By
Arman Neyazi, New Age Islam
30 June
2021
From The
Holy Scriptures to the Religious Leaders and The Scholars of Different Fields
Say the Same Thing, ‘Lack of Devotion Is Unworthy Of the Creator’s Attention’
Main
Points:
1. The word
‘devotion’ carries a spiritual air about it.
2. Fundamentals
of spiritualism have devotion embedded in their practices.
3. Is the
Universe a sign of Godly Devotion to His Vicegerents?
4. Devotion in
Islam means striving to live according to the commands of Allah and fulfilling
the duties of Huqooq ul Ibad.
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The word
‘devotion’ carries a spiritual air about it. Fundamentals of spiritualism have
devotion embedded in their practices. The Murshid-disciple system also works on
the axis of devotion. Be it Auliya (اولیاء), the Muslim spiritual saints
or the Hindu Gurus (साधू संत) their disciples' devotional stories
are a part of our mystic lessons. Disciple’s devotion to their saints earns
them the affection and lessons of spiritual as well as social life. There are
innumerable saints, both Hindu and Muslim, who have earned everlasting respect
and name because of the heavenly deeds and worldly mystical achievements of
their disciples.
An
Inspirational Incident of Devotion
Devotion to
his wife’s love made Dashrath Manjhi a resident of Bihar, India, a world-famous
‘Mountain Man’. He singlehandedly carved out a 360-feet-long, 30-feet-high and
30-feet-wide road through the mountain, his wife had to climb to take his lunch
to the fields, for there was no passage to pass through the mountain without
climbing it. Manjhi’s pregnant wife fell from the mountain and died. Manjhi
decided to make a passage through the mountain and achieved the feat after 22
years of untiring labour and dedication to his goal.
Is the
Universe a sign of Godly Devotion to His Vicegerents?
The
universe had never come into being but for the devotion of God towards His
vicegerents who lived their lives according to His laws for His blessings. The
creator of the universe and the skies created everything that could have been
imagined for the comfort and ease of life on earth. The skies, the mountains,
the oceans and the beautiful mixture of weathers look like a work of devotion
towards someone who represents Him on the earth. The Creator’s kindness and
forgiveness must have emancipated out of His devotional love towards His
creation otherwise the disobedience of His commands and empathy towards His
creation would have by now brought the earth to further decay.
Allah, the All-Merciful, accepts all the supplications of His creation irrespective of him being a good or a bad man, in one form or the other. All the supplications are answered positively by Allah, the Most Gracious is a sign of His devotion towards His creation’s
well-being.
Devotion
in Islamic Terminology
Devotion in
Islam means striving to live according to the commands of Allah, the Most
Merciful and respectfully fulfilling the duties of Huqooq ul Ibad is a duty
towards our fellow beings. God, the Almighty and All-Knowing says in Surah
Al-'Ankabut, ‘But We shall be sure to
guide to Our ways those who strive hard for Our cause: God is with those who do
good.’ This is an assuring Ayat for the people who devotionally strive on the
straight path guided by Allah and His Apostle, Prophet Muhammad (SAW). In
Islam, Roza (Fasting), Namaz (Prayers), Zakat (a percentage of one's wealth
given as charity to the deserving) and Haj and performing Huqooq ul Ibad are
devotional duties a Muslim is supposed to perform. Consider the following Ayat
that highlight how the remembrance of Allah, the Most Merciful with utmost
devotion makes life here and hereafter fruitful.
You who believe, enter wholeheartedly into
submission to God …
(Surah Al-Baqarah - 208) — Abdul Haleem
…then stand up (for worship). And to your Lord
direct (your) longing.” (Quran, 94:5-8)
Say [O Muhammad], ‘This is my way; I call to
Allah upon insight, I and those who follow me.’ (Yousuf (12): 108)
But We shall be sure to guide to Our ways those
who strive hard for Our cause: God is with those who do good. (Surah Al-'Ankabut - 69) — Abdul
Haleem
“Say, [O Muhammad], ‘If you should love Allah,
then follow me, [so] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah
is Forgiving and Merciful.'” (Quran, 3:31)
“Say, ‘Never will we be struck except by what
Allah has decreed for us; He is our protector.’ And upon Allah let the
believers rely.”
(Quran, 9:51)
“Guide us on the straight path; the path of
those upon whom You have bestowed favours.” (Surat al-Fatiha 1:6-7.)
“…Establish the prayers for indeed the prayers
prevent us from immorality and sin…” (Qur’an, 29:45)
Prophetic
Tradition on Devotion
And
remember the name of your Lord and devote yourself to Him with [complete]
devotion. (Surah Al-Muzzammil - 8) — Saheeh International
And they
were not commanded except to worship Allah, [being] sincere to Him in religion,
(Surah Al-Bayyinah - 5) — Saheeh International
Devotion
an Important Ethics of Hinduism
(Photo courtesy: HiduWebsite.com)
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Those who
set their hearts on me and worship me with unfailing devotion and faith are
more established in yoga. (BG, 12:2)
Better
indeed is knowledge than mechanical practice. Better indeed than knowledge is
meditation. But better still is surrender to attachment of results, because
there follows immediate peace. (12:12)
Those who
honour this nectar of wisdom declared here, have faith in Me and are devoted
and intent on Me as the supreme goal, they are exceedingly dear to Me. (BG
12.20)
Just fix
your mind upon Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and engage all your
intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me always, without a doubt. (Chapter
12, Verse 8)
They engage
in My devotion with their minds fixed exclusively on Me. (Bhagwad Gita: 9-13)
Always
singing My divine glories, striving with great determination, and humbly bowing
down before Me, they constantly worship Me in loving devotion. (Bhagwad Gita
9.14)
There are
those who always think of Me and engage in exclusive devotion to Me. (Bhagwad
Gita 9.22)
But those
who dedicate all their actions to Me, regarding Me as the Supreme goal,
worshipping Me and meditating on Me with exclusive devotion, (Bhagwad Gita:
12-6, 7)
What
Sikhism Says About Devotion
“…overcome
all fear by cherishing the Fearless Lord” (GG, 293).
“He must not terrorize anyone, nor must he
submit to anyone`s fear” (GG, 1427).
He was “to
be subservient to none but the True Lord” (GG, 473).
“Without
morality bhakti is not practicable” (GG, 4)
“It is by
our deeds that we become closer to God or become distant from Him” (GG, 6).
Devotion
for the Welfare of Humanity
We find
that devotion is not only a requirement of achieving the agreement of our
Creator but any achievement in the world demands unequivocal devotion. Some
people have achieved seemingly unachievable feats in the field of science,
technology and medicine riding on the waves of utmost devotion towards their
goal. Without devotion to duty towards humanity, we would not have secured an
almost certain victory on the various pandemics the world has seen in the past
and the deadly havocs of Covid-19 we are still witnessing around the world. The
human being is facing human inflected wars among the communities,
environmentally executed havocs of various kinds and political dishonesty all
over the world at the moment. To bring humane ethics back in the lives of
fellow beings, humankind will have to devote all its attention to the welfare
of the society that is to be inherited by our coming generations.
From the holy scriptures of the world religion
to the religious leaders and the scholars of different fields say the same
thing, ‘lack of devotion is unworthy of the Creator’s attention. Consider the
following:
Work, apart from devotion or love of God, is
helpless and cannot stand alone. -Ramakrishna
Let God's grace be the mosque, and devotion the
prayer mat. Let the Quran be the good conduct. - Guru Nanak
To succeed in your mission, you must have
single-minded devotion to your goal. - A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
When trouble comes, focus on God's ability to
care for you. - Charles Stanley
True strength lies in submission which permits
one to dedicate his life, through devotion, to something beyond himself. - Henry
Miller
Artwork is a representation of our devotion to
life. - Agnes Martin
With devotion's visage and pious action, we do
sugar o'er the devil himself. - Thomas Fuller
Devotion begins at home, inside your own
awareness. Debbie Ford
And
Allah Knows the Best.
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Arman
Neyazi is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/salvation-abrahamic-devotion/d/125037
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