If ALLAH is free of all wants, then why does He ask us to worship Him?

 

If ALLAH is free of all wants, then why does He ask us to worship Him?     

 

First consider the question;

In Sahih Muslim, Hadith number; 6572, our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said that Allah says;

"My slaves! If all of you, the first of you and the last of you, if all the men and all the jinn among you, were to be as god-fearing as the most god-fearing heart of any one of you, that would not add anything to My Greatness If they were to be evilest as the evilest heart of any one of you, that would not decrease anything even not a little bit in My Dominion. If they were to join together in one place and then ask of Me, and I gave every man among them what he asked for that, that would not reduce My Dominion at all, except as the sea is decreased if a needle is dipped into it."

 

There are some verses in the Quran that explain the Greatness of Allah Almighty.

وَمَن جَٰهَدَ فَإِنَّمَا يُجَٰهِدُ لِنَفۡسِهِۦٓۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَغَنِيٌّ عَنِ ٱلۡعَٰلَمِينَ 

“And whosoever strives, he strives only for himself. Verily, Allah is free of all wants from the ‘Alamin (mankind, jinns, and all that exists).” (Surah Al-Ankabut, Verse; 06)

 

Allah repeats a similar message in another Surah.

يٰۤاَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اَنۡتُمُ الۡفُقَرَآءُ اِلَى اللّٰهِۚ وَاللّٰهُ هُوَ الۡغَنِىُّ الۡحمید 

“O people, it is you who need Allah;36 as for Allah, He is Self-Sufficient, Immensely Praiseworthy.” (Surah Fatir, Verse no; 15)

 

But in another Surah Allah is asking for worshipping Him!

وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْاِنْسَ اِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوْنِ

 “And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.” (Surat Adh-Dhariyat, verse no; 56)

 

Dozens of verses in the Qur'an mention that Allah (the Glorified and Merciful) does not attains anything through being praised, but rather He is the Gracious Giver to performers of good and evil-performers alike. Without getting sufficient thought to the nature of the Almighty Allah, and without ingress to His revealed words, a person misperceives the Creator as a needy. (نعوذ بالله ) Considering that the Allah Almighty is egotistically driven to demand devotional service is neither common sense nor sound logic.  So, what is the reason that He is asking for worship and also saying that He doesn't need our worship? The reason is that Allah Almighty wants us to worship Him not because of His benefit but for our benefit. How will we benefit if we worship Allah? You just need to revise the first three verses of Surah Al-Fatiha, the first surah of the Quran, and the most important part of our best form of worship (Salah). Without the recitation of surah Al-Fatiha, the Salah cannot complete. In these three verses, you see the praise of Allah;

ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعالَمِينَ

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

ٱلرَّحْمن ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The Most Compassionate, Most Merciful

ملک يَوْمِ ٱلدِّينِ

Master of the Day of Judgment

 

Every time a Muslim prays with an alert heart, he/she finds God listening attentively and replying with gifts that only the never-exhausting treasures of the Most Bountiful can afford. Outside of prayer, a Muslim remains invited to connect with God and experience His Nearness at every moment. Allah starts the Quran with his praise because He is well known to human psychology. A human when starts praising someone, he starts following him. For example, if you the most gorgeous or successful person in your family or in surrounding become your ideal and you automatically start following him. The steps that you take to follow him will only benefit you not the person whom you are following. In the same way, Allah wants us to praise Him because if we praise Him we will automatically start following Him and the path of Allah is for the True Success of humans.

If we say Allah u Akbar a thousand times in a day, it will not add anything to Allah's Greatness because He is already greatest and will remain greatest. The only reason for why we have to follow Him or praise him is when we praise Him, we will follow His advice.  We will follow the whole Quran and Sunnah that are full of His Advice. Our praise to him helps us to realize that we have to follow the one, who is the Greatest, most wise, most knowledgeable, and Merciful. As for the Muslim, he or she is blessed to understand that Allah loves to be worshipped and obeyed by His creation, not because of a need for authentication or enslavement, but because He loves to see the benefit we achieve from it. And all praise is due to Allah, the compassionate Lord of all the worlds.