Foundations - Part 1 - Servitude
Wednesday, 27 November 2024
Opens 15 minutes before the session begins.
The word most often translated as "bondage" turns out to describe the only kind of slavery that sets a person free. Ubudiyyah — servitude — comes from the same root as ibadah, worship. Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, the sixth Imam of the Muslims, opens the book this series is built on, Misbah ash-Sharia (the Lantern of the Path), by mapping what true servitude actually requires: twenty-eight qualities in total, split across four domains of conduct — with God, with the self, with other people, and with the world — seven qualities in each. This session covers only the first: giving God what is due to Him. To understand what that means, the session turns to Imam al-Sajjad's Treatise on Rights, where the fourth Imam lists nine rights God holds against a human being. The first and greatest of these is simple to state and endless to unpack: that God alone is worshipped, without any partner set beside Him. The session works through the Chapter of Sincerity in the Qur'an to explain why the Arabic word used for God's uniqueness there, ahad, is not the same as the ordinary word for the number one — and why that distinction changes what it means to say God has no equal. What does a person actually owe the God who owes them nothing? What the evening covers The root of the word. Why ubudiyyah and ibadah share the same three-letter root, and why "servitude" is a more honest translation than "bondage". Twenty-eight qualities, four domains. Imam al-Sadiq's own breakdown of what conduct with God, the self, creation and the world each requires. The Greatest Right. The first of nine rights God holds against every human being, as set out in the Treatise on Rights. Ahad, not wahid. Why the Qur'an's word for God's uniqueness cannot be divided, multiplied, or compared — unlike the number one.
In this session
اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَآلِ مُحَمَّدٍ، وَاقْبِضْ عَلَى الصِّدْقِ نَفْسِي، وَاقْطَعْ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا حَاجَتِي، وَاجْعَلْ فِيمَا عِنْدَكَ رَغْبَتِي شَوْقاً إِلَى لِقَائِكَ، وَهَبْ لِي صِدْقَ التَّوَكُّلِ عَلَيْكَ
O God, bless Muhammad and the Household of Muhammad, take my soul while it is firm in sincerity, cut off my need for this world, make my desire for what is with You become a yearning to meet You, and give me true confidence in You!
Sahifa Sajjadiyyah, Prayer 54: His Supplication for the Removal of Worries, Verse 5
