A Guide to Best Worship Allah

6: Guidance in Worship

To summarise, so far, we learned the following three foundational bases with regards to worship-

1. Actions are only accepted when two conditions are met; sincerity and in accordance to the prophet ﷺ.

2. The obligatory acts are better than the voluntary acts.

3. Consistency upon righteous actions and adherence to Allah and His Messenger ﷺ.

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Moving on, it is important for us to recognize that following the right guidance of prophet ﷺ necessitates that we stick to the principles underlined by him.

Narrated Irbaad ibn Saariyah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "I advise you to fear Allaah and to hear and obey even if an Abyssinian slave were to rule over you. For surely, he who lives from amongst you will see much differing, so it is upon you to be upon my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. Bite on to it with your back molar teeth and beware of newly invented matters, for verily, every newly invented matter is an innovation, and all innovation is misguidance."
(Aboo Daawood, 4607, Sunan at Tirmidthee, 2676, authenticated by al Albani)

Abdullah ibn Mas'ud reported: The Prophet SA said, "The best people are those of my generation, then those who come after them, then those who come after them. Then, there will come people after them whose testimony precedes their oaths and their oaths precede their testimony."
(Saheeh Bukhari 6065, Saheeh Muslim 2533)

It is especially crucial in worship that we follow the footsteps of our pious predecessors. They were the best of Prophet's people and most righteous in their actions and worship. There is nothing that Prophet ﷺ commanded except that they did it and there is nothing that Prophet ﷺ warned about or forbidden except that they stayed away from it.

Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said, "Follow and do not innovate for you have [been left with] what is sufficient for you."
(Kashf ul Khafaa', authenticated by An Najm)

[Caliph] Umar ibn Abdul Azeez was reported to have said, "Stop where the people [i.e. the companions] stopped, for they stopped based on knowledge and restrained themselves due to deep insight. They were better able to uncover it and if there was virtue in it, they were most suitable to gain it. If you say: 'Something new happened after them' [know that] those who disagreed with their guidance and preferred another sunnah besides theirs innovated regarding it. They [i.e. the companions] described what fulfilled their need and what they spoke about was sufficient. No one exerted more effort than them and those following them. Some people fell short of following them and went astray, while others passed them and became extremists. They were between that on straight guidance."
(Narrated by Ibn al Qayyim in Manaaqib Umar ibn Abdil Azeez, pp.83-84 and Ibn Rajab in Fadl Ilm as Salaf, p.36)

Abu Amr Al Awzaa'ee said, "Stick to the tracks of the predecessors even if people reject you. And beware of the opinions of people even if they beautify them with speech.
(Narrated by Ibn Abdil Barr in Jaam' Bayaan al Ilm, vol.2 p.114 and Imam adh Dhahabi in Siyaar A'laam an Nubalaa, vol.7, p.120)

Therefore, in the upcoming chapters, we will learn about twenty distinguished acts of worship that the Salaf did in their life which bi'ithnillah, even we can incorporate in our lives.