Ubūdiyyah is to fully humble oneself to Allah ﷻ, submit to Him, and love Him more than anyone else. It is to fully surrender yourself to Him, to express your dire need of Him, and to serve Him. ʿUbūdiyyah is to recognise the greatness of Allah, to honour Him, and to honour what He loves.
Loving Allah is the essence of ʿubūdiyyah (servitude) and it is the basis of our īmān. It is the secret to experiencing bliss and contentment. Loving Allah leads us to loving what He loves, hating what He hates, loving His beloved Prophet ﷺ, and loving our fellow believers.
Yaqīn is firm belief and certainty which leaves no room for doubts, leading the heart to be deeply at peace. It protects us from shahawāt (desires) and shubuhāt (doubts), both of which are ever increasing in today’s world. It makes us carry on, even when we are shaken by life’s trials and tribulations. Yaqīn makes us eager to worship Allah and to live for Him.
Iḥsān is a multi-dimensional word which encompasses:
- Kindness to all of Allah’s creation.
- Worshipping Allah as though you can see Him.
- Excellence: this requires effort, discipline and perseverance.
We always try to attain a sound heart by:
- Purifying our hearts from its ‘diseases’ and evil characteristics, such as showing off, envy, hatred, pride, greed, heedlessness, and the love of the world and leadership.
- Beautifying our hearts with the ‘actions’ of the heart and praiseworthy characteristics, such as sincerity, trust in Allah, hope, fear, and love.
We try our best to embody the character of our beloved Prophet ﷺ in all spheres of life. The Prophet ﷺ said, “I was only sent to perfect good character” (ِAḥmad). By following his example, we ‘live’ by the Qur’an, as the character of the Prophet ﷺ “was the Qur’an” (Muslim).
The believers are brothers, strong when they are united and supporting one another to do good. We are very fortunate to belong to the Ummah of the best of mankind ﷺ and we should try our utmost to strengthen the Ummah. Despite differences in language, geography and skin colour, īmān unites us all.
We fulfil all of our responsibilities towards ourselves, our families and wider society with integrity and sincerity, recognising that we will be held accountable by Allah. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Indeed each of you is a shepherd and each of you is responsible for his flock” (Bukhārī).
