This Article looks at the effect of Ihsaan on worship
Ulama Institute #1
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- Jibreels asked the Prophets ﷺ about Ihsaan and the answer he gave was that ‘you worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you cannot achieve this state of seeing Him, then [you know that] He sees you.’ This answer is made up of two parts. The first part is that a person worships Allah ﷻ as as if he/she sees Him. The second part is that if this state cannot be reached, then the person knows that Allah ﷻ sees him/her.
- These two parts indicate the two levels of faith of a muhsin. The first part of the Prophet’s statement describes the higher position of faith. This is not seeing Allah ﷻ with the eyes, but the strong feeling in the heart, where a person is so greatly aware of Allah’s presence that the person behaves as if he/she sees Allah. The person worships Allah ﷻ with full sincerity and is fully focused on what he/ she is doing. If a person worships as if he/she can see Allah, then there is no doubt that the worship performed would be at a much greater level. The following hadeeth, narrated by Aboo Hurayrah, mentions this fact.
The Messenger of Allah said:
Allah ﷻ has some angels who look for those people who remember Him. And when they find some people remembering Allah, they call each other saying, “Come to what you were looking for.” Then the angels circle them with their wings up to the sky. Then their Rabb asks them (the angels), although He Knows better than them, “What do My slaves say?” The angels reply, “They say Subhaanallah, Allaahu Akbar, and Alhamdulillaah.” Allah then says, “Did they see Me?” The angels reply, “No! By Allah, they did not see You.” Allah says, “How would it have been if they saw Me?” The angels reply, “If they saw You, they would worship You much more and remember You much more and say that You do not resemble anything more often”. (Bukhaari)
- Some people cannot reach the highest level of Ihsaan; however, they are able to reach the second level. This is to know that Allah ﷻ is constantly watching all their deeds. They know that Allah is aware of what they are doing and thinking. This is the lower position of Ihsaan. This level of Ihsaan is still better than Iman and Islam, as a person still tries to do things perfectly with the knowledge that Allah is constantly observing him/her. However, the feeling of being watched is not as strong as the feeling of watching Allah ﷻ . This is because even though a person knows that Allah is watching, he/she may still be lazy in worship.
The higher level of Ihsaan is much more difficult to reach than the lower level. This is because it requires more from the person. However, this does not mean that it is impossible to reach. If someone tries very hard, they will be able to worship Allah ﷻ as if they practically see Him. - It just requires effort and patience. If somebody really wants something good and asks Allah for help, then Allah will help them reach this level.
Both levels of ihsaan make a person worship Allah to the best of his/her ability. A muhsin is high above a Muslim or a mu’min in terms of worship. This is because a muhsin has a stronger feeling of being watched by Allah ﷻ and this motivates him/ her to do more.
The term ‘worship’ does not just mean acts like Salah, Sawm or Hajj. It means every good action that is done. This includes everyday things like eating and drinking. If a person does these things as if he/she is seeing Allah, he/she will do them to the best of his/her ability with full sincerity and according to the Qur’aan and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ .
What we learn from the lesson:
- If people reach the level of Ihsaan, they will worship Allah ﷻ better.
- Being a muhsin is better than being a mu’min or Muslim.
“Discussion:”
- How do you think a muhsin treats other people?
- Why do people on the higher level of Ihsaan worship Allah better?
- How can a person reach the level of Ihsaan?
