All creatures are the slaves of Allah by His will, so whoever does not want to be a slave of Allah by choice is still a slave of Allah by compulsion. All people are slaves of Allah and are subject to His rulings, and His decree is carried out on them. No one has the power to do harm or do good for himself except by the leave of his Lord and Sovereign Who controls him. So all honor is to be found in achieving this servitude in the fullest sense, which can only be achieved by acknowledging one’s complete dependence on Allah and feeling completely independent of other people.
Sheikh M. S. Al-Munajjid, a prominent Saudi Muslim lecturer and author, states: Servitude to Allah (`ubudiyyah) is of two types: a specific type and a general type.
Servitude in the specific sense means the servitude of love, submission, and obedience by which a person is honored. This is what is referred to in verses such as the following:
(Allah is very Gracious and Kind to His slaves) (Ash-Shura 42:19);
(And the (faithful) slaves of the Most Gracious (Allah) are those who walk on the earth in humility and sedateness) (Al-Furqan 25:63).
This kind of servitude applies only to the believers who obey Allah and is not shared with the non-believers who rebel against the laws, commands, and prohibitions of Allah. People vary greatly with regard to this servitude; the more a person loves Allah, follows His commands, and submits to His laws, the greater his servitude. The ones who achieved the highest level in this regard were the prophets and messengers, and the greatest of all was our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Hence no one is described as being a true slave of Allah in the most complete sense in the Qur’an except him (peace and blessings be upon him). Allah describes him as His slave in the context of revelation, as He says: (All the praises and thanks be to Allah, Who has sent down to His slave (Muhammad) the Book (the Qur’an), and has not placed therein any crookedness) (Al-Kahf 18:1).
And in the context of Al-Israa’ (the Night Journey), He says: (Glorified (and Exalted) be He (Allah) [above all that (evil) they associate with Him] Who took His slave (Muhammad) for a journey by night from AlMasjid AlHaram (at Makkah) to AlMasjid AlAqsa (in Jerusalem)) (Al-Israa’ 17:1).
And in the context of supplication Allah says: (And when the slave of Allah (Muhammad) stood up invoking Him (his Lord Allah) in Prayer they (the jinn) just made round him a dense crowd as if sticking one over the other (in order to listen to the Prophet’s recitation)) (Al-Jinn 72:19).
And there are other similar verses.
All honor is to be found in achieving this servitude in the fullest sense, which can only be achieved by acknowledging one’s complete dependence on Allah and feeling completely independent of other people. This can only be achieved when a person combines love for Allah with fear of Him and hope for His bounty and reward.
With regard to servitude in the general sense, no created being is excluded from this. It is called compulsory servitude. In this sense all people are slaves of Allah and are subject to His rulings, and His decree is carried out on them. No one has the power to do harm or to do good f
or himself except by the leave of his Lord and Sovereign Who controls him. This is the kind of servitude that is referred to in verses such as the following: (There is none in the heavens and the earth but comes unto the Most Gracious (Allah) as a slave) (Maryam 19:93).
This kind of servitude does not imply any kind of honor. Whoever turns away from the specific type of servitude mentioned above is still subjugated to servitude in the general sense, and cannot be excluded from that in any circumstances. All creatures are the slaves of Allah by His will, so whoever does not want to be a slave of Allah by choice is still a slave of Allah by compulsion.
We ask Allah to make us among His sincere slaves and close friends, for He is All-Hearing, Ever-Close and Ever-Responsive. May Allah send blessings and peace upon His slave Muhammad and upon all his family and companions.