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The five most essential acts of worship in Islam: Status and significance in the
light of the Quran and the Sunnah

Research · January 2017

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.10484.55685

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In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

The five most essential acts of worship in Islam: Status and

significance in the light of the Quran and the Sunnah

Talat Makhmoor, Ph.D.

Enrolled in: Certificate of Psychology, Islamic Online University
Former Assistant Professor
Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine & Drug Research
International Center for Chemical & Biological Sciences
University of Karachi, Pakistan

In Islam, an act of worship is defined as “the complete submission to Allah by

obeying His commands and avoiding His prohibitions out of love for Him, respect, and
honor” (Philips, 2003, p. 18). This way, every act or deed is considered as an act of
worship if it is performed with sincerity and in accordance with the Islamic teachings.
However, certain physical, financial, and speech-based acts are prescribed for
worshipping Allah . These include prayer, fasting, charity, hajj, etc. Although all
rituals are important and necessary, some are more essential because of their greater
impact on believer’s character in terms of purification and God consciousness, which
serve as a driving force to observe other rituals. These acts include ablution, obligatory
prayer, dhikr (remembrance of Allah), night vigil supererogatory prayer, and fasting. It is,
therefore, essential to understand the status and the significance of these acts in the
light of the Quran and the Sunnah (Prophetic Tradition).
Let us begin the discussion by highlighting the importance of ablution because it
is a prerequisite for every prayer to achieve physical and spiritual purification. As Quran
states:
“…When you wish to stand up for prayer, wash your faces, and
your hands up to the elbows, and pass wet palms over your heads,
and wash your feet up to the ankles…” and “…He wills to fully
purify you…” (5:6).
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The initial part of the ayah verifies ablution as an act of worship - a divine command,
highlights its status as ordained for prayer, and prescribes the obligatory steps of
ablution, whereas the latter part states its purpose, that is, to achieve purification.
According to scholars, spiritual purification is achieved by uttering the “Two
Testifications of faith” after ablution. Moreover, the sins committed by the organs that
are washed during ablution, are also washed off. Furthermore, perfection in ablution is
considered as a sign of faith as a hadith states that “No one keeps being in a state of
ablution except the believer” (Ahmad, 22429, 5/355) because only believer obeys all
commands. Thus, ablution is one of the conditions of prayer without which, in the
absence of any valid excuse, a prayer can not be performed (Fawzan, 2005, p. 36-40).
After ablution, next is obligatory prayer – the second fundamental pillar of Islam
and a major form of worship. Its high status is evident from the Quran, wherein it is a
greatly stressed act of worship than any other ritual. Besides, it is also the very first act
of worship which is prescribed right after the Prophethood, as two units twice each day.
Afterwards, on the “Night of Mi’raj”, it was ordained five times a day (Al-Bukharee, 7517)
as stated in the Quran that “…Prayers are a time bound obligatory duty upon the
Muslims” (4:103) and “…Establish regular prayer for celebrating My praise” (20:14).
Many ahadith (Statements of the Prophet ) highlight the importance of prayer,
one of which called it, “the thing which separates a man from polytheism and unbelief”
(Muslim, 243). In terms of benefits, the Quran mentions it as an act that leads to piety or
righteousness (2:2-3), a means of protection against Satan (5:91), an effective weapon
to prevent from immorality and evils (29:45), etc. Thus, abandoning obligatory prayer is
not only an act of disobedience, but it also deprives a person to earn all prayer-related
benefits (Hasan, 2010).
The third essential act under this topic is dhikr, which also helps a believer to

achieve God consciousness and nearness to Allah . It is an act of worship as the

Quran verifies:
“So when you offered your prayers remember Allah while standing,
sitting and reclining…” (4:103).
“…So that you complete the count (of fasts), and glorify Allah’s
greatness for having guided you…” (2:185).
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“So when you have completed your hajj rites, so remember Allah as
you used to remember your forefathers, in fact more than that…”
(2:200).
This form of dhikr which is prescribed following rituals, i.e., prayer, fast and hajj rites, is

a legal duty towards Allah (Fawzan, 2005, p. 150), however, the other forms of dhikr
prescribed by the Sunnah, such as dhikr (as supplications) for the actions of an
individual e.g., eating, sleeping, awakening, etc., are non-obligatory. The
aforementioned ayah also highlights the higher status of dhikr as it is prescribed
following rituals. Moreover, dhikr is mentioned as the greatest act in the Quran:
“…Indeed, the remembrance of Allah is the greatest…” (29:45).
In addition, Prophet instructed believers to “keep tongue busy with the dhikr of

Allah ” (At-Tirmidhi, 1438). In terms of virtue, dhikr is mentioned in the Quran as a

means of finding peace and satisfaction of hearts (13:28), a means of Allah
remembering His slaves in both worlds (2:152), etc. In contrast, the major consequence
of neglecting dhikr is “the appointment of a devil upon the person” (Quran, 43:36).

Another essential means to attain nearness to Allah is the night vigil

supererogatory prayer. Prophet mentioned it “the most excellent prayer after
the prescribed ones” (Muslim, 2748), and instructed Muslims to “adhere to it”

because he referred to it as “a means of nearness to Allah and the way

by which sins are removed, and one stops committing sins” (Al-Hakim, 1157). In the

Quran, Allah also praises those who perform middle night prayer, as stated:
“…They were indeed virtuous before this. They used to sleep only a
little during the night. And used to seek forgiveness before dawn”
(51:16-18).
The high status of this prayer is evident from the aforementioned ayah and sayings of
Prophet in which it is revealed as the most excellent prayer among the voluntary
ones. As this prayer is performed in secrecy, it involves more sincerity (Fawzan, 2005,
pp. 179-180). Thus, practicing this prayer has great virtues in terms of spiritual
purification and attaining nearness to Allah , but neglecting it does not count as the
disobedience of Allah and has no adverse effects upon believer’s character.
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The last in this list is fasting - the forth fundamental pillar of Islam and an
obligatory act of worship. Both Quran and Sunnah provide proofs for its obligation in the

month of Ramadan. Allah says in the Quran:

“…Fasting is made compulsory for you, like it was ordained for
those before you, so that you may attain piety” (2:183).
In another ayah, Allah commands the Muslims to observe fast in the month of
Ramadan by stating, “…So whoever among you witnesses this month (Ramadan) must
fast for the (whole) month…” (2:185). The obligation of fast is also evident from the
Sunnah as the Prophet said, “Islam is based on five pillars…” one of which is
“fasting in the month of Ramadan”. The virtues of fasting are numerous, including both
physical and spiritual. Spiritually, it purifies the soul from immorality, draws a believer’s
attention to the afterlife, strengthens the will power by making him abstain from desires
of eating and drinking, etc. As discussed above, it is an obligatory act of worship,

therefore, its negligence is an act of disobedience to Allah (Fawzan, 2005, pp. 375-
376).
In short, the five acts of worship discussed above are the most essential because
they result in spiritual purification, God consciousness, abstinence from committing sins,

nearness to Allah , etc., which further motivate a believer to perform other obligatory
and non-obligatory forms of worship with sincerity. Also, when these qualities become a
part of a believer’s personality, then all his intentions, actions, speech, thoughts,
emotions, and behavior are observed in accordance with Allah’s commandments.
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Bibliography

Fawzan, S. (2005). A Summary of Islamic Jurisprudence. (Al-Arabia for Information

Technology, Trans.). Cairo (1st ed.). Al-Maiman Publishing House, Saudi Arabia,
Riyadh.
Hasan, S. (2010). Why do we pray. Retrieved from
https://islam4universe.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/
why-do-we-pray-by-dr-suhaib-hasan.pdf
Philips, A. A. B. (2003). A commentary on The Book of Tawheed by Muhammad Ibn
Abdul-Wahab (Part I ed.) (Unpublished notes). Islamic Online University.

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