Which Is More Perfect: Worship with Hope of Reward and Fear of Punishment, or Worship without Them?

Which Is More Perfect: Worship with Hope of Reward and Fear of Punishment, or Worship without Them?

Introduction and Documentation

This valuable study was written by Algeria’s eminent scholar, Imam Abd al-Hamid ibn Badis (1305–1359 AH / 1887–1940), may God Most High have mercy on him. He intended to establish the two pillars of worship, fear and hope, alongside the third pillar, love. He thereby sought to establish the truth as explicitly stated in God Most High’s Book, then answer those who opposed and challenged him. Ibn Badis explains that he had clarified the correct position on this question and that, after three full months, Shaykh al-Mawlud al-Hafizi [d. 1367 AH / 1948] published an article responding to him. Ibn Badis then undertook to answer him and the weak objections he raised.

This article exemplifies reforming scholars’ struggle to correct people’s beliefs and worship after devils had led them astray and shaykhs of Sufism and superstition had misguided them. It also exemplifies the responses and discussions taking place in Algeria at that time. Ibn Badis the Salafi was a preacher of reform and renewal, while Shaykh al-Mawlud al-Hafizi was among the shaykhs of Sufism, superstition, and ignorance.

Shaykh al-Mawlud was Ibn al-Siddiq al-Hafizi al-Azhari (1297–1367 AH / 1880–1948). He supported the Association of Muslim Scholars when it was founded, but disapproved of its Salafi orientation and left it early, accompanied by a group of shaykhs from Sufi lodges and orders. They founded the Association of Sunni Scholars on 15 September 1932, with al-Hafizi as president. It was an association of grave devotees, believers in superstition, and advocates of imitation and stagnation. Responses and discussions took place between al-Hafizi, Ibn Badis, and other Salafi scholars on several questions, preserved in the newspapers and journals published at the time. On this, see “The Conflict between the Association of Algerian Muslim Scholars and the Association of Sunni Scholars, 1932–1954: A Reading of Their Positions”, a useful study by Professor Amir Aqhiz, published in Mu’ashshir Journal for Exploratory Studies, issue 1, volume 1, September 2020, pp. 59–70.

The eminent scholar Ibn Badis dated this article to the first of Ramadan 1351 AH, corresponding to 29 December 1932. In a footnote he wrote: “It contains a response to Shaykh al-Hafizi’s article published in Al-Balagh newspaper a few weeks ago.” Shaykh al-Hafizi’s response would therefore have appeared in the final 1932 issues of Al-Balagh. We were able to consult scans of that year’s issues but did not find al-Hafizi’s response. God knows best.

Al-Balagh al-Jaza’iri newspaper was founded by the Alawiyyah order. Its first issue appeared on 26 December 1926, and it was a weekly published every Friday. The Alawiyyah is a modern Sufi order founded by Shaykh Ahmad ibn Mustafa ibn Aliwah in 1914 in Mostaganem, Algeria. Al-Balagh was a platform for spreading and defending innovations, grave devotion, and Sufism, and a front for attacks on the Salafi reform movement led by Imam Ibn Badis. Historical facts indicate that the use of the order and newspaper occurred under the direction, patronage, and support of the French occupation, as documented in Dr. al-Mustafa al-Rays’s study “The Press of the Sufi Orders: Al-Balagh al-Jaza’iri as a Model”, Lixus Journal of History and Human Sciences, issue 1, 2016, pp. 65–43.

Shaykh Abd al-Hamid ibn Badis’s article originally consisted of two articles. The first concerned the qualities of the servants of the Most Merciful mentioned in Surat al-Furqan. The third and fourth qualities were published in Al-Shihab, part 9, volume 8, Jumada al-Ula 1351 AH, September 1932. The second, entitled “Which Is More Perfect…”, was published in Al-Shihab, part 1, volume 9, the beginning of Ramadan 1351 AH, January 1933. The two articles were subsequently published in this order in Assemblies of Admonition from the Words of the Wise, the All-Aware, publications of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Algeria, first edition, 1402 AH / 1982, pp. 277–293; and in The Works of Ibn Badis, edited by Ammar Talibi, Dar wa-Maktabat al-Sharikah al-Jaza’iriyyah, first edition, 1388 AH / 1968, 1/443–463. Success is from God Most High.

The Text of the Article by the Eminent Scholar Abd al-Hamid ibn Badis al-Sanhaji (d. 1358 AH / 1940)

The Qur’an Describes the Servants of the Most Merciful

The Fourth Quality

The Exalted says: “Those who say: ‘Our Lord, turn away from us the punishment of Hell, for its punishment is unrelenting. It is an evil settlement and dwelling’” [al-Furqan: 65–66].

Some people claim that the worshipper’s most perfect state is to worship God Most High neither hoping for His Paradise nor fearing His Fire. This verse and others decisively refute them. Likewise Abraham’s words, peace and blessings be upon him and his family: “And the One whom I hope will forgive my fault on the Day of Judgment” [al-Shu‘ara’: 82], among texts too numerous to count.

They claim that perfect reverence for God is incompatible with worship accompanied by fear of His punishment or desire for His reward. They are mistaken in their claim. Worship rests on submission, humility, neediness, and a sense of need and helpless dependence. The servant manifests this servitude in its fullest form. Among its fullest manifestations is fearing and hoping, just as he humbles and submits himself. Manifesting servitude’s complete deficiency fulfills the due reverence and glorification of lordship. Thus the prophets, peace and blessings be upon them, were the creation most reverent toward God, most fearful of Him, most seeking refuge from His punishment, and most asking for what is with Him. They suffice as proof and example.

This position [1] almost leads to discarding hope and fear, upon which deeds rest because through them servitude appears in humility and need. The established, preserved supplication of qunut includes: “To You we strive and hasten in service; [2] we hope for Your mercy and fear Your stern punishment.” [3]

This is necessarily known in religion. Only exaggeration and lack of understanding of religion, the Book and the Sunnah, and the guidance of the earliest forerunners lead to such a position.

Which Is More Perfect: Worship with Hope of Reward and Fear of Punishment, or Worship without Them? [4]

Further explanation of His saying, exalted is He: “Those who say: ‘Our Lord, turn away from us the punishment of Hell, for its punishment is unrelenting. It is an evil settlement and dwelling’” [al-Furqan: 65–66].

Preface

Some people have said that worship without hope of reward or fear of punishment is the most perfect worship!

We criticized their position in what we previously wrote concerning His saying, exalted is He: “Those who say: ‘Our Lord, turn away from us the punishment of Hell, for its punishment is unrelenting’” [al-Furqan: 65].

In criticizing them we said: “They claim” that perfect reverence for God is incompatible with worship accompanied by fear of His punishment or desire for His reward, “and they are mistaken in their claim”. We then mentioned some of the evidence on which we relied. After three full months, Shaykh al-Mawlud al-Hafizi [d. 1367 AH / 1948] published an article responding to us without mentioning all our evidence, without attempting to refute its chains of transmission, texts, applicability, or indication of the point for which I presented it, and without countering it with evidence of equal rank and significance. He wrote at length, some of it outside the point in dispute and some merely repeating the very claim requiring proof.

Upon reading his article, we decided to return to the evidence on which we relied for our chosen position: that prescribed worship is founded upon hope of reward and fear of punishment, and to explain how it proves our claim. We would then discuss some matters in his article. We say:

The Reality of Worship

Worship is the utmost humility and submission, accompanied by a sense of the utmost weakness and need. Weakness calls for fear and apprehension; need calls for hope and desire.

1. The servant’s fear of his Lord’s punishment follows from acknowledging his own weakness and his Lord’s strength, witnessing His might and overpowering authority, His unrestricted disposal of His creation, the fact that none can reverse His judgment, and that one cannot feel secure from what is feared from Him.

2. His hope for reward follows from acknowledging his own need and poverty and his Lord’s self-sufficiency and favor, and believing His promise. He worships Him while fearing that his worship may not be accepted and dreading His retribution. He worships Him while hoping for His mercy and awaiting His recompense. In this worship he manifests the utmost servitude with its deficiency and need, fulfills the due reverence and glorification of lordship, and acknowledges power, might, self-sufficiency, mercy, and perfection as belonging to that station.

Thus worship in religion is founded upon fear of punishment and hope of reward, because this manifests the utmost of the servant’s servitude, weakness, and need before his Lord, the Self-Sufficient, the Merciful, the Strong, the Firm.

The Evidence

You will hear the evidence for this from the Book, the Sunnah, and the statements of the predecessors.

First: From the Book

1. The Exalted says: “Only those believe in Our signs who, when reminded of them, fall down in prostration, glorify their Lord with praise, and are not arrogant. Their sides forsake their beds as they call upon their Lord in fear and hope, and they spend from what We have provided them. No soul knows what delights of the eyes have been hidden for them as a reward for what they used to do” [al-Sajdah: 15–17].

The verse proves our point because those mentioned are the perfected among God’s righteous servants, as shown by Abu Hurayrah’s hadith in the Sahih: the Messenger of God, may God bless him and his family and grant him peace, said: “God Most High says: ‘I have prepared for My righteous servants what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived, kept in reserve, beyond what you have been shown.’” He then recited: “No soul knows what delights of the eyes have been hidden for them as a reward for what they used to do” [al-Sajdah: 17]. [5] Despite their perfection, their worship was not free of fear and hope.

A second aspect is that God Most High described their worship so that we might know the form of prescribed worship. He described it with fear and hope, teaching us that worship was instituted in the law upon that basis.

A third aspect is that He described their qualities and worship for us to imitate. Thus we know that the worship to which our Lord calls us is worship in fear and hope.

2. Similar is the verse: “Those who remember God standing, sitting, and on their sides, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth: ‘Our Lord, You did not create this in vain. Glory be to You! Protect us from the punishment of the Fire. Our Lord, whoever You admit to the Fire, You have disgraced; the wrongdoers have no helpers. Our Lord, we heard a caller calling to faith: “Believe in your Lord”, and we believed. Our Lord, forgive our sins, remove our misdeeds, and cause us to die with the righteous. Our Lord, grant us what You promised us through Your messengers, and do not disgrace us on the Day of Resurrection. You do not fail in Your promise’” [Al Imran: 191–194].

Its proof is like the previous verse’s, with the added explicit statement that they supplicate and seek protection from the Fire, forgiveness, and the removal of misdeeds.

3. Similar is His saying: “Those who say: ‘Our Lord, turn away from us the punishment of Hell, for its punishment is unrelenting’” [al-Furqan: 65]. Its proof is like that of the preceding verses.

4. Similar is His saying: “They fulfill their vows and fear a day whose evil spreads far. They give food, despite their love for it, to the needy, the orphan, and the captive: ‘We feed you only for God’s face; we desire neither reward nor thanks from you. We fear from our Lord a grim, distressful day’” [al-Insan: 7–10]. Its proof is like the foregoing, with the added explanation that fear of the grim day does not conflict with feeding others for God’s face.

5. Similar is His saying: “Is one who knows that what has been sent down to you from your Lord is the truth like one who is blind? Only people of understanding take heed: those who fulfill God’s covenant and do not break the pledge; those who join what God commanded to be joined, revere their Lord, and fear an evil reckoning; those who patiently persevere seeking their Lord’s face, establish prayer, spend secretly and openly from what We have provided them, and repel evil with good. For them is the final abode” [al-Ra‘d: 19–22]. Its proof is as above. It also explains that fear of an evil reckoning does not conflict with patient perseverance seeking God Most High’s face.

6. Similar is His saying: “Those who stand in awe of their Lord, who believe in their Lord’s signs, who associate no partners with their Lord, and who give what they give while their hearts tremble because they will return to their Lord: these hasten to good deeds and are foremost in them” [al-Mu’minun: 57–61]. Its proof is as above. The verse means that they offer the righteous deeds and acts of obedience they perform while their hearts fear their return to their Lord and fear that these deeds may not be accepted. It explains that they worked hoping for their deeds’ acceptance and fearing their rejection.

These are the perfected among God’s servants, and this is their worship in these explicit noble verses describing their qualities. All these numerous, explicit verses decisively indicate what we have said: prescribed worship is founded upon hope of reward and fear of punishment, for this is the clearest manifestation of servitude in its humility, submission, weakness, need, and poverty, a condition utterly unlike the station of lordship, the station of the Possessor of Majesty and Honor. In the magnificent Qur’an you will not find a single verse explicitly describing worship without fear or hope in this manner.

7. To the preceding verses we add one indicating the worship of those protected from sin, peace and blessings be upon them: “And the One whom I hope will forgive my fault on the Day of Judgment” [al-Shu‘ara’: 82].

The verse proves our point because Abraham, peace be upon him, reports about himself in the present tense, indicating recurrence, that he hopes God will forgive his fault. This shows that hope accompanied his worship. It is known that he was protected from sin and secured against punishment, and that what he called a fault, relative to his lofty station, belongs to the category of “the good deeds of the righteous are the faults of those brought near”. [6] Despite all this, the intended proof is established: he feared being taken to account in a way appropriate to his station and hoped for forgiveness. His worship rested upon hope and fear. It cannot be said that he was merely teaching people, because he was reporting about himself, and his report is true and established. He must therefore have been as he reported.

Second: From the Sunnah

1. The well-known supplication of qunut: “We hope for Your mercy and fear Your punishment; Your punishment is stern.” [7]

Its proof is that prayer is the servant’s noblest condition, loftiest station, and greatest worship. He has been taught to make this explicit supplication within it, expressing hope of mercy and fear of punishment. This is only because prescribed worship is founded upon them both.

2. Another is the hadith: “As for prostration, supplicate in it, for it is fitting [8] that you should be answered.” This is an authentic hadith. [9] The Sahih also contains: “The closest the servant is to his Lord is while prostrating.” [10]

The proof is that prostration is the servant’s closest state to his Lord and is a place for supplication. The supplicant hopes for acceptance and fears withholding. Worship in the servant’s closest state is therefore founded upon hope and fear.

3. Another is the authentic hadith: “When you come to your bed, perform ablution as for prayer, then lie on your right side and say: ‘O God, I submit my face to You, entrust my affairs to You, and place my back in Your protection, in desire for You and fear of You. There is no refuge or escape from You except to You. O God, I believe in Your Book which You revealed and Your Prophet whom You sent.’ If you die that night, you will be upon the natural disposition. Make these the last words you speak.” [11]

Its proof is that this teaches what a Muslim should say in what may be the final state in which he meets his Lord. He should meet Him only in the most perfect state. He therefore taught us this supplication, explicit in desire and fear, for the believer to say even if he is among the most perfect of the perfected. It indicates that worship in every state is founded upon desire and fear.

4. Another is the authentic hadith in which Aishah, may God be pleased with her, said: “I was sleeping beside the Messenger of God, may God bless him and his family and grant him peace, and found him missing. I felt for him with my hand and placed it on his feet while he was prostrating and saying: ‘I seek refuge in Your pleasure from Your wrath, in Your pardon from Your punishment, and in You from You. I cannot enumerate praise of You; You are as You have praised Yourself.’” [12]

The proof is that in the state in which he was closest to his Lord, prostration, he sought refuge in God’s pleasure from His wrath and in His pardon from His punishment. Then, unable to encompass His acts, he referred the matter to His very Self, seeking refuge in Him from Him. Throughout, he was seeking refuge. One who seeks refuge is a petitioner, and a petitioner hopes and desires to attain what he requests. Hope and desire therefore did not leave his worship even in this state between himself and his Lord. He was prostrating in the darkness of night, without anyone present except Aishah, who had been asleep, awoke, and discovered him in that state.

5. Another is the authentic hadith from Ibn Abbas, may God be pleased with him, which the Messenger of God, may God bless him and his family and grant him peace, taught them as he taught them a surah of the Qur’an. Malik reported it, and it includes: “O God, I seek refuge in You from the punishment of Hell, from the punishment of the grave, from the trial of the false messiah, and from the trial of life and death.” [13]

Its proof is that he taught them this seeking of refuge, explicit in fear and hope, like the other supplications he taught them that rest upon both. Thus you find all his transmitted supplications founded upon desire and fear, hope and apprehension. You will not find a single supplication in which he taught them to turn to God Most High without desire, fear, hope, or apprehension. Had worship devoid of hope and fear been the most perfect worship, he would have explained it to them fully and explicitly, as was his practice in explaining forms of perfection, being eager to direct them to every good. How could he fail to guide them to this station in explicit words, had it been a perfection as some people claim?

The Result

What we have mentioned makes clear the convergence of Qur’anic verses and hadiths of the Sunnah, explicitly and plainly, in prescribing worship accompanied by desire and fear, hope and apprehension. We have found neither a single verse nor a single hadith explicitly prescribing worship stripped of them, let alone declaring it more perfect than worship with them. We would never abandon the explicit evidence of the Book and the Sunnah for anyone’s opinion, whoever he might be.

6. We now present a hadith from Sahih al-Bukhari explaining how the companions, the foremost of this nation, worshipped God Most High hoping that their deeds would be accepted by Him:

Abu Burdah ibn Abi Musa al-Ash‘ari said: Abd Allah ibn Umar asked me, “Do you know what my father said to your father?” I replied, “No.” He said: “My father said to your father: ‘Abu Musa, would you be pleased if our embracing Islam with the Messenger of God, our migration with him, our striving, and all our deeds with him were secured for us, and we escaped from every deed we performed after him with neither gain nor loss?’ My father, meaning Abu Musa, said: ‘No, by God. After the Messenger of God we strove, prayed, fasted, and performed much good. Many people embraced Islam through us, and we hope for that.’ My father, meaning Umar, said: ‘But I, by Him in whose hand is Umar’s soul, wish that the former were secured for us and that we escaped from everything we did afterward with neither gain nor loss.’” I, Abu Burdah, said: “By God, your father is better than mine.” [14]

The proof is that they acted in hope and feared nonacceptance and punishment for disobedience, even though they differed on the point over which they differed. We find no statement from any of them that he stripped his worship of hope and fear. The most perfect station would not have escaped them, the people most understanding of religion and most eager for good. These are our proofs for the position we adopted and our answer to its opponents.

The evidence in God’s Book and His Messenger’s Sunnah is more numerous than this. What we have mentioned suffices, God willing, for anyone sincere and fair whose faith is sincere in His saying, exalted is He: “If you disagree over anything, refer it to God and the Messenger, if you believe in God and the Last Day. That is better and best in outcome” [al-Nisa’: 59].

We Now Turn to the Shaykh’s Article, Discussing It under Specific Points

1. We criticized those claiming that the highest rank of worship is worshipping God Most High for His very Self without hope of His reward or fear of His punishment, and attributed error to them. When we found the verses of the Book and hadiths of the Sunnah overflowing with statements that worship of God is accompanied by fear and hope, as shown above, we attributed their error to insufficient understanding of religion, meaning its proofs, the verses and hadiths mentioned. What can be said of someone for whom all these verses and hadiths, despite their explicitness and agreement, do not suffice, except that he has not understood them? When we found not a single verse or hadith explicitly supporting their claim, we attributed it to exaggeration.

We did all this without naming any person or group, because our discussion concerned the statement and the evidence. Yet His Reverence insisted on applying our words to a particular group whose defense he now likes to display. From there he proceeded to accuse us of whatever suited his purpose: audacity, lack of sincere counsel, presumptuousness toward the imams, and whatever else he wished to call us, so that the reader would say that His Reverence possesses the opposite qualities. Your Lord knows best those qualities and those who possess them!

2. Our argument from the verse concerning “the servants of the Most Merciful” followed the reasoning explained above, without asserting or even suggesting exclusivity. Nor did our subject require limiting the servants of the Most Merciful to those qualities. But His Reverence began setting out elementary rules of exclusivity familiar to beginners, then concluded that the verse contains no exclusivity and that we were hasty, failed to reflect, and did not properly apply scholarly rules to the disputed subject!

In truth, His Reverence was the one who failed to apply his lengthy discussion of exclusivity to words in which we neither claimed nor relied upon exclusivity. We cited the verse as we cited others, in the manner previously explained and through the accompanying lines of argument.

3. Imam al-Razi’s statement that God deserves worship for His very Self and that, had He commanded worship without reward or punishment, it would still be obligatory, [15] is an accepted truth outside the disputed question. The dispute is whether worship with fear and hope is more perfect, or worship without them.

His statement [16] that “whoever worships God for reward and punishment is in reality worshipping reward and punishment, with God as an intermediary” has two possible meanings. If he means that someone worships God for reward considered solely in itself and punishment considered solely in itself, without obeying the command or turning toward the Lord, that is not our subject.

If he means that a person worships for reward and punishment in the sense that prescribed worship rests upon hoping for reward and fearing punishment, so that he worships God in obedience to His command, then his statement is rejected. Worship consists of directing obedience toward God, complying with His command and fulfilling His right, while sensing weakness and humility before the strength and might of lordship, which evokes the commanded fear, and sensing poverty and need before the self-sufficiency and favor of lordship, which evokes the commanded hope. The one truly and actually worshipped is the One toward whom obedience is directed, God Most High, not the reward to which hope relates or the punishment to which fear relates.

How could reward and punishment be the objects of worship when God is the One who prescribed them? Would He prescribe worship of another? This arises only from failing to reflect on such words as His saying: “Those whom they invoke seek a means of nearness to their Lord, striving as to who is nearer, and hope for His mercy and fear His punishment. Your Lord’s punishment is indeed to be feared” [al-Isra’: 57]. That is, its nature and due are that it should be feared.

Does this not arise from failing to understand His words in the Mother of the Qur’an, the Seven Oft-Repeated Verses, through which the person praying speaks intimately to his Lord while engaged in the greatest worship: “You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help” [al-Fatihah: 5]? The one seeking help asks for assistance, and the petitioner hopes his request will be accepted and fears its rejection. His saying in it, “Guide us to the straight path” [al-Fatihah: 6], is likewise a request. Let those seeking understanding gain understanding of the words of the Lord of the worlds.

4. He quoted Imam al-Razi on love: “As for those possessing spiritual knowledge, they say that God Most High is loved for His very Self, while love of serving Him and love of His reward are a lower degree.” [17]

We say: the hearts of lovers attach to the Most Holy Being, endowed with perfections and pouring forth blessings, as characterized by His perfections and blessings, including His reward and recompense. That love impels serving Him through obedience and drawing near to Him through various acts of worship. Worshipping His Being abstracted from His blessings is a kind of negation in belief and deficiency in witnessing. If love is one of the servant’s inward deeds through which he draws near to God, it is worship. Through the preceding evidence we have explained that worship in Islam is instituted with accompanying hope and fear. One who loves the Lord of Majesty and Honor, might and beneficence, does not cease revering Him through fear and humbling himself through hope, as in other acts of worship.

5. He quoted al-Naysaburi: “Those who have attained realization look to the Worshipped, not the worship, and to the Benefactor, not the blessing.” [18]

We answer:

• If he means that they look to the Worshipped in the sense that their reliance for acceptance is upon Him, not upon the worship, this is true and not our subject.
• If he means that they look to the Worshipped in the sense of directing themselves toward Him rather than toward the worship, this too is true, because worship is directed to Him. This is not our subject.
• If he means without drawing near through worship, this is false, because God Most High said: “Seek a means of nearness to Him”, meaning acts of obedience that bring you near to Him.
• If he means without awareness of the worship, this too is false. The worshipper intends worship, seeks nearness through it, and directs it sincerely, saying: “You alone we worship.” How, then, can he be unaware of it?

As for “to the Benefactor, not the blessing”:

• If he means that the One to whom nearness is sought is God the Benefactor, not the blessing, this is true and not our subject.
• If he means that hoping for the blessing of reward when turning to God and drawing near through obedience conflicts with drawing near to the Benefactor and counts as drawing near to the blessing, this is what we invalidated through the preceding evidence and refuted under the third point.
• If he means that the servant’s remembering God’s blessings upon him detracts from the perfection of his worship, this too is false. Worshipping God in gratitude for blessings He has given and asking for more is among the loftiest stations. God Most High said: “Abraham was an exemplary leader, devoutly obedient to God, inclining to truth, and was not among the polytheists; grateful for His blessings” [al-Nahl: 120–121]; “My Lord, enable me to be grateful for Your blessing” [al-Naml: 19]; “Be grateful to Me and to your parents” [Luqman: 14]; and “If you are grateful, I will surely give you more” [Ibrahim: 7].

6. Al-Naysaburi argued that the Children of Israel were told, “Remember My blessing”, while Muhammad’s nation was told, “Remember Me”. This is refuted by His saying: “God’s blessing upon you when you were enemies and He united your hearts” [Al Imran: 103], and “Remember God’s blessing upon you when armies came against you” [al-Ahzab: 9].

7. He quoted words of al-Naysaburi implying that worshipping God because He is God and because the created being is a servant involves no desire for reward or fear of punishment, and that this is the highest rank.

We say: awareness of your servitude entails awareness of your weakness and poverty, while knowledge of God entails witnessing His strength and favor. That awareness and witnessing evoke hope and fear in you. Thus when you worship Him because He is God and you are a servant, you hope and fear. We have invalidated the claim that worship is stripped of them through the preceding evidence.

8. He quoted Imam Ibn al-Arabi: “God commanded His servants to worship Him. This means performing obedience as an act of drawing near, through sincerity of intention, stripping the deed of everything except seeking His face. This is the sincerity explained previously.” [19]

He then added his own claim that stripping the deed of everything requires stripping it of hope of reward and fear of punishment, and that sincerity is what is done for God’s face solely because He is God. This explicitly asserts that hope of reward and fear of punishment conflict with sincerity. It is false, because the Exalted says: “We feed you only for God’s face; we desire neither reward nor thanks from you” [al-Insan: 9]. They feared while their deed was for God’s face, according to the Qur’an’s explicit text.

The imams report in the Sahih that Abu Talhah said: “Messenger of God, I hear God Most High saying: ‘You will not attain righteousness until you spend from what you love’ [Al Imran: 92]. My most beloved property is Bayruha’, and it is charity for God. I hope for its goodness and treasure with God, so place it wherever God shows you.” The Messenger of God, may God bless him and his family and grant him peace, said: “Excellent! [20] That is profitable wealth! That is profitable wealth!” [21] He approved his words, “I hope for its goodness and treasure”, and did not tell him that this conflicted with sincerity, as the shaykh does while “spouting and rambling” [22] over Imam Ibn al-Arabi’s words.

My brother, what business have you with Ibn al-Arabi? Ibn Sina and his like should suffice for you, those who try to fit Islamic worship to Greek philosophy and Platonic views. Ibn al-Arabi, however, is an Islamic sage, a Qur’anic jurist, and a true Sunni scholar who builds his reasoning only on Islam’s foundations and the proofs of the Book and the Sunnah. Here are his words about intending permissible worldly matters alongside worship, let alone hope and fear. Listen to his explicit words drawn from authentic evidence, refuting claims such as yours.

Commenting on the Exalted’s saying, “There is no blame upon you for seeking bounty from your Lord” [al-Baqarah: 198], he said: “The second issue: our scholars said this proves the permissibility of trade during pilgrimage alongside performing worship. Intending trade is not polytheism and does not take the legally accountable person outside the required form of sincerity, contrary to the mendicant ascetics’ view that pilgrimage without trade earns a greater reward.” [23]

Commenting on the Exalted’s saying, “If you desire God, His Messenger, and the abode of the Hereafter” [al-Ahzab: 29], he said: “This indicates that the servant acts out of love for God and His Messenger for their own sakes, and for the abode of the Hereafter because of the benefit of reward it contains.” [24]

9. He quoted Imam al-Ghazali on love. Under the eighth point we already discussed similar words and explained that love is worship, and that, like other prescribed acts of worship, it is instituted upon hope and fear, according to the preceding evidence.

10. He said: “Among his supplications, may God bless him and his family and grant him peace, was: ‘O God, make love of You the most beloved thing to me, make fear of You the most fearful thing to me, and cut off my worldly needs through longing to meet You.’ [25] It is established that his fear was fear of reverence and glorification, not fear of the Fire and punishment.” End of quotation.

We say: reverential fear does not take the servant outside the weakness and humility of servitude or his witnessing of the strength and favor of lordship. His reverential fear is therefore not devoid of fear of being taken to account, an accountability that is neither Fire nor torment but one appropriate to that lofty station. The evidence is that Abraham, peace and blessings be upon him, was like our Prophet in being protected from sin and from punishment in the Fire, yet feared being taken to account, saying: “And the One whom I hope will forgive my fault on the Day of Judgment” [al-Shu‘ara’: 82]. Neither he nor any prophet or messenger has a fault, major or minor, in any circumstance.

Another proof is that he, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “By God, I seek God’s forgiveness and repent to Him more than seventy times a day.” Reported by al-Bukhari. [26] This is not for a sin, minor or major, but because of his knowledge of God and His immense right and his intense reverence for his Lord. He fears being taken to account and therefore asks forgiveness. This makes clear that reverential fear is not devoid of fear of accountability.

After this explanation we say to His Reverence: do not cite a hadith without explaining its rank or naming its source. This is not how trustworthy scholars present evidence. It is through throwing hadiths out without such attention that truth has become mixed with falsehood and the dull and ignorant have dared to tamper with the prophetic Sunnah, until hadiths are attributed to Islam’s universally accepted books despite not being found in them! We do not know this supplication in the authentic collections available to us. If only you would explain where you obtained it, so that we may know the strength of what you rely upon in your argument.

11. He said: “The prophets, peace and blessings be upon them, have two states: a state with God Most High in which they see nothing but His majesty and greatness, and a state with creation in which they seek forgiveness and refuge from the Fire, an evil return, the trial of the grave and the false messiah, and ask for mercy, reward, and the gardens of Paradise.” End of quotation.

We have explained that witnessing God’s majesty evokes fear of accountability, as mentioned concerning Abraham and Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon them. They are therefore not free from fear, both reverential fear and fear of accountability, in their state with God. Aishah’s hadith quoted earlier shows that the Prophet, may God bless him and his family and grant him peace, while prostrating in the depths of night, with people asleep and alone with his Lord, sought refuge in God’s pleasure from His wrath and in His pardon from His punishment. Thus they sought refuge, hoped, and feared in their state with God.

In their state with people they taught and reported about themselves their fear and hope. Abraham reported his hope, while Muhammad told his companions that he was the most God-fearing and fearful of God among them and spoke of seeking his Lord’s forgiveness. Their reports are undoubtedly true and truthful.

It is impermissible to say they uttered these statements merely to teach, although they had no reality in fact. Reporting that something occurred to oneself when it did not is lying, from which God protected and purified them. Had His Reverence noticed this, he would not have said what he said!

12. He cited the hadith of excellence: “To worship God as though you see Him; if you do not see Him, He sees you.” [27]

This hadith requires continual awareness of God in every movement and stillness, so that the servant does not disobey in either, and so that his worship attains the utmost precision in its form and the fullest sincerity. You know that prescribed worship entails awareness of the weakness, humility, and poverty of servitude before the might, strength, and favor of lordship. Hope and fear consequently arise in the worshipper and impel him toward complete excellence in worship through its precision and sincerity.

Continual awareness of God Most High also entails witnessing Him, meaning witnessing His majesty and beauty: majesty through the attributes of overpowering authority, might, dominion, and sovereignty; beauty through favor, mercy, and beneficence. Through sincere witnessing of the attributes of majesty, the servant fears and stands in awe; through sincere witnessing of the attributes of beauty, he hopes and desires. True witnessing must therefore be accompanied by hope and fear.

If the servant loses awareness of created things, he does not lose his witnessing of the majesty and beauty of the Divine Being that evoke fear and hope. If he does not witness them but claims to witness the Being abstracted from them, he is not truly witnessing at all, but is heedless, negating, and inert. As for the worshipper’s loss of awareness of himself, if it occurs, it is a passing, unstable state, prescribed by no verse or hadith, let alone one that is virtuous and perfect. The hadith indicates prescribed awareness and witnessing, through which the servant performs prescribed worship founded upon hope and fear, according to the preceding evidence.

13. He quoted Ibn Sina’s words in Al-Isharat and those of its commentators. [28] They are like what we have already refuted through the evidence of the Book and the Sunnah and our explanation, through both, of the meaning of prescribed worship.

When we investigate the worship God prescribed for His servants through His Messenger, we know it only from the Book and the Sunnah. We have already presented evidence from them that makes the matter plain to the eye and renders further discussion unnecessary.

Conclusion

1. Prescribed worship is the intention to obey, accompanied by awareness of the servant’s weakness, humility, need, and poverty, and his witnessing of his Lord’s majesty, power, might, beauty, favor, and mercy. Through that witnessing he fears His punishment or accountability and hopes for His reward and blessings.

2. This worship is the worship of the perfected among God’s servants, whom He described with their finest qualities in His Book. It is the worship of His prophets and messengers described by the Qur’an, the worship of Muhammad, may God bless him and his family and grant him peace, established by authentic reports, and the worship of his companions established in transmission.

3. We conclude that worship stripped of fear and hope conflicts with true witnessing of majesty and beauty and differs from the worship of the prophets, messengers, and God’s righteous servants. No explicit text from the Book or the Sunnah establishes it, comparable to even one of the abundant proofs presented above. As long as this is the case, we cannot regard it as prescribed, let alone perfect, let alone claim it is more perfect. A thing’s prescription is established only through authentic, explicit evidence. Where could we obtain such evidence for worship stripped of hope and fear? God speaks the truth and guides the way. Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds.

The first of Ramadan 1351 AH.

Footnotes

[1] That is, the position of those claiming that perfect reverence for God is incompatible with worship accompanied by fear of His punishment or desire for His reward.

[2] Nahfidu: we hasten in work and service. (Al-Nihayah fi Gharib al-Hadith wa-l-Athar, 1/406, entry “hafada”.)

[3] Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah, 1100.

[4] This contains a response to Shaykh al-Hafizi’s article published in Al-Balagh newspaper a few weeks ago. (The author.)

[5] Reported by al-Bukhari, 3244 and 4780, and Muslim, 2824, from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, may God be pleased with him.

[6] Some attribute this to the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, but this is not authentic. See Al-Silsilah al-Da‘ifah, 100.

[7] Its source has already been given.

[8] Qamin: with the vowel on the mim either a or i, two well-known forms. It means fitting and deserving.

[9] Reported by Muslim, 207, from the hadith of Ibn Abbas, may God be pleased with him.

[10] Reported by Muslim, 215, from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, may God be pleased with him.

[11] Reported by al-Bukhari, 244, and Muslim, 2710, from the hadith of al-Bara’ ibn Azib, may God be pleased with him.

[12] Reported by Muslim, 486.

[13] Reported by Muslim, 590.

[14] Al-Bukhari, 3702.

[15] Mafatih al-Ghayb, 32/242.

[16] That is, in al-Razi’s preceding statement. [It appears in the exegesis of Surat al-Bayyinah, verse 5. Al-Razi said: “The fourth issue: the lam in His saying, ‘They were commanded only to worship God’, indicates the Sunni doctrine. They say worship did not become obligatory because it leads to Paradise’s reward or distance from the Fire’s punishment, but because you are a servant and He is a Lord. If religion contained no reward or punishment at all and He then commanded you to worship, it would be obligatory by virtue of servitude alone. It also indicates that whoever worships God for reward and punishment is in reality worshipping reward and punishment, while the Truth is an intermediary. How well it has been said: whoever prefers spiritual knowledge for the sake of spiritual knowledge has affirmed a second object; whoever prefers spiritual knowledge not for itself but for the Known has plunged into the depths of attainment.”

We say: it is no secret that al-Razi is a staunch Ash‘ari who denies wisdom and purposes in God Most High’s acts and espouses the Ash‘ari theory of acquisition, whose reality is compulsion. A person like him is not followed in his statements, especially when he explicitly contradicts the texts. (The Center.)]

[17] Mafatih al-Ghayb, 4/176.

[18] Ghara’ib al-Qur’an wa-Ragha’ib al-Furqan, 1/104.

[19] Ahkam al-Qur’an, 4/437.

[20] Linguists say bakh may be pronounced with a vowelless kha’ or with i and nunation. Ibn Durayd said its meaning is magnifying and exalting a matter.

[21] Reported by al-Bukhari, 1392, and Muslim, 998.

[22] Yusambitu wa-yushanbitu: a colloquial expression used throughout the Maghreb, meaning speech without rule or foundation, thrown out recklessly and haphazardly, with transmission lacking awareness or knowledge.

[23] Ahkam al-Qur’an, 1/192.

[24] Ahkam al-Qur’an, 3/565.

[25] Reported by Abu Nuaym in Hilyat al-Awliya’, 8/282. It is a weak hadith, included by al-Albani in Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Da‘ifah, 2903. (The Center.)

[26] Number 6307.

[27] Reported by al-Bukhari, 50, and Muslim, 9 and 10.

[28] Ibn Sina said: “The one possessing spiritual knowledge desires the First Truth for nothing other than Himself and prefers nothing to knowing Him. His worship is for Him alone, because He deserves worship and because worship is a noble relationship to Him, not out of desire or fear. If those two are present, what is desired or feared becomes the motive and contains the intended object. The Truth then becomes not the end but the intermediary to something else that is the end and the object sought instead of Him.” Al-Isharat wa-l-Tanbihat, with Nasir al-Din al-Tusi’s commentary, edited by Sulayman Dunya, Dar al-Ma‘arif, Egypt, second edition, 4/68–73.