Once a person has established their connection with Allah (SWT) by believing in him and acknowledging his attributes and expressing those attributes, it comes time for the slave who has recognized his master to pledge his allegiance to his master. The pledge of allegiance to Allah (SWT), or what we call submission to Allah (SWT), is in fact a voluntary submission and is something no one can force another to do. We say, “إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ”, and in this, the first aspect of tawhid is introduced, which is that a person does not bring anyone else as a partner in their worship of Allah (SWT). This happens in a few ways; the first is, obviously, that they will not worship anyone but Allah (SWT), and the second is that they will not worship Allah (SWT) but they will worship Allah (SWT) in the way that he wants them to worship him. A person who says, “I will worship you Allah (SWT), but in my own way.” – This is not considered worship by Allah (SWT) if it does not comply with the method given by Allah (SWT). The other thing is that the worship is done on the terms given by Allah (SWT). It is not done on our terms, and in other words, our moods and desires will not become the basis of our worship; rather, the basis of our worship will be to please Allah (SWT). The next aspect of this is that we should understand that worship if only translating a part of this verse. The actual meaning is to be in the servitude of someone and live completely in servitude. This verse is saying that we are only Allah (SWT)’s slaves. It makes sense, because if we were to translate this as worship, then let us count the worships that have been mandated; you have salah, five times a day, zakaat once a year, siyam one month a year, Hajj once in a lifetime, and then what other acts of worship do you have? Du’a, the zikr of Allah (SWT), recitation of Qur’an is also worship. What is left? If this is worship, the worships that have been mandated by hadith – how much of our lives are dedicated to these acts, and what percentage of humanity at large is dedicated to these acts? It is actually a very small portion of their lives. Salah will take, cumulatively, maybe an hour of their day, but that still leaves the question of the remaining twenty-two and a half hours. How much time does a person spend doing zikr? Maybe an hour a day? The other worships are the same. Even if someone is reading a little more Qur’an or praying a little more nafl salah, on average, this makes up a very small percentage of the day. When we recite this verse, we say, “We are doing these worships exclusively for you.” If we were to translate it in this way. Then, what are we doing with the rest of our lives? Do we spend it doing what we want? It does not make sense. Rather, this is a voluntary submission that we give ourselves to Allah (SWT) and pledge to live our lives by him, so we are his slaves and worshippers in salah and out of salah.
The pledge in this ayat is to pledge servitude to Allah (SWT). Only to Allah (SWT) do we pledge servitude to. If we do not bring ourselves to the complete slavery of Allah (SWT), we will be slaves of Allah (SWT) in salah, and slaves of someone else after that – of their desires or money. Allah (SWT) speaks of these people. In one hadith, the prophet (SAW) says, “That person who has enslaved himself to the dinar, the dirham and their possessions, may he be ruined.” He calls them slaves of their wealth. “Allah (SWT) says, ‘Have you seen the person who has made his desires his god?’” He could be worshipping Allah (SWT) in some part of the day, but the rest of his life revolves around some sort of value or priority. This is not Islam. In Islam, the first step is that a person willingly submits to Allah (SWT). Allah (SWT) is such a master that he does not need our submission. The masters of the world cannot do what they do without slaves, but Allah (SWT) does not depend on us or need us for anything. We enslave ourselves to a master who does not need us, but accepts us, and it is a master that we need and completely dependent on. The dependency is completely one-sided and voluntarily. No one can force us to submit this way. In worldly systems, people were forced into slavery through capture or warfare, and after that, their progeny would also be slaves; however, our submission to Allah (SWT) is completely voluntary and a choice that we make. Because these are very profound verses, they summarize the Qur’an. May Allah (SWT) give us tawfiq.
