Tradition

مَنْ عَمِلَ بِمَا افْتَرَضَ اللّهِ عَلَيْهِ فَهُوَ مِنْ أَعْبَدِ النّاسِ

Imam al-Sajjad (‘a) is narrated to have said: “Whoever performs his necessary duties is the most worshipful of the people.”1

Brief Commentary

Worship is neither limited to serving God’s creation, nor is it limited to only prayers and fasting. Rather, the greatest worship of God is that in which each person performs their own necessary duties in life. What kind of worship can be higher and greater than the one through which a society is transformed into a virtual utopia filled with all sorts of blessings and goodness.

What is important to note is that performing one’s duties is a term of wide ranging meaning and it also includes doing one’s duty in terms of the obligatory worship as well. In reality, doing one’s duty includes all of the necessary social, cultural, and economic actions which exist. This is in direct contradiction to those who believe that religiosity is achieved by putting aside all worldly duties and simply engaging in acts of ritual worship.

• 1. Wasa’il al-Shi’ah, vol. 11, p. 206, Al-Kafi, vol. 2, p. 81.