The Relationship between the obligatory and optional acts of worship in Islam

Assalamu Alaikum warahmatuLlah...

I hope we are in good health AlhamduliLlah...

Endless Praise & Thanks is due to Our Lord, the One who created us when we were nothing, selected us above all HIS creations and bestowed upon us the beautiful boon of Faith & Islam.

We seek for endless peace & blessings upon the Noble Prophet Muhammad PBUH, May Allah bless His household and companions including those who have followed the path of guidance. May Allah equally keep us on the right path.

Our topic for this morning AlhamduliLlah is The Relationship between the obligatory and optional acts of worship in Islam and I hope to be brief as much as possible...

First and foremost as believers and humans first, worship is the sole reason of our existence in this earth.

It is through this worship that we tend to attain factors that'll be tickets of our success both on this earth and then the important one the hereafter. Worship of Allah gets us this closeness, pleasure and mercies of Allah...

Due to this, it is very very important that we be cognisant of our daily acts, the in and out of these acts of worship in order to be part of the great blessings and favours that comes along with them..

Like the Imam of Ahdar has scribed; The first incumbent thing on the matured person is to perfect his faith and then know things that he'll use to perfect/beautify his faith..

Therefore, its very important a Muslim knows the rulings and limitations of our daily acts for if nothing at all for the aim of prioritizing our acts which in turn will lead to the beautification of our faith..

In total, the rulings guiding our daily acts as Muslims are five(5) even though some scholars (Hanafis) have made further divisions to get a total of seven (7) but they are widely accepted as five.

In the division of five(5) they are;

~ Fard / Waajib = Obligatory/Compulsory

 

~ Sunnah / Mustahab = Optional / Recommended

 

~ Haram = Prohibited / Forbidden

 

~ Makroor / Takreer = Disliked / Reprehensible

 

~ Mubah = Neutral

 

While in seven(7) they are;

~ Fard = Compulsory

~ Waajib = Obligatory

~ Sunnah = Preferred

~ Mustahabb = Recommended

~ Haram = Forbidden

~ Makroor = Disliked

~ Mubah = Neutral

 

So this morning in our interaction, we would limit ourselves to the obligatory and optional acts together with the relationship between both...

1. Obligatory Acts

This stand in place of Fard or Waajib and is referred to acts that are commanded and each matured responsible Muslim is obliged to do it.

They include the five daily prayers, Fasting during the month of Ramadan, Charity, covering oneself and so on.

Leaving out these acts without a valid reason is tantamount to sinning and by valid it is meant  valid according to the sharee'a and not valid per our thinking..

There are 2 types in this category namely;

 

∆ Fard Ayn

∆ Fard Kifaaya

 

Fard Ayn; is an obligation that is on a personal level. Each Muslim performs it on their own. Example being, the 5 daily prayers....

 

Fard Kifaaya; this type of obligation is on a personal scale till a group of people have performed it then the obligation is lifted on each person. Example is the funeral prayer...

 

2. Optional Acts

This stands in place of sunnah or mustahab and are acts not compulsory but recommended, performing them is rewarding but leaving them is not sinning.

 

Examples include, charity outside zakat, initiating a salaam and so on...

There are also two namely,

∆ Sunnah Muakaddah

∆ Sunnah Ghayr Muakaddah

 

Sunnah Muakaddah; these are sunnah acts that were performed frequently by the Prophet PBUH... They were more unless like habits..

Examples include, 2 units of prayer before Fajr prayer, Thursday fasting...

 

Sunnah Ghayr Muakaddah; these were performed at most times and not necessarily all the time...

Example include, 4 rakats before Asr prayer...

So now the relationship between both, let's take an hadith for a better understanding in shaa Allah;

A man approached the Prophet and asked: “Tell me about an action that if I do, I will enter paradise?”

The Prophet said, “Worship Allah, do not associate partners, establish prayers, give zakat, and fast during Ramadan.

The man said, “By Allah, I will not increase anything from this and I will not decrease anything from this”.

When the man left, the Prophet said if anyone is pleased to see a person from paradise then look to that man.

This hadith spells out what is required of the Muslim and without doubt it is what he has been commanded or obliged with and that is enough for the salvation of that Muslim.

So the direct relationship between the obligatory and optional acts is that;

the obligatory acts are required and a must for a believer and leaving them incurs sins for the person but the optional acts are just acts that help us get closer to Allah and to compensate for any shortcomings in the obligatory acts and one has  no fault in leaving their performance.

Also the obligatory acts is prioritized over the optional acts as they are the most important.

 

Its reported regarding obligatory prayers and optional prayers in a hadith;

 

Abu Huraira reported the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) as saying: When the prayer commences then there is no prayer (valid), but the obligatory prayer. (Muslim Book 4, Number 1531)

Also it has been narrated by 'Abdullah b. Sarjis:

 

A person entered the mosque, while the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) was leading the dawn prayer. He observed two rak'ahs in a corner of the mosque, and then joined the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) in prayer.

 

When the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) had pronounced salutations (he had concluded the prayer), he said:

 

 O, so and so, which one out of these two prayers did you count (as your Fard prayer), the one that you observed alone or the prayer that you observed with us ?

(Muslim Book 4, Number 1537)

 

This also tells us the preference of the obligatory acts over the optional acts in our daily acts...

 

Also one relationship is just as leaving the obligatory leads to sin, leaving optional leads to loss of rewards.

The negligence of an obligatory acts leads to one sinning and at a length leaving the fold of Islam like abandoning salat while when one performs a sunnah or optional act theirs is a reward and hence if one leaves them they lose nothing but rewards..

All in all, the major concern of a Muslim should be fulfilling what they have been commanded to perform and striving to perform the optional acts but the secret is correct and true intention when performing obligatory acts leads to the performance of the optional acts as at this juncture the believer enjoys and has an ecstasy in his worship.

I advice that The optional acts also should also be our priority as it attains for us a status which obligatory acts wouldn't attain for us and its beautifully described in the hadith of the Prophet PBUH where he says;

“Whosoever shows enmity to someone devoted to Me, I shall be at war with him. My servant draws not near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have enjoined upon him, and *My servant continues to draw near to Me with optional/supererogatory works so that I shall love him.* When I love him I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he walks. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him, and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it. I do not hesitate about anything as much as I hesitate about [seizing] the soul of My faithful servant: he hates death and I hate hurting him.”

(Al-Bukhaari  6502)

We have to be ambitious and perform our daily acts without being selective as we don't know that exact one which will attain us the salvation we need... Leaving optional acts and focusing only on obligatory opens door for our failure as we are humans and perfection is not our character..

I end here and the truth of anything I've said is from Allah and His Messenger PBUH and the false and evil is from my fallible self and shaytaan and They are free from it.

 

We ask Allah to bless and protect us, accept from us & forgive us our shortcomings...

 

May Allah grant us good in this world and better in the hereafter and protect us from the torment of the fire... Aameen..

 

Wassalamu Alaikum...