Absolute Justice, Kindness and Kinship — Page 210
Justice (‘ Adl ), Benevolence ( Ihsan ) & Kinship ( Ita’i Dhil-Qurba ) in Worship 205 meaning that of men there are those who would sell themselves to seek the pleasure of Allah; and Allah is Compassionate to such servants. 24 (S u rah al-Baqarah; Ch. 2: V. 208) In other words, such people do not worship God with any ulterior motive. They are not concerned with rewards and favours. That is to say, they do not care whether their good deeds are rewarded or not. If a person does good for Allah’s sake, then Allah in turn rewards him with His favours. But what the Promised Messiah as is discussing goes beyond the philosophy of labour and reward. People at this elevated stage do good deeds not for the purpose of earning a place in paradise but do them simply to win the pleasure of Allah. Allah’s pleasure becomes dearer to their hearts and to please Him becomes their paradise and the sole purpose of their lives. In short, the Islamic system of worship is amazingly well-balanced and complete. Every intricate detail bears the stamp of ‘Adl, I h s a n and I t a ’i Dhil-Qurb a. Essentially, a man, as Prophet Muhammad sa was, could not have wrought the miracle of the Quran by himself. Most certainly it was the work of an All-Knowing, All-Powerful Allah. The preceding discussion was concerned with the spirit of worship. We now turn to some of the visible