Islam is a balanced and coherent way of life. For the convenience of His servants, Allah has not made all worship equally obligatory but has divided it into levels, of which obligatory (fard) and voluntary (nafl) acts are the most notable. But for lack of enough religious knowledge we often give voluntary acts more importance than obligatory ones. So it is essential for us to gain full knowledge of the right order and standing of acts of worship.
Obligatory worship means the required acts that Allah has made binding on every Muslim. One will have to answer to Allah for not performing them, and abandoning them deliberately is a grave sin. Obligatory worship includes the five daily prayers, fasting in Ramadan, paying zakat when one owns the nisab amount of wealth, and performing Hajj at least once in a lifetime for those who are able. These are among the basic pillars of Islam on which a Muslim’s life of faith and practice stands.
Voluntary worship, on the other hand, means acts done of one’s own will to draw closer to Allah. Performing them brings reward, but not performing them is not a sin. Voluntary prayers include tahajjud, ishraq, awwabin and salatut tasbih. Voluntary fasts include fasting on the day of Arafah, on Ashura, in the month of Shaban and on Mondays and Thursdays each week. Reciting the Quran, learning religious knowledge and giving charity are also important voluntary acts of worship.
There is no denying the importance of voluntary worship; indeed it is through voluntary worship that a servant gains special nearness to Allah. A hadith says the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: “Allah says: My servant draws near to Me through obligatory deeds. Then he keeps drawing nearer to Me through voluntary worship until I love him. Then I become his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he grasps and his foot with which he walks. If he asks Me for something, I give it to him; if he seeks refuge, I grant it.” (Bukhari, 6502)
But a serious misconception has grown in our society around this very hadith. Many believe that even if they do not perform the obligatory acts, Allah will accept a great deal of voluntary worship in their place. In reality this idea has no basis in Islamic law.
For example, many people neglect the obligatory prayers yet show special interest in voluntary prayers on the nights of Shab-e-Barat or Shab-e-Qadr. Some keep the voluntary fasts of Shawwal without completing the obligatory fasts of Ramadan. In zakat, the tendency to discharge the duty with charity instead of calculating what is obligatory is also widespread. Some even consider it enough to perform umrah again and again without performing the obligatory Hajj though they can afford it. Yet while umrah is voluntary, Hajj at least once in a lifetime is obligatory for those who are able, and it can in no way be replaced by voluntary acts.
The teaching of Islam is obligatory acts first, then voluntary ones. If there is some fault or shortfall in the obligatory deeds, Allah may by His grace make it up through voluntary deeds. But if the obligatory acts are not performed at all, the voluntary ones have no standing. A simple example helps: say an exam carries 100 marks. If someone sits the exam and scores 80, the remaining 20 may be given for extra work. But someone who did not sit the exam at all will get no credit for extra work. The relation between obligatory and voluntary worship is just the same.
So one should not perform voluntary acts while abandoning obligatory ones, because the Messenger (PBUH) said: “Do not abandon the obligatory prayer deliberately. Whoever abandons it deliberately is no longer under Allah’s protection.” (Ibn Majah, 4034) Another hadith says the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: “The difference between us and the disbelievers is only the prayer. Whoever abandons the prayer has disbelieved.” (Tirmidhi, 2621)
This refers mainly to the obligatory prayer: abandoning it is compared to disbelief. Yet we want to make up such obligations with voluntary acts. So as conscious Muslims our duty is to gain correct knowledge of Allah’s commands, understand the difference between obligatory and voluntary worship, and keep the right priorities in practice. Beyond learning it ourselves, it is our moral duty to help others correct this misconception.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report