Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our Master Muhammad, the truthful and the honest.  O Allah, we know nothing but what You teach us, You are the All- Knower, the Wise. O Allah our Lord, teach us what is useful for us, let us make use of what You have taught us and advance us in knowledge. O Allah, show us the righteous things as righteous and help us do them, and show us the bad things as bad and help us keep away from them.  O Allah our Lord, make us amongst those who listen to the Word and follow the best meaning of It, and admit us, by Your Grace, to the ranks of Your righteous servants.

Ayat mention that being a Slave to Allah is the most crucial matter in man's life:

Dear brothers, this is lecture number 97 of the series Madarij As-Salikin. We are still tackling different  ranks of, "You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help (for each and everything)."[Al-Fatihah, 5] 

When we reach lesson number 100 we will be done with this series insha Allah. I meant for these last few lessons to be a summary for the entire series. Let us return  to the different ranks of, 

The greatest book we have got is the Noble Quran, which is Allah's Words in man's hand. In the following I will mention a group of Ayat which strongly indicate that worship is the most crucial matter in man's life, for he is created to worship Allah, given worship is correlated to his time, conditions, stills and activities. Better yet, being a slave of Allah is the highest rank man can ever reach. Allah says:

Being slaves of Allah is the highest rank the Prophets, peace be upon them, reached. Allah says:

Allah also says:

Matters nullify being a Slave to Allah:

"To be glamorous" is an imported concept from the west's culture, for the glamorous man, according to the west, is the powerful arrogant person who builds his life on the wreckage of others and who builds his triumph on destroying others. This imported example contradicts with being a slave of Allah. The Muslim is a slave of Allah, and he is Divinely provided with a Method, Book (i.e. the Noble Quran) and Sunnah. Furthermore, the Muslim is restrained by the Islamic laws (from being harmful or evil), for he believes in the Quran and rejects that which contradicts it, and he applies what the Prophet PBUH brought forth and rejects that which contradicts Sunnah.

Let me emphasize on the concept of being a slave of Allah. Because you are a Muslim, you are a slave of Allah, but it does not mean you are weak. On the contrary, you derive your power from Allah's Power, your knowledge from Allah's Knowledge and your bravery from Allah's Support.  Those who worship Allah reach the highest level of power, wisdom and bravery, but those who worship their lusts or a party other than Allah, will be humiliated and weakened, because they put their trust in themselves instead of putting their trust in Allah the Almighty. Allah says:

﴾Surely, those who are with your Lord (angels) are never too proud to perform acts of worship to Him, but they glorify His Praise and prostrate before Him. ﴿

[Al-A'raf, 206]

The meaning of the Ayah below: 

Allah says:

﴾And those who are near Him (i.e. the angels) are not too proud to worship Him, nor are they weary (of His worship)* They (i.e. the angels) glorify His Praises night and day, (and) they never slacken (to do so).﴿

[Al-Anbiya', 19-20]

He also says:

﴾And those who are near Him (i.e. the angels) are not too proud to worship Him,﴿

[Al-Anbiya', 19]

                                                                                                                             

What does "near Him" mean? It means those who are in His Kingdom. Is there any creature outside His Kingdom? No, there is not. All creatures are in the Kingdom of Allah the Almighty:

﴾And those who are near Him (i.e. the angels) are not too proud to worship Him, nor are they weary (of His worship).﴿

[Al-Anbiya', 19]

How does Allah describe His Prophets, peace be upon them? 

Allah says:

﴾And the slaves of the Most Beneficent (Allah) are those who walk on the earth in humility and sedateness,﴿

[Al-Furqan, 63]

Notice in the phrase, "The slaves of the Most Beneficent", the word slaves is followed by the Most Beneficent to indicate the  honor the slaves are granted. When someone refers to another person by saying, "This man is one of my men", "This man belongs to us", "this man is related to me" or "This man is my partisan" he honors him. Allah says:

﴾A spring wherefrom the slaves of Allah will drink, causing it to gush forth abundantly.﴿

[Al-Insan, 6]

They are honored by being slaves of Allah. In another Ayah, Allah  says:  

﴾and remember Our slave Dawud (David), ﴿

[Saad, 17]

Allah described (Dawud) as "Our (Allah's) slave." If the greatest Prophets and noble Messengers, peace be upon them, are described as slaves of Allah the Almighty, then who are we to reject such description? In another Ayah, Allah says:

﴾And remember Our slave Ayub (Job)﴿

[Saad, 41]

Allah also says:

﴾And remember Our slaves, Ibrahim (Abraham), Ishaque (Isaac), and Ya'qub (Jacob)﴿

[Saad, 45]

Allah says in another Ayah:

﴾How excellent (a) slave! Verily, he was ever oft-returning in repentance (to Us)!﴿

[Saad, 30]

Also, Allah says:

﴾He ['Iesa (Jesus)] was not more than a slave. We granted Our Favour to him﴿

[Az-Zukhruf, 59]

Allah says:

﴾And if you (Arab pagans, Jews, and Christians) are in doubt concerning that which We have sent down (i.e. the Qur'an) to Our slave (Muhammad Peace be upon him )﴿

[Al-Baqarah, 23]

Allah refers to Muhammad PBUH as "Our slave". Allah says:

﴾Blessed be He Who sent down the criterion (of right and wrong, i.e. this Qur'an) to His slave (Muhammad)﴿

[Al-Furqan, 1]

Allah the Almighty says:

﴾All the praises and thanks be to Allah, Who has sent down to His slave (Muhammad PBUH) the Book (the Qur'an)﴿

[Al-Kahf, 1]

Our Prophet Muhammad PBUH, our Master Ibrahim, Ayub, Musa and the other Prophets, peace be upon them, are slaves of Allah the Almighty.

Why do people love the believer?

In our worldly life, we consider PhD the highest scientific degree, and when someone acquires it, he actually reaches the highest scientific level. Much in the same line, if we want  to refer to the one who reaches the highest religious rank we  say, he is a slave of Allah. Why do people love the believer? It is because he is a slave of Allah, he is humble towards people, he is just and never treats others unfairly, he is appreciative and never ungrateful, he is chaste and not dissolute, he is honest and not a liar and he is trustworthy and never betrays the trust, so why do people love the believer? It is because the believer adopts perfections derived from the Beautiful Names of Allah, and he lives up to their standards.

Establishing a connection with Allah requires  perfection derived from Allah's Perfection:

Allah says:

﴾And (all) the Most Beautiful Names belong to Allah , so call on Him by them﴿

[Al-A'raf, 180]

Unless you bring your personality to a perfection derived from the Perfection of Allah, you will not be able to invoke Allah, to establish a connection with Him or to draw close to Him. 

((If you seek My Mercy, then be merciful to My creations.)) 

If you want to be accepted by Allah the Most Merciful, you should be merciful to people, if you intend to draw close to Al-Adel (i.e. Allah the Just) and to be accepted by Al-Adel, you should be just yourself. Accordingly, the believer is just and he even treats his ownself justly, so if he errs, he admits his error and he keeps repeating words such as, sorry, Pardon me, Excuse me if I did not pay attention to this matter, etc… The believer is not stubborn, opinionated, inflexible or bootlicker, and this is why people love him. Generally speaking man hates despicable traits and loves exalted ones. Allah says:

﴾(It has been revealed to me that) When the slave of Allah (Muhammad) stood up invoking (his Lord Allah) in prayer to Him they (the jinns) 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, 19]

Being a slave to Allah is correlated with man's dignity:

In another Ayah Allah says:

﴾Glorified (and Exalted) be He (Allah) [above all that (evil) they associate with Him] [Tafsir Qurtubi, Vol. 10, Page 204] Who took His slave (Muhammad) for a journey by night﴿

[Al-Isra', 1]

The Prophet PBUH reached Sidrat-ul-Muntaha [lote-tree of the utmost boundary (beyond which none can pass)], which is the highest rank a human being ever reached, yet how does Allah describe him in such a sublime level?  Allah says:

﴾So did (Allah) convey the Inspiration to His slave [Muhammad PBUH through Jibrael (Gabriel)]* The (Prophet's) heart lied not (in seeing) what he (Muhammad PBUH) saw.﴿

[An-Najm, 10-11]

There are direct correlation and inverse relationship. The relationship between being a slave of Allah and dignity is a direct correlation in the sense that  the higher rank you reach in worshiping Allah the Almighty, the more you will be honored by Allah. Thus, the great Prophets, peace be upon them, and the noble believers were honored in an indescribable manner.   Allah says:

﴾for verily, you are under Our Eyes﴿

[At-Tur, 48]

If Allah's Eye is looking out for you, who dares to hurt you? If you are with Allah, who can defeat  you, but if Allah is against you, who can be of any good for you?

A problem of a husband:

A man used to visit me from time to time before he passed away, may Allah have mercy on his soul, and That man was unfair to his two wives and mistreated them, but after he got married to a third one, his new wife was bothersome that she showed him troubles ten times more than he showed his two wives, so he complained to me against her bad treatment and harshness. Allah says: 

﴾And whomsoever Allah disgraces, none can honour him﴿

[Al-Hajj, 18]

When you turn away from Allah, you will be mistreated by the closest people to you, such as your own son whom you raised, but  when you are with Allah, you will be served by your fiercest enemy.

The  true believer:

((Narrated Umar: I heard the Prophet (PBUH) saying, "Do not exaggerate in praising me as the Christians praised the son of Mary, for I am only a Slave. So, call me the Slave of Allah and His Apostle."))

A man said to a Khateeb as mentioned in the following Hadith:

((It was narrated from 'Abdullah bin Yasar, from Qutailah, a woman from Juhainah, that a Jew came to the Prophet PBUH and said: "You are setting up rivals (to Allah) and associating others (with Him). You say: 'Whatever Allah wills and you will,' and you say: 'By the Ka'bah.'" So the Prophet PBUH commanded them, if they wanted to swear an oath, to say: "By the Lord of the Ka'bah;" and to say: "Whatever Allah wills, then what you will."))

[An'-Nasa'ee in his Sunan]

The Khateeb could not accept what that man said to him (whatever Allah wills and you will), for the true believer will never accept that people submit to him like a slave submits to his master, and he will never accept that a brother in faith raises him to that status, for this is a Divine Status.

((Narrated 'Umar: I heard the Prophet (PBUH) saying, "Do not exaggerate in praising me as the Christians praised the son of Mary, for I am only a Slave. So, call me the Slave of Allah and His Apostle."))

What can we derive from this stance taken by Abu Bakr in this situation:

The relationship between the Prophet PBUH and Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, was the strongest ever. 

Our Master Abu Bakr As-Sideeq gave all his money to the Prophet PBUH who praised him saying: 

 

((Whenever I called on somebody to embrace Islam, he seemed to be greatly hesitant to embrace it at first except my brother Abu Bakr.))

In another Hadith, the Prophet PBUH said: 

((The sun never rises or sets on any better man than Abu Bakr except for a Prophet.))

I  happened to find a book about the virtues of the companions, and the author mentioned nearly  300 Ahadeeth in which the Prophet PBUH praised Abu Bakr.  Nevertheless, when the Prophet PBUH died, what did As-Sideeq say? Though his heart was broken by the death of the Prophet PBUH, he said, "Whoever amongst you worshipped Muhammad, then Muhammad is dead, but whoever worshipped Allah, Allah is alive and will never die." He meant to consolidate Tawheed (in Muslims' hearts). 

The way of the companions: 

Our Master Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, dismissed our Master Khalid from being a high command, so Khalid asked, "O Commander of the believers, why did you dismissed me from my position?" When the Commander of the  Believers who is in this historical event the second Khalifah of Muslims dismisses a military leader that means the latter had committed a grave mistake, so Khalid was so keen on knowing why he was dismissed, "O Commander of the Believers, why did you dismiss  me from my position?" Umar said, "By Allah, I love you." Khalid asked again, "Why did you dismissed me? Umar said again, "By Allah I love you", but for the third time Khalid repeated his question to which Umar answered, "By Allah I dismissed you, O Ibn Al-Walid fearing that people might fall in Fitnah because of your continuations victories." 

Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, feared that people might believe that Khalid was  invincible, and that they would win all the battles led by Kahlid,  forgetting that Allah is the One Who bestows victory. The noble companions used to be like this, for they reached the highest level of Tawheed. The Prophet PBUH deeply rooted this  point in the following Hadith:

((I eat as a slave eats, and I sit as a slave sits. Since indeed I am a slave.))

It was narrated that Rjâ' ibn Haywah said to 'Abdul 'Aziz ibn 'Umar, "How perfect is the sense of honor of your father! While I was sitting one night with him, the oil lamp suddenly died out and the slave was lying asleep beside it. I asked him, "Shall I wake him up?" 'Umar answered, "No, let him sleep." I asked, "Shall I go myself and fix it?" He said, "No, it is not from virility that a man let his guest do something for him." Indeed, 'Umar went to take a bottle of oil to fill the lamp and lit it again. 'Umar went back to his seat, and said, "I stood up and went and I am 'Umar ibn 'Abdul 'Aziz, and I came back and I am still 'Umar ibn 'Abdul 'Aziz."

The Prophet PBUH used to mend his sandals, milk his camel, patch his garment, lower the water bowl for the cat to drink and follow the little girl when she took his hand in order to bring joy to her little heart. This is howthe Prophet PBUH used to be.

Allah addresses His obedient slaves in some Ayat: 

 Allah the Almighty gives glad tidings to His slaves when He says:

﴾so announce the good news to My slaves* Those who listen to the Word [good advice La ilaha ill-Allah (none has the right to be worshipped but Allah) and Islamic Monotheism, etc.] and follow the best thereof (i.e. worship Allah Alone, repent to Him and avoid Taghut, etc.)﴿

[Az-Zumar, 17-18]

Then, Allah addresses His obedient slaves by saying:

﴾(It will be said to the true believers of Islamic Monotheism): My worshippers! No fear shall be on you this Day, nor shall you grieve* (You) who believed in Our Ayat (proofs, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) and were Muslims (i.e. who submit totally to Allah's Will, and believe in the Oneness of Allah - Islamic Monotheism).﴿

[Az-Zukhruf, 68-69]

As for Satan, who determined to seduce mankind, Allah addresses him as follows:

﴾"Certainly, you shall have no authority over My slaves, except those who follow you of the Ghawin (Mushrikun and those who go astray, criminals, polytheists, and evil-doers, etc.).﴿

[Al-Hijr, 42]

Allah also says:

﴾His power is only over those who obey and follow him (Satan), and those who join partners with Him (Allah) [i.e. those who are Mushrikun - polytheists - see Verse 6:121].﴿

[An-Nahl, 100]

Islamic terms:

The Prophet PBUH considered Ihsan (benevolence) the highest rank of faith. We have Islam, Iman (faith) and Ihsan as three ranks and Islamic terms. Allah says:

﴾ The bedouins say: "We believe." Say: "You believe not but you only say, 'We have surrendered (in Islam),' for Faith has not yet entered your hearts.﴿

[Al-Hujuraat, 14]

Islam comes first, then Iman and finally Ihsan, but what is Ihasn exactly? "Ihsan is to worship Allah as though you see Him, and even though you do not see Him, (you know) He sees you." Ihsan is the highest rank of closeness to Allah and Ihsan is manifested in worshiping Allah which is the main purpose of man's existence in life. Allah says:

﴾And I (Allah) created not the jinns and humans except they should worship Me (Alone).﴿

[Adh-Dhariyat, 56]

A crucial point:

There is a crucial point of which we are in dire need nowadays. When man reconciles with Allah, he will be in his peak of zealousness at this early stage, but afterwards, his zealousness starts to fade away, his ardor cools and his acts of worship turns to habits. Regarding this point, Allah says:

﴾And worship your Lord until there comes unto you the certainty (i.e. death). ﴿

[Al-Hijr, 99]

You should worship Allah from cradle to grave, because Allah the Almighty says:

﴾"And we used to belie the Day of Recompense﴿

[Al-Muddathir, 46]

Those are the people of Hellfire:

﴾"Until there came to us (the death) that is certain."﴿

[Al-Muddathir, 47]

What does the word certain refer to in this Ayah? It refers to death:

﴾"And we used to belie the Day of Recompense"* Until there came to us (the death) that is certain."﴿

[Al-Muddathir, 46-47]

Certain is death according to all interpreters. Hence, when Allah the Almighty says:

﴾And worship your Lord until there comes unto you the certainty (i.e. death). ﴿

[Al-Hijr, 99]

This means death. When the Prophet PBUH was informed that our Master Uthman bin Maz'oon died, he said, "Regarding Uthman, certainty has come to him."

A nice comment: 

There is a nice comment on why Allah refers to death by using the word "certainty". This is because when man dies, he will become certain of the truth conveyed by all Prophets, peace be upon them, to mankind. Fir'aun said:

﴾Saying: "I am your lord, most high",﴿

[An-Nazi'aat, 24]

He also said:

﴾I know not that you have an ilah (a god) other than me﴿

[Al-Qasas, 38]

However, when Fir'aun  was drowning he believed in the Message of Musa. Allah says:

﴾in Whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am one of the Muslims (those who submit to Allah's Will)."﴿

[Yunus, 90]

Whoever dies, the truththe Prophets, peace be upon them, conveyed will be revealed to him, but  it is revealed too late, while it is revealed at the right time to the believer.

A matter which causes man's kufr:

Pay attention to the following Ayah: 

﴾And worship your Lord until there comes unto you the certainty (i.e. death). ﴿

[Al-Hijr, 99]

This indicates that worshiping Allah should be from cradle to grave, because no part of Islam will become invalid by time. Some people in some eras have been  deviated and taken by the thought that since they reached certainty ,they do not have to offer the acts of worship anymore. Whoever believes in that is but Kafir and Zindeeq (atheist, heretic, impious). It is wrong to believe in any way that you become so exalted to such an extent that you are exempted from offering Salah, lowering your gaze or offering Ma'ruf. One should worship Allah till death (certainty) comes to him.

A dream of Imam Ahmad :

It was narrated that Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal kept repeating "Not yet, not yet", before he dies, so  those who attended his death were confused, wondering about what he meant by that. After he died, may Allah have mercy on his soul, a man saw him in his dream, so he asked him, "Why did you say, 'Not yet?'" Imam Ahmad said, " Satan visited me and said, "You made it Ahmad," so I said to him, "No, not yet.  I will not make it until I die on the Straight Path." Allah says:

﴾And worship your Lord until there comes unto you the certainty (i.e. death). ﴿

[Al-Hijr, 99]

In order to win the Hereafter, man should keep steadfast till the end (death).

The different sorts of Ubodiyah (being a slave of Allah): 

1- The common Ubudiayh:

Being a slave of Allah has two kinds; one of them  is a common denominator among mankind, and the other is a special one. Every human being, whether he likes  it or not, believes in Allah or not and turns to Allah or deviates away from Him is a slave of Allah in the common kind of slavery. Do we know when we are going to die? Few days ago, a friend of mine who did not reach the age of fifty and whose health was sound, died in less than ten minutes. He was alive and suddenly he joined the death club. Therefore, in that sense, all human beings are slaves of Allah; none owns his life. Does anyone own his life? Does anyone guarantee his movement (whether his sensory nerves will keep working or not)? 

A tiny clot that is  one square millimeter is enough to cause man's paralysis if it blocks one of the brain blood vessels. Hence, we do not guarantee our movement, our hearing, our sight, our ability to speak or our memory. A man, whom as I know is a pious person, was afflicted with dementia, so when his son entered his room once he asked him, "Who are you?" Man does not own his strength, hearing, sight, memory, the ability to speak, the heart valves, the aorta artery, the coronary artery or his kidneys. Who among us has the control over any of his body systems if one of them malfunctions?

Man's life might turn into a living hell if any of his physical system stops functioning. Thus, we are Abeed (plural of Abd [slave]) out of compulsion, and this kind of slavery to Allah is shared by all human beings. To elaborate, man's movement, his ability to speak, his ability to eat and his ability to sleep are in Allah's Hand, and if Allah wills, one of man's physical systems may stop working. This is how we are slaves out of compulsion. Even the atheist who denies Allah's Existence is one of Allah's slaves and so he is subject of being afflicted with a clot in his brain, for instance, which might cause his paralysis. Thus, he is a slave of Allah, and he is in Allah's Grip. This is the precise meaning of the compulsion kind of slavery in its wider sense. How this kind of slavery is mentioned in the Quran? Allah says: 

 

﴾and your Lord is not at all unjust to (His) slaves.﴿

[Fussilat, 46]

2- The privileged Ubudiayh:

Whoever reflects on the creation of the heavens and the earth, who knows that this universe must have a Great Creator, who follows Allah's Path, who turns to Allah, who offers good deeds and who sacrifices the cheap and the worthy and the soul and the wealth in Allah's Cause, is of a different kind of slaves, for his submission to Allah is out of gratitude. Therefore, every human being is a slave out of compulsion, and the believers alone are the slaves of gratitude and though the word "Abd" is used in both cases as a singular noun, its plural in the former case is Abeed, whereas its plural in the latter case is Ibad. Allah says: 

﴾And the slaves of the Most Beneficent (Allah) are those who walk on the earth in humility and sedateness﴿

[Al-Furqan, 63]

Allah the Almighty says:

﴾Certainly, you shall have no authority over My slaves﴿

[Al-Hijr, 42]

If we trace down every Ayah  in the Quran where the word Ibad is mentioned, we will notice that it refers to the slave of gratitude. As a human being, you are the slave of Allah in the sense that your slavery is out of compulsion, whether you like it or not, whether you believe or not and whether you are  satisfied or not, but as for the slave of gratitude, it is another story.

What do we learn from these two examples? 

Consider this example: The soldier in the military is under the command of his commander, and he has no choice but to obey him whether he asks him to sit, to sleep, to eat or to crawl. However, if this soldier loves his commander so much to such an extent that he throws himself in water to save his drowning son, this soldier will become very close to his commander, and he will be treated differently, because he sacrifices his life to save the commander's son. This is pretty much similar to the common kind of slavery and the special kind of it, for the first is like any soldier in the military who is under the control of the commander's orders, whereas the second kind of slavery to Allah is like that soldier who attains that exalted respect in the eyes of his commander because he saves his son. Hence, a soldier cannot talk directly to the commander of the army due to the "chain of military ranks", but this very soldier is entitled to be very close to the commander, to talk to him directly or to enter his office without permission if he saves his son from drowning. Allah says:

 

﴾So whoever hopes for the Meeting with his Lord, let him work righteousness and associate none as a partner in the worship of his Lord."﴿

[Al-Kahf, 110]

Allah's Doors are open since the paths to reach Allah are as many as the inhabitants of the earth. Do you long to meet Allah? Are you eager to establish a connection with Him? If yes, then offer good deeds. 

((O Musa PBUH do you like me to sit with you? Musa PBUH said, "How is that possible O Lord?" Allah said, "Did you not know that I sit with those who remember meme? Did you not know that wherever My slave seeks Me, he shall find Me?))

The difference between the slave out of compelling and the slave of gratitude: 

As I said earlier, there is the slave of compulsion and the salve of gratitude. The plural of the word "Abd" which refers to the slave of compulsion is Abeed, whereas the plural of the word "Abd, which refers to the slave of gratitude is Ibad. The slave of compulsion is in the Grip of Allah, while the slave of gratitude reflects on Allah's universe, believes in Allah, loves Him, follows His Path, reconciles with Him, turns to Him and gains happiness in being close to Him. Allah says:

﴾for verily, you are under Our Eyes ﴿

[At-Tur, 48]

You are included in our providence and benefaction. 

The ranks of Ubudiyah:

1- The scientific rank:

Uboodiyah (slavery to Allah) has levels according to one's knowledge and deeds. As for the knowledge levels, there is the level of knowing Allah and the level of knowing His Commands. Allah says:

﴾Ask Him (O Prophet Muhammad PBUH), (concerning His Qualities, His rising over His Throne, His creations, etc.), as He is Al-Khabir (The All-Knower of everything i.e. Allah).﴿

[Al-Furqan, 59]

In order to get acquainted with Allah, you should seek that from Al-Khabir, and in order to know Allah's Orders and Bans, you should resort to scholars to learn your religion:

﴾so ask the people of the Reminder [Scriptures - the Taurat (Torah), the Injeel (Gospel)] if you do not know.﴿

[Al-Anbiya', 7]

AlUkberi wrote in his book I'rab the Noble Quran, "The pronunciation of Quran's Words is taken from those who are Huffaz, and Quran's meanings are learnt from those who has experiences(with Allah)." 

To elaborate, if a barren woman, who is about to be divorced by her husband because of her sterility, and who suffers upon seeing other mothers holding their children, read the play Yerma, she will be moved by the play and even shed tears upon reading it, because what she reads reflects her suffering, touches her sentiments, puts the finger on her wound, describes her experience and analyzes it. Hence, this play will impress  her greatly, because she has the same suffering mentioned in the play. On the other hand, if a woman, who has children, reads the book, she will not be affected by it in the same way as the barren woman does. I mentioned this example as an introduction.

 You may see in an assembly where the Quran is recited some of the people weeping hard while others are not, but they are like a solid wall. Those who cry have a special experience with Allah, and they suffered a hardship which makes them cry and moved by the recitation. 

Qudsi Hadith: 

I mentioned once the following Qudsi Hadith to someone who usually offers good deeds, such as  serving people, feeding the hungry and looking after the sick, and they are as high as the mountains: 

((Not all those who pray are prayers, as I accept salat from only those whose salat make them humble to My Greatness, who do not follow their desires, who do not insist on disobeying Me, who feed the hungry, who cloth up the needy, who are merciful to the injured, and who house the stranger, and only if all are done for My Sake by My Glory and My Loftiness the light of his face will be to Me brighter than the sun.))

Upon hearing the Hadith he wept deeply to such an extent that I feared for his wellbeing. This Hadith made him feel the greatness of his deeds. Hence, the meanings of the Quran Words are taken from those who are impressed by it. When you are so close to Allah you will melt out of the burning desire to meet Him, you will weep upon listening to His Words and you will be touched upon listening to His Prophet's words PBUH. Unlike such a person,  those who are very far from Allah are addressed as follows: 

 

﴾They are those who are called from a place far away (so they neither listen nor understand).﴿

[Fussilat, 44]

The ranks of Uboodiyah in details: 

I mentioned that Uboodiyah has levels according to the knowledge and deeds of each person. As for the level of knowledge, it has two sorts: the first sort knowledge is knowing Allah, which is mentioned in the following Ayah: 

﴾Ask Him (O Prophet Muhammad PBUH), (concerning His Qualities, His rising over His Throne, His creations, etc.), as He is Al-Khabir (The All-Knower of everything i.e. Allah).﴿

[Al-Furqan, 59]

The second level of knowledge is knowing His Orders and Bans, Allah says:

﴾so ask the people of the Reminder [Scriptures - the Taurat (Torah), the Injeel (Gospel)] if you do not know.﴿

[Al-Anbiya', 7]

As for knowing Allah, it is manifested in knowing His Divine Character, His Beautiful Names, and His Actions, and it is manifested in exalting Him above whatever that does not befit His Deity. As for knowing Allah's Orders and Bans, it is manifested in seeking Shari'ah rulings which keep man on  the Right Path:

﴾Guide us to the Straight Way* The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, not (the way) of those who earned Your Anger (such as the Jews), nor of those who went astray (such as the Christians). ﴿

[Al-Fatihah, 6-7]

The second kind of knowledge is to know the rulings of Shari'ah which entails punishment or reward, and to be aware of each sin and its punishment. Hence, knowledge embraces knowing Allah, His Orders and Bans, His Divine Character, His Beautiful Names, His exalted Attributes and His Actions, and it embraces exalting him above whatever that does not befit His Deity, following the Right Path and knowing every sin and its retribution on the Day of Resurrection for those who commit it.

2- The pragmatic rank:

As for the pragmatic ranks (which are given in Paradise to the obedient), there is the rank of those on the Right Hand (those who do the obligations, refrain from doing the forbidden, do only the permissible matters, do some of the disliked matters and abandon some of the preferable matters and this rank is for those who barely make it on the Day of Resurrection). The other rank is the one of the foremost and the nearest to Allah (they do the obligations, do the preferable Sunan, avoid the forbidden matters, and the disliked matters and  keep away from whatever that does not benefit them on the Day of Resurrection;  they fear doing what might compromise their destiny). Allah says:

﴾Successful indeed are the believers. Those who offer their Salat (prayers) with all solemnity and full submissiveness. And those who turn away from Al-Laghw (dirty, false, evil vain talk, falsehood, and all that Allah has forbidden).﴿

[Al-Mu'minun, 1-3]

﴾and of them are some who follow a middle course, and of them are some who are, by Allah's Leave, foremost in good deeds. ﴿

[Fatir, 32]

Some pass with "an honorable rank", some pass with "a very good rank" and those on the Right Hand pass as "accepted", whereas the foremost and nearest (to Allah) are in the Gardens of delight (Paradise). The intentions of the foremost are considered acts of worship and Qurubat (pious actions), for if one of them intends to eat he does that to become strong, so that he can offer good deeds and acts of worship. Thus, the permissible matters they do are considered acts of worship, whereas the acts of worship the hypocrites perform are in fact sins.