prayer does not require much opportunity, many groups turn away from it, because self-centeredness does not allow a person to acknowledge and express servitude, and it is difficult for a person claiming independence to rub their forehead on the ground. However, for the humble ones who have witnessed the beauty and splendor of the Worshipped One, expressing servitude is easy and worship is sweet and simple for them.

One who prays with difficulty, although they have acted according to their duty, prayer is not pleasurable for them. But those who witness the beauty of the Worshipped One truly enjoy it and suffer from being separated from it. That is why they say: If the entire life of this world was one night, we would spend it all in prostration or bowing.(262)

The Messenger of God (s.a.w.), who was always immersed in witnessing the beauty of the Glorious God and for whom separation from God was a cause of suffering, considered prayer to be the delight of his eyes: “The delight of my eyes has been placed in prayer.”(263) And at the time of prayer, he would say to his special muʾadhdhin Bilāl al-Ḥabashī: “Give us comfort, O Bilāl!”(264)

Although Satan tempts humans in all situations, he strives with all his forces to prevent the worshipper from having presence of heart during prayer.

Satan’s temptations and interference in mundane matters may seem minor. However, when a person embarks on a path of worship, Satan mobilizes all his forces and progeny to deceive the devout. To guard against such comprehensive attacks, one must first clearly identify the object of worship (maʿbūd). Only then should one discuss the act of worship. This sequence prevents Satan from misleading us by presenting a false object of worship. Discussing worship without first establishing the object of worship allows Satan to introduce misleading thoughts, leading us astray.

Through his suggestions, Satan carves idols for the disbelievers and idol worshippers, and for the believers, he makes salvation from the burning fire of Hell and attainment of the blessings of Paradise the object of worship.(265)

The three pillars of worship:

Worship is built on three pillars: the object of worship (maʿbūd), the worshipper (ʿābid), and the act of worship (ʿamal ʿibādī), with the object of worship being the most crucial. If the worshipper perceives himself, his worship, and his object of worship, he falls into the trap of the Trinity, failing to realize the essence of pure tawḥīd, which is the state of absolute annihilation (fanāʾ). If he recognizes the worship and the object of worship but not himself, he remains in a state of duality and has not reached the stage of annihilation. In this scenario, he does not achieve pure monotheism (muwaḥḥid) and annihilation. However, if he loses sight of both himself and his worship, focusing solely on the object of worship, he then attains annihilation and embodies pure monotheism.(266)

By giving precedence to “You alone” (iyyāka), the worshipper sees only the object of worship, and there is no longer any talk of the worshipper and worship, because all his effort is directed toward meeting the object of worship, and seeing the worshipper and worship is also overshadowed by observing the object of worship.

The three components of every conversation:

Every conversation has three components: the speaker (mutakallim), the addressee (mukhāṭab), and the speech (khiṭāb). Among these three components, sometimes the speaker is the primary element while the other two are secondary, sometimes the addressee is primary, and sometimes, like in ordinary conversations between two people of equal status, the speaker, the speech, and the addressee are all on the same level.

In formal addresses, in order to observe etiquette, the addressee is mentioned first. The fact that in our conventional conversations, we mention the name of the addressee first to maintain their dignity is a matter of convention and formality. However, when it comes to addressing God, the Glorified, the dignity and primacy of the addressee has an existential root, and the addressee is the primary element while the speech and the speaker are secondary. This formal address is the product of an existential address in which the speaker is primary and the speech and the addressee are secondary.

To explain, in formal addresses, first comes the speaker, then the speech, and in the third stage, the other party is characterized as the addressee by the speaker’s address. However, in existential addresses, in the beginning there is the speaker and His speech, and then the addressee comes into being as a result of the speech, because the existential speech itself creates the addressee: “His command, when He intends something, is only to say to it, ‘Be!’ and it comes into being” (36:82). In the existential address, the speech of the speaker and His creative “Be!” (kun) bring the addressee into existence, not that God, the Glorified, says “Be!” to an existing addressee: “Indeed His speech, glory be to Him, is an action that He originates and creates”.(267)

Therefore, since our conventional forms of address in prayer and the like are preceded by a real address, they have an existential root. That is, we were first created by the existential address of God, and then we address our Creator. So He is the origin and our existence is a branch, and therefore we must observe etiquette when speaking with God, the Glorified, and mention His name first, not start with ourselves and say, “I am speaking to You.” So just as in existence, “Be!” (kun), meaning the command of creation, precedes “it is” (yakūn), and in conventional address as well, etiquette requires that we mention first the one we are addressing, meaning the very Speaker and Commander who created our existence with “Be!”, and such a statement is the product of the harmony of conventional matters with existential ones.

And: All blessings without exception are from God, the Glorified: “And whatever blessing you have, it is from God” (16:53), and every good deed that a servant performs and for which he receives a reward is enveloped by two blessings, one before and one after. For the grace (tawfīq) to recognize one’s duty and perform it is a blessing from God, the Glorified, and the reward that he receives as a result of performing his duty is another blessing, which is also from God. So in every good deed, including worship, man is situated between two blessings, and both blessings are from God, and no share remains for the servant. Based on this analysis, man has no entitlement vis-à-vis the blessing of obedience and submission to God.

The Qur’an applies this general principle to specific cases. For example, it considers the servant’s repentance to be surrounded and encompassed by two blessings: one is the blessing of being granted the ability to repent (tawfīq al-tawba), and the other is the blessing of its acceptance. Both blessings are also referred to as repentance (tawba). Thus, every repentance by the servant is encompassed by two acts of repentance from God.

Regarding the first repentance, the Qur’an states: “Then Adam received from his Lord [some] words, and He accepted his repentance.” (2:37) Adam (a.s.) received some words from his Lord, so God turned to him in repentance, meaning that God turned to him with His grace. Divine grace guides the servant and grants him the ability to repent. It also states: “Allah has already forgiven the Prophet and the Muhajirin and the Ansar” (9:117). God forgave the Prophet, the Emigrants, and the Helpers during times of hardship and difficulty. In Qur’anic usage, this repentance is accompanied by the preposition ʿalā (upon), indicating that the grace of the Master is bestowed upon the servant from above.

Regarding the second repentance of God, He states: “Indeed, it is Allah who accepts repentance from His servants.” (9:104) The combination of the three repentances—meaning one repentance of the servant and two repentances of God—is mentioned in this noble verse: “And [He also forgave] the three who were left behind... then He turned to them so they could repent. Indeed, Allah is the Accepting of Repentance, the Merciful.” (9:118)

The reality is that man is always surrounded and encompassed by divine blessings, and if he cannot perceive the interconnectedness of these blessings, it is because he sees himself, otherwise there is nothing separating the unified expanse of divine blessings except man himself. Just as there is no veil between the Creator and the creation except the creation itself: “There is no veil between Him and His creation except His creation. He is veiled without a veil and concealed without a concealing cover.”(268) If man does not see himself, then wherever he looks, he will see nothing but the Face of God: “So wherever you turn, there is the Face of God.” (2:115)

Therefore, since the grace of worship is from God, the Glorified, the etiquette of worship necessitates that we do not put our name before the name of the Worshipped. It is He who makes man thirsty with one grace, and with another grace, brings the thirsty man to the fountain of Kawthar. And He attributes nothing to man except thirst, which is why it is stated in the supplications: “Your favor is the beginning,”(269) “All of Your blessings are the beginning.”(270) Your blessings are initial, and we are not capable of doing anything to deserve reward.

From what has been mentioned regarding the secret of putting iyyāka before naʿbudu, one can also infer the secret of putting iyyāka before nastaʿīn.

Worship is the path to nearness to God

Worship is the only way to draw closer to God Almighty, and for this reason, in the Noble Qur’an, narrations, and supplications of the Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.), when discussing the various aspects and stations of the prophets and saints, the first topic is their worship. In the tashahhud of prayer as well, before testifying to the prophethood of the Noble Prophet (s.a.w.), the worship and servitude of His Holiness is mentioned: “And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger.” This is because worship is the relationship of the servant with the Master, while prophethood is the aspect of the servant’s connection with other servants of God. And since man’s relationship with God takes precedence over his relationship with other people, the servitude of the Messenger of God (s.a.w.) has virtue over his prophethood, just as the perfections of other prophets are also the fruit of their worship.

The Qur’an, just as it pays attention to the affirmative aspect of worship and values prayer and those who pray, it also speaks strongly about its negative aspect: “So woe to those who pray (muṣallīn)—those who are heedless of their prayer, those who make show [of their deeds]” (107:4-6).(271) They only consider God as their object of worship and source of aid in speech, but their practical and scholarly way of life is not to confine worship and seeking help to God Almighty alone.

Worship, the purpose of creation, and the path to certainty

The Qur’an, in explaining the servant and worship, considers worship to be the purpose of his creation: “And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me” (51:56). Man is like a seed whose intermediate goal is to become a tree, and whose higher goal is to bear fruit, and it has other goals ahead of it.

Although based on some verses of the Noble Qur’an, worship is the purpose of human creation, it is an intermediate goal, not the ultimate one. This is because the supreme goal, in relation to which worship is considered a means, is attaining certainty: “And worship your Lord until there comes to you the certainty” (15:99). In any case, worship is the goal of the created, not the Creator. It is not the case that God created humans to achieve a goal such as being worshipped, such that He would fail to reach His goal due to the disobedience of the disobedient. This is because God, the Glorified, is absolutely self-sufficient, and it is impossible for the absolutely needless to do something in order to achieve a goal. Therefore, it has been explicitly stated in the Noble Qur’an that if all humans and other worshippers on earth disbelieve in God, not a speck of dust will settle on the hem of His grandeur: “If you disbelieve, you and all those on earth entirely, indeed God is self-sufficient, praiseworthy” (14:8).

Explanation that the action of every agent is in order to attain perfection:

If the perfection itself is not unlimited, it seeks a higher perfection, and this chain continues until it ends in a goal that is itself unlimited perfection. Now, if the Absolutely Perfect performs an action, it is not correct to assume that it is for reaching a goal or objective and pursuing a perfection, because He Himself is the Absolute Perfection and the sole ultimate goal and objective of all seekers of perfection.

If such a being performs an action to attain a perfection that He lacks, it means that what we assumed to be absolute perfection was not absolute perfection, but rather a limited being that works to compensate for its deficiency and attain the missing perfection. Beyond unlimited perfection there is no perfection that He would want to reach through an action.

Therefore, the Noble Qur’an has introduced God, the Glorified, as the active origin (mabdaʾ fāʿilī) and the ultimate goal of creation: “He is the First and the Last” (57:3). Just as He has no other agent, there is also no end or goal beyond Him.

The essence of this is that, from the perspective of the Noble Qur’an, worship is the purpose of creation. And since the grace of God’s creativity reaches us at every moment: “Everyone in the heavens and earth asks Him; every day He is engaged in some work” (55:29), worship also has no boundaries. Just as the occurrence of worship is tied to the occurrence of creation, its continuance is also dependent on the continuance of creation. A human being who abandons worship on the path to their perfection is like a tree that has ceased growing and becoming sturdier.(272)

As was briefly mentioned, worship is not the ultimate goal of human creation; just as becoming a tree is not the ultimate goal for a seed, but rather an intermediate goal, and its ultimate goal is to bear fruit and yield produce. Worship is also an intermediate goal for human beings, not the ultimate one. The purpose of worship is to attain certainty (yaqīn): “And worship your Lord until certainty comes to you” (15:99). Worship is the path to reaching certainty, and until a person reaches certainty, they are susceptible to decline and change. But when they reach certainty, they find rest.

Through worship, a human being attains the lofty station of certainty. As long as they rely on worship, they are people of certainty. If they abandon worship for a moment, they become tainted by disobedience. And if they deny worship, they fall into disbelief, apostasy, and eternal deprivation. The meaning of the noble verse “And worship your Lord until certainty comes to you” is not that a person has no need for worship upon reaching certainty. This is because the word “until” (ḥattā) in this noble verse is to express the benefit and blessing of worship, not its limit, such that worship would cease upon reaching it. This verse explains the path to attaining the blessing of certainty.

Worship; that is the goal of creation:

The worship that is the goal of creation is a worship that bears the fruit of certainty (yaqīn). Worshippers who lack inner light, purity, and spiritual vision do not have such worship. They are like trees that have grown tall and sprouted leaves but have not borne fruit. The Qur’an says about them: “So woe to those who pray” (107:4). One who prays merely to fulfill an obligation is afflicted with this woe, but those who abandon prayer altogether have an even greater woe.

The point is that the ultimate goal does not mean that upon attaining it, the essence of worship is abandoned. For that noble goal is founded upon worship. So how can that lofty goal remain if worship is abandoned? It is like the fruit of a tree, the continuance of which depends on the survival of the tree. The fruit being the ultimate goal does not mean that when the fruit appears, the tree ceases to exist. If a distinction is made between the limit of non-existence and the goal, the matter becomes quite clear. Of course, if what is meant by the word “until” (ḥattā) in the aforementioned verse is the limit of the non-existence of worship, then certainly what is meant by certainty (yaqīn) is death itself. With this analysis, the meaning of the traditions narrated on this subject becomes clear.

Devotional certainty and its effects:

In the previous discussion, based on the noble verse “Worship your Lord until certainty comes to you” (15:99), it was stated that certainty (yaqīn) is the product and benefit of worship, not its limit of non-existence. Now we must explain the reality that the certainty resulting from worship is different from the certainty obtained through intellectual work or witnessing a miracle.

Certainty is attained through various means, and the certainty resulting from different factors and causes is not the same. For example, the certainty that Pharaoh and his entourage gained by witnessing the miracle of Moses’ staff was not a certainty that would guide them from darkness to the light of guidance. When Moses’ staff turned into a raging serpent and devoured the magic of the magicians, the truth of Moses (a.s.) became clear to Pharaoh and his people, but despite having such certainty, they denied the clear and enlightening signs of the truth: “And they rejected them, while their [inner] selves were convinced thereof, out of injustice and haughtiness. So see how was the end of the corrupters” (27:14). Similarly, the scientific certainty of scholars without action is ineffective, but the light of certainty that arises from the lamp of worship and shines upon the soul of the worshipper is effective and saves the worshipper.

The origin and secret of human criminality and succumbing to sin is that a sweet glaze of pleasures has been drawn over sins, and the ordinary and inexperienced person sees the outward glaze but is unable to see its interior. They move forward with the desire for its sweet appearance and fall into the trap of its interior. Those who have attained the light of certainty through worship have the ability to witness the interior and exterior, and they never taint their hands with sin, which has a deadly poison and burning fire within.

Those who have attained the knowledge of certainty (ʿilm al-yaqīn) through worship, according to the Noble Qur’an, will have the ability to witness the fire of Hell: “Competition in [worldly] increase diverts you... No! If you only knew with knowledge of certainty (ʿilm al-yaqīn), you would surely see the Hellfire” (102:1-6).

Those who have escaped the trap of vying for increase

Those who have escaped the trap of vying for increase(273) and have been adorned with the knowledge of certainty, which is the product of worship (and not reasoning and proof), now see Hell; just as the companions of the Master of Martyrs (a.s.) on the night of ʿĀshūrāʾ, after they had resolved to support him, witnessed their abode in Paradise by his presentation (not that they had fought due to witnessing or to reach it).

Therefore, the certainty resulting from worship is the same as witnessing, and since its levels are also infinite, the ultimate goal of worship will also be infinite.

The scope of the plural pronoun in “We Worship”:

The scope of the plural pronoun in the word “we worship” (naʿbudu) depends on the level of knowledge of the worshipper. The average worshipper’s intention by “You alone do we worship” (iyyāka naʿbudu) is himself, with all his perceptive and motivational aspects, provided that all his external and internal senses are present in worship. Superior to him is a worshipper whose intention by “we worship” is more general than himself and other worshippers. But a worshipper who considers all the worlds of existence to be under the lordship of God, the Glorified, and all to be worshipping Him, sees the scope of all the worlds of existence through the window of the first-person plural pronoun in “we worship”.

The Noble Qur’an introduces the entire world as a servant of God, the Glorified: “There is none in the heavens and earth but that they come to the All-Merciful as a servant.” (19:93) On the Day of Resurrection, when all the celestial and terrestrial beings come as servants to the presence of God, the All-Merciful, their servitude will become manifest.

If a person realizes that every being is a servant of God and their relationship with God is that of a servant and master, they will find not only themselves and all their limbs and faculties, but all the worlds of existence to be in a state of worship, and see themselves in harmony with the great caravan of worshippers. Such a worshipper does not worship God to attain a particular comfort like enjoying Paradise or being saved from a specific suffering like the fire of Hell. For they consider Paradise and Hell to also be servants of the Lord of the Worlds and the absolute Master, in harmony and accompaniment with the great caravan of worshippers of the True Exalted. Therefore, they only seek His countenance from God, and this is the pure religion exclusive to God the Glorified: “To God belongs the pure religion” (39:3), “Say: It is God I worship, dedicating my religion exclusively to Him” (39:14).

Divine Unity in worship and obedience to the Messenger:

All the divine prophets invited people to divine unity (tawḥīd) in worship. As Prophet Hūd (a.s.) said to his people: “O my people! Worship God, you have no deity other than Him” (11:50). Although the phrase “Worship God” does not express exclusivity, the phrase “you have no deity other than Him” expresses the exclusivity of worship for God the Glorified and is a clear explanation of “There is no god but God.” (39:45)(274)

Prophet Ṣāliḥ (a.s.) also said the same to his people: “O my people! Worship God, you have no deity other than Him” (11:61). It also says about Shuʿayb (a.s.): “And to Midian [We sent] their brother Shuʿayb. He said, ‘O my people! Worship God, you have no deity other than Him’” (11:84). In a comprehensive command, God the Glorified tells His Messenger (s.a.w.): “Say: It is God I worship, dedicating my religion exclusively to Him” (39:14). This phrase, by placing the object before the verb, expresses exclusivity. It has the same meaning as “You alone we worship” (1:5), and the word “dedicating” emphasizes the same meaning derived from the exclusivity.

Remember: Placing the object before the verb is not always for the purpose of exclusivity (ḥaṣr); because sometimes it is due to emphasis (ihtimām) and the like. However, in such cases where the contextual evidence on one hand, and the general guidelines of revelation on the other hand provide guidance, the essential point of placing [the object] first is indeed to convey exclusivity.

The effect of devotional monotheism (tawḥīd ʿibādī) is that a person will not obey anyone other than God in any matter. The command to obey parents, or the Messenger and those vested with authority (ūlū al-amr), never contradicts the devotional monotheism of God, the Glorified. Because obeying them is in reality obeying God, the Glorified, and a response to the command: “Obey God and obey the Messenger and those vested with authority among you.” (4:59)

Obedience and worship of God does not allow any partners, such that a person would obey God in some matters and in some others obey the law, those vested with authority, or their parents. Rather, the necessity of obedience in all these cases is a result of God’s command.

Human obedience to other humans is bounded by obedience to God: “There is no obedience to the created in disobedience to the Creator.”(275) The very principle of obeying others is conditional upon God’s command, and its boundary is to the extent that it does not harm the divine limits. Therefore, obeying the created in disobeying the Creator is not permissible. Thus, all obedience is restricted to obeying God, the Glorified. The exclusivity inferred from “You [alone] we worship” and likewise the general principle “Indeed, the command belongs only to God” (12:40) remains unrestricted in its absoluteness.

Threats to devotional monotheism:

The Qur’an, which is a cure for the inner ailments of human beings (“a healing for what is in the breasts”; 10:57), introduces the harms that afflict devotional monotheism (tawḥīd ʿibādī). Monotheism in worship has an inner enemy and an outer enemy. The inner enemy, which according to some narrations is the most hostile of enemies: “Your most hostile enemy is your self that is between your two sides”,(276) is the human being’s desire and passion. Desire and passion not only prevent a person from attaining perfection, but gradually wear them down to such an extent that the product of their life is nothing but regret and remorse. The reason it has been called the most hostile enemy of man is that no enemy treats man as badly as this. The carnal desire (hawā al-nafs) cripples a person through excessive eating, sleeping, and speaking to the point that they no longer have the ability to move.

However, the external enemy of devotional monotheism is Satan. Of course, the external enemy misleads by taking over the perceptual and motivational faculties of the human soul. Therefore, these two enemies go back to two vertical causes, not horizontal; meaning that the external enemy (Satan) leads man to ruin through the internal enemy (carnal desire), and his tool of misguidance is the whispering of the soul. Satan says about his way of infiltrating hearts: “I will surely mislead them and surely arouse in them [sinful] desires” (4:119); I will entrap human beings through desire and passion. Satan cannot misguide anyone without an intermediary, but is like a deadly poison that brings a person down through the digestive system. A poison that is not ingested or absorbed by the digestive system is not a cause of poisoning.

A worshipper who listens to these two enemies is not a monotheist in worship. If he says in prayer: “You [alone] we worship” (1:5), he is a liar. Such a person has built an idol temple within himself and is engaged in idolatry, not monotheism.

The Qur’an warns of the danger of both factors. Regarding the near and internal factor, it states: “Have you seen the one who takes as his god his own desire? Then would you be responsible for him? Or do you think that most of them hear or reason? They are not except like livestock. Rather, they are [even] more astray in [their] way.” (45:23-24) One who acts according to his own whims and is unrestrained is obedient to his own desires, not to God’s law. In reality, he has worshipped his own desires. Thus, his god is his desire, and he is a servant of desire (ʿabd al-hawā), not a servant of God (ʿabd Allāh).

As for the distant and external factor, He states: “Did I not enjoin upon you, O children of Adam, that you not worship Satan—[for] indeed, he is to you a clear enemy” (36:60). If someone falls into idol worship due to being deceived by the near or distant factor of polytheism (shirk), he is subject to the rebuke of Abraham, the Friend of God (a.s.), who said: “Fie upon you and what you worship besides God!” (21:67)

The Qur’an considers one group to be worshippers of desire, while on the other hand, it states through the Friend of God: “Fie upon the worshippers of other than God!” This “fie” is not a temporary, fleeting curse whose time has passed, for this statement is from the same Qur’an that is always alive and flowing, like the sun and the moon: “It flows as the sun and the moon flow.”(277) Therefore, today as well, the words of the Proof of the Age, the Mahdī (may God hasten his reappearance) to the worshippers of desire are: “Fie upon you and what you worship besides God!”

On one hand, through worshipping God, man reaches the lofty station and pinnacle of wilāya (guardianship) and is accepted. On the other hand, through worshipping desire, he falls into the abyss of misguidance and becomes deserving of the aforementioned humiliating address. By restraining these two internal and external enemies (desire and Satan), man finds his way to true monotheism (tawḥīd).

God’s promise to the true monotheists:

The Qur’an, in describing the characteristics of the true monotheists and praising them, states:

“God has promised those of you who believe and do righteous deeds that He will surely make them successors in the land, as He made those before them successors, and He will surely establish for them their religion which He has approved for them, and He will surely give them security in exchange after their fear, as they worship Me, not associating anything with Me.” (24:55)

True monotheists, if they attain power, not only worship God, but also do not ascribe any partners to Him.

Although the phrase “they worship Me” (yaʿbudūnanī) does not imply exclusivity, the phrase “not associating anything with Me” (lā yushrikūna bī shayʾan), which contains an indefinite in the context of negation, implies exclusivity. And since the second phrase is placed next to the first without a conjunction, it indicates that monotheism in worship (tawḥīd ʿibādī) and negation of polytheism are not two separate meanings. If all forms of polytheism are negated through the indefinite in the context of negation, then worship will be solely for God, and this is the same meaning as “You alone do we worship” (iyyāka naʿbudu).

The aforementioned attributes are related to the righteous believers who have attained power, and are not limited to the Messengers and the infallible Imāms (a.s.). Therefore, attaining this station is possible for every human being.

In summary, the Glorious God, on one hand, restricts worship, fear, and awe to Himself: “You alone do we worship” (iyyāka naʿbudu), “So fear Me” (fa-iyyāya fa-rhabūn) (2:40). On the other hand, He enumerates the enemies and afflictions of monotheism in worship and explains the remedy. Thirdly, He makes everyone obligated to them. And fourthly, He considers the main elements of obligation to be easy and free from difficulty and hardship. The result is that attaining such perfection is possible, rather easy.

The dependence of man in servanthood

Man is not independent in any of his affairs, not even in his servanthood. There is no room for the illusion that although man has no independence in any of his ordinary affairs, he is independent in his servitude. This is because independence in servitude is delegation (tafwīḍ), which is as false as compulsion (jabr) or even lower than it.

On this basis, since in the phrase “You [alone] we worship” (1:5), worship of God is attributed to the worshipper, and compulsion is thus invalidated, in order to also invalidate the illusion of delegation and make it known that we are not independent or have any authority even in the station of servitude, and that the matter of worship has not been delegated to us either, we must then say: “and from You [alone] we seek help” (1:5). That is, we worship only You, and in this worship too, we act with Your assistance.

The relationship of servitude and ownership that exists between servants and God differs in two ways from the conventional relationship between slaves and masters. First, the aforementioned relationship is real, not conventional or contractual. Second, it is absolute, not limited.

The Glorified God has absolute ownership over all the affairs of the servant, and His ownership is not mixed with the ownership of another. His owned one is not divisible in servitude, unlike conventional masters who only own the voluntary actions of their slaves and do not own many of the slave’s attributes, characteristics, and thoughts, and are even unaware of them. Thus, their slaves are never the absolute slaves of their masters.

The monotheist’s perspective on life, death, and divine lordship

A monotheist (muwaḥḥid) who considers the Glorious God as the true Owner and absolute Lord of their life, death, effects, actions, attributes, and even their inner thoughts, from such a lofty intellectual and doctrinal position declares: “I have turned my face toward He who created the heavens and the earth, as a ḥanīf, and I am not one of the polytheists.” (6:79) “Indeed my prayer, my sacrifice, my living and my dying are for God, the Lord of the worlds.” (6:162) Such a monotheist, who has chosen voluntary death before natural death, as per the command “Die before you die”,(278) witnesses the reality that “There is none in the heavens and earth but that they come to the All-Merciful as a servant.” (19:93) As a result of such a witnessing, they do not rely on other than God (themselves or others) in any aspect of their affairs.

Because when the absolute Lordship of God and the absolute servitude of all besides God is established, nothing remains for the human being except absolute servitude. And the worship of the servant is always accompanied by divine success (tawfīq) from God, the Glorious. On this basis, after every praise, another praise becomes necessary for the human being.

In this regard, ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī (may his soul be sanctified) states: “God, the Glorious, is a creditor whose right is never fulfilled.”(279) Despite this, if a human being sees something for themselves in any aspect or stage, it is incompatible with pure monotheism (tawḥīd). Accordingly, there remains no place for the well-known theological discussion on whether reward and punishment are based on deservingness or divine grace. Because based on what was explained, there is no room for imagining the deservingness of reward, and all rewards are by divine grace. Whoever is granted the success to perform a good deed should praise God for this success.

Limiting Seeking Help and Support to God Alone

The exclusivity of seeking help from God, the Glorified, is unqualified, just like the exclusivity of worship; because whatever is used to fulfill a need is entirely from the aspects of the agency (fāʿilīyya) of God, the Glorified, and from the ready soldiers of God: “To God belong the soldiers of the heavens and the earth” (48:7), each of which is assigned a task in the system of creation. Therefore, a monotheist like Abraham (a.s.), who says regarding the principle of monotheism: “Indeed, I have turned my face toward He who created the heavens and the earth” (6:79), also says regarding ordinary matters: “He who created me, and He guides me. And it is He who feeds me and gives me drink. And when I am ill, it is He who cures me.” (26:78-80)

The monotheistic human considers God, the Glorified, to be the Creator, Guide, Feeder, Quencher of thirst, and Healer. If someone believes that God has created the basic ingredients of food, medicine, and the like for us, but their combination and formation is independent from us, this is false delegation (tafwīḍ) which is incompatible with the absolute lordship of God, the Glorified, over all the worlds of existence.

So it is God who satiates, quenches thirst, and heals humans. Of course, God, the Glorified, is the agent of these matters through specific means, and He is also the Causer of causes. On this basis, we have been taught to say in supplications: “And draw near to You my means from among the means.”(280) The means of matters are not parallel to God’s causality, and no means has independence in its own causality. It is God who satiates, not food, and if food was the satiator, the hungry inhabitants of Hell would also be satiated by eating ḍarīʿ(281) ; whereas they will never be satiated by eating ḍarīʿ: “They will have no food except from a bitter, thorny plant, which neither nourishes nor avails against hunger.” (88:6-7)

The passage discusses the Islamic concept of tawḥīd(monotheism) and seeking help only from God. Here is the translation, following the provided instructions:

God manages all affairs, and the instruction to say “In the name of God, I die and I live” (bismillāh amūt wa aḥyā)(282) when going to sleep, and to say “Praise be to God who gave me life after causing me to die, and to Him is the resurrection” (al-ḥamdu lillāh alladhī aḥyānī baʿd mā amātanī wa ilayhi l-nushūr)(283) upon waking up, is teaching a monotheistic supplication so that one’s entire life may be monotheistic and in the direction of negating polytheism. Limiting seeking help (istiʿāna) to God necessitates that a person does not seek help from other than God, nor consider himself a helper or aid to anyone, for only God is the One whose help is sought (mustaʿān): “And God is He Whose help is sought” (wa Allāh mustaʿān).

Reminder: Some verses of the Noble Qur’an instruct helping one another, which may give the impression that both seeking help and being sought for help are permissible, as well as providing aid and being someone whose aid is sought, such as: “Cooperate in righteousness and piety” (taʿāwanū ʿalā l-birr wa l-taqwā; 5:2).

In response to this delusion, it must be said: According to the doctrine of the unity of divine acts (tawḥīd afʿālī), all the good deeds of the righteous belong to God, and all agents are degrees and aspects of the agency of God, the Glorified. Just as God has created food and water and endowed them with the properties of satiating hunger and quenching thirst, He has also created the helpful human being and granted him the ability to assist and solve problems. In reality, he is a sign of God, and all these actions are among the attributes of God’s acts, which are abstracted from His station of action and are additional to His essence, not among the essential attributes that are abstracted from the station of the essence of God, the Glorified.

Therefore, seeking assistance from anything is seeking assistance from the aspect of God and His grace, not anything else, and no helper is independent in his help. One who is granted the success to perform good deeds should consider himself an aspect of the divine aspects in the station of the action of the Real. Thus, cooperation, seeking assistance, and providing assistance revolve around the axis of action, not essence. Since the Lord of the Worlds manages the entire universe, there is no contradiction in confining seeking assistance to God. With this explanation, there remains no room for the distinction that “You alone do we worship, and You alone do we ask for help” (1:5) pertains to worship, while “Cooperate in righteousness and piety” (5:2) pertains to social issues.

Sin, being a deficiency and a non-existent matter, has no connection to God, the Glorified. The origin of every disobedience is either ignorance, inability, or other non-existent matters, and God is free from all of them. God provides the means for everyone, whether they seek this world or the Hereafter: “Whoever desires the immediate, We hasten for him therein what We will for whom We intend. Then We have made for him Hell, which he will [enter to] burn, censured and banished. But whoever desires the Hereafter and exerts the effort due to it while he is a believer—it is those whose effort is ever appreciated [by God]” (17:18-19). We extend [favor] to both these and those from the gift of your Lord. And never has the gift of your Lord been restricted (17:20).

A group of people pursue the immediate, meaning the fleeting world, while another group seek the Hereafter and desire the delayed reward. God assists both groups and does not withhold His bestowal from anyone. However, divine assistance to the worldly seekers is to complete the proof against them: “So that he who perished [through disbelief] would perish upon evidence” (8:42). For if the tools and means were not available to the wrongdoers, the ground for their trial would not be prepared.

Of course, the divine unseen aid is specific to the believers and has no meaning regarding disobedience, because disobedience does not relate to the unseen realm, and sin never descends from the realm of immateriality and the inner world.

The True and False Forms of Seeking Assistance

The exclusivity of worship and seeking assistance from God Almighty is sometimes limited to the realm of words and concepts, and at other times, it encompasses all aspects of the speaker’s beliefs, morals, and actions when saying: “You alone do we worship, and You alone do we ask for help.” (1:5)

The way to test the truthfulness of seeking assistance is for a person to examine all aspects of their existence. If they do not rely on anyone other than God in any aspect of their life, then they are truthful and righteous when saying in prayer: “You alone do we worship, and You alone do we ask for help.” However, if in every occurrence and event, they first look to other than God, and only resort to supplication and prayer after exhausting all other options and becoming disappointed, it becomes clear that they are not sincere in their prayer and supplication. And if, in the midst of their supplication, some factor deceives them, they will abandon their prayer.

The late sage Sabzavari divided truthfulness into honesty in speech and action, saying:

“Truthfulness is in speech and intentions, And in actions, like fulfilling promises. The one who seeks assistance from the Truth lies if, When an important matter arises, he sees other than Him.”(284)

In summary, the unlimited lordship of God Almighty leaves no room for the independence of any agent, and with a monotheistic perspective, all good deeds are His doing. The previous discussion also resolves the apparent inconsistency between seeking assistance through patience and prayer, as mentioned in the noble verse: “Seek help through patience and prayer” (2:45), and limiting seeking assistance to God alone. This is because seeking help through prayer and other acts of worship is seeking assistance through an aspect of the divine and an act of God, and connecting with the face of God, not something foreign. Patience and prayer are a bridge that leads us to the destination, and they do not have independent power in providing aid and assistance.

The one who says “You alone we ask for help” (iyyāka nastaʿīn), if at the moment of a calamity, the first refuge that comes to their mind and the first lightning that flashes in their heart is “the Light of the heavens and the earth” (nūr al-samāwāt wa-l-arḍ) which illuminates the entire system, they will find their way in its light. But if they see other than God, such as their own power or their tribe, then they are false in their claim of seeking help exclusively from God, and they are like a lost traveler who seeks the way in the darkness of night with a flashing lightning that illuminates the space for no more than a moment: “There is no listener in the flashing lightning for one who wades through the darkness.”(285) If anything other than God has any light at all (which it does not), it is like a flashing lightning in a dark desert, which will never be a substitute for “the Light of the heavens and the earth.”

Among the exhortations of the infallible Imāms (a.s.) to their dearest survivors on the verge of their passing is to refrain from oppressing those who have no refuge but God, and the first lightning that flashes in their minds is the lightning of seeking help from God the Exalted, and they do not taint their hearts with the thought of seeking help from strangers: “Beware of oppressing one who has no helper against you except God.”(286) Such a person who puts their trust in God, since their supplication is pure, their prayer will surely be answered. The sigh of the helpless oppressed rises to the sacred realm of Lordship without any obstacle, and that is why Imām Ḥasan (a.s.), when asked in his childhood about the distance between the earth and the sky, replied: “The supplication of the oppressed and the extent of sight.”(287) If your question is about the distance to the visible sky, it is as far as the eye can see, and if you are asking about the unseen heavens, it is the supplication and sigh of the oppressed that reaches the realm of Lordship. If someone seeks nothing but God, God will surely be their helper.

Levels of Seeking Help (istiʿāna)

As worship has various levels and is divided into categories such as the worship of slaves, merchants, and lovers, seeking assistance (istiʿāna) also has different levels and degrees. Sometimes a person first sees himself and says, “I seek help from God.” This is the lowest level of seeking assistance. If a person performs an action himself, but someone else compensates for and repairs his shortcomings, the other person is his helper (nāṣir), assistant (muʿāwin), and intercessor (shafīʿ), and the work has been accomplished with help (nuṣra), assistance (muʿāwina), and intercession (shafāʿa), not guardianship (wilāya). However, if a person does not consider himself to have any share [in the action] and entrusts all aspects to God, he is under the guardianship of God: “God is the Guardian (walī) of those who believe” (2:257).

An adult child who takes on his own tasks, but whose deficiencies are compensated for by his father, the father’s role in relation to him is that of a helper (nāṣir), assistant (muʿīn), and intercessor (shafīʿ). However, an infant who has no ability to do anything is under the guardianship (wilāya) of the father.

The degrees of seeking assistance are connected to the levels of worship, and to the extent that the worshipper is monotheistic in worship and sincere in monotheism, his seeking of assistance will also be more subtle. If worship reaches the highest stage, seeking assistance also reaches the stage of wilāya (guardianship), and in the seeking of assistance by the mawlā ʿalayh (the one under guardianship) from the walī (guardian), complete aid is from that guardian who has oversight over all the affairs of the mawlā ʿalayh. The way for worship to reach the highest stage is also for the worshipper to not see himself or his worship, and to see himself as completely incapacitated (maḥjūr). This is because the wilāya of the walī is always accompanied by the incapacitation of the mawlā ʿalayh, and if a person finds himself incapacitated in his worship, his seeking of assistance in “You alone do we worship and You alone do we ask for help” (1:5) takes the form of being overpowered (istīlāʾ) and accepting guardianship. Otherwise, a being who sees himself as independent is not under anyone’s guardianship. Of course, what is meant by this incapacitation is not the common legal incapacitation (ḥajr) in minor jurisprudence (fiqh aṣghar), but rather the incapacitation of the contingent being in relation to the Necessary Being, even if that contingent being is himself a walī of God. And if they have called a smooth and well-trodden path a place of worship (maʿbad), it is because of its inherent humility and natural submissiveness.

Seeking Assistance, Reliance, and Delegation

The Glorified God commands those of His friends who are intermediates and who are halfway on the spiritual path to have reliance (tawakkul), as He says: “And to God belongs the unseen of the heavens and the earth, and to Him the whole matter will be returned. So worship Him and rely on Him” (11:123). A needy person who is incapable of fulfilling his own needs must take a trustee to secure his needs. His trustee is the One to whom, in the arc of descent, belongs the unseen and seen of the heavens and the earth, and to whom, in the arc of ascent, everything returns.

As for those who have come closer to the destination, they have gone beyond trust (tawakkul) to the station of delegation and submission (tafwīḍ and taslīm) of affairs to God. This is because the meaning of taking a trustee is that a person still sees himself, his desires, and his actions, and then takes a trustee to fulfill his desires. However, one who reaches the station of delegation and submission does not see himself and his actions to take a trustee for their fulfillment. Rather, he considers all affairs to be in the hands of God. So although those who trust and those who delegate are both beloved to God, those who trust have not attained the level of love that is the share of the people of delegation. However, those who have reached the station of delegation also possess the station of trust.

Although trust is lower than delegation, it is higher than seeking assistance (istiʿāna).(288) This is because in seeking assistance, a person does the work himself and seeks help from God, while in trust he leaves the work to God. And in the higher level, which is delegation, the servant does not see himself and his actions at all, so that it would be his turn to delegate them to God.

Whoever does not attain any of these three levels (seeking assistance, reliance, and delegation), is not in the middle of the path of religion, but rather on its margins and on the edge of the precipice, and is in danger of falling from religion in such a way that if he gains some benefit, he remains in religion, and if he does not gain any benefit or suffers a little harm, he washes his hands of religion: “And among the people is he who worships God on the verge [of faith]. If he is touched by good, he is reassured by it; but if he is struck by trial, he turns on his face [to the other direction]. He has lost [this] world and the Hereafter.” (22:11) He wants religion to secure his worldly life, not for the Hereafter, and not for a good worldly life so that he may say: “Our Lord, give us in this world [that which is] good” (2:201), rather he says: “Our Lord, give us in this world” (2:200). So if he does not gain any benefit, he loses both this world and the Hereafter; like the idolaters of Ḥijāz who did not believe in the Hereafter and worshipped idols only for their intercession with God, in order to benefit from this world, not for intercession in the Hereafter and spiritual benefits; because they did not believe in the Hereafter.