Worship after gaining certitude

This Hadith of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) shows that the command to worship is after gaining a high degree of certitude as well.  Indeed, worship has been ordered after such a degree of certitude is gained.

 

Thus the verse:

 

And worship your Lord till you attain to the station of certainty of faith (which goes with your glory, i.e., perfect cognizance of divinity or the moment of far-nearness to your Lord).  Surah Hijr (15:99)

 

suggests Ihsaan which is a higher station than faith (Imaan).

 

Nobody can have certitude more than the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).  Yet, He would perform the most worship, which all the Sufis mention in their books. 

 

Even a moment’s reflection will make it clear that if worship is required to be performed with certitude.  Then after gaining certitude, worship is all the more required.  Is it possible that a person gains the certitude of the Being and attributes of Almighty Allah and doesn’t express his/her humility before and becomes headstrong and decides that he/she will never bow to the Lord Almighty.  Of course, it might be that such a person loses control over himself and loses all thought of eating, drinking and other human needs.  Such a person is called “Majzoob” (the enraptured) and like small children, they are exempted from the rules of the Shariah.  However, this has nothing to do with certitude, as certitude is related to the mind and the intellect.  The way a person has the certitude that the sun is bright, but in spite of this that person will not be considered to be exempted, because that person’s intellect is still active.  Thus, as long as the intellect of the person remains active, that person will not be considered to be exempted from the Shariah, regardless of the degree of certitude.  Instead because of this certitude that person performs the most amount of worship.  For this reason, all the great saints made great efforts in worshipping Almighty Allah.

 

Thus, the principles of these gentlemen are the same principles that the Shariah has clarified, but their most basic principle is action i.e. performance of good deeds.  The way the scholars pay great attention to increasing their corpus of knowledge in the same way these people pay a lot of attention to increasing their store of deeds.  As everywhere in the Holy Quran deeds are mentioned along with knowledge and paradise also seems to be the reward of deeds as mentioned in the Holy Quran:

 

And, (O Godfearing folk,) this is the Paradise of which you have been made the owners, a recompense of those (works) which you used to do.  Surah Zukhruf (43:72)

 

The greatest thing is that Almighty Allah says:

 

(O Beloved!) Say: If you love Allah, follow me. Allah will then take you as (His) beloved, and forgive you your sins for you, and Allah is Most Forgiving, Ever-Merciful.  Surah Al Imran (3:31)