Why does God demand worship?

[Darth Ultor]

God is described in every faith as something beyond human comprehension, an all-know all-powerful spiritual force intertwined with everything physical and spiritual, yet is nothing like His creation. It seems rather ungodly for Him to demand worship and submission as if He is human king ruling an absolute monarchy. I worship God out of respect and gratitude, but I worship God out of choice, and choice alone. It also doesn't seem right that God, who is referred to as the Most Merciful in almost every Sura except the ninth, would be so quick to anger and be so harsh in punishments in the Hereafter for such little offenses.

[Supreme]

Indeed, it does seem very wierd for an omnipotent diety to desire worship from His human creation- not to mention why God would be angered when His creation don't worship Him when He's granted them freewill. Surely if all worship was what God wanted, He would not give man free will?

[جوري]

God demands worship as a conditioning of your soul and for the good of it..
It is a way for you to establish a relationship and a covenant with God, as well it is an undisputed fact that the healing physiology and psychology of those who do good and perform rituals for their faith fare better than those who don't. The benefits of prayer itself has been compared to SSRI without the harmful side effects of course..

One only harms themselves when they neglect the call that they were created for

2: [57] --- (but they rebelled); to Us they did no harm, but they harmed their own souls.

surely God doesn't need your rituals anymore than a land-owner needs you eating free off his fruits.. But God provides for you every day in every way and what he asks is for the better of you!

hope that answers your query in a nutshell

all the best

[islamirama]

Allah states in the Quran that He created man to be His Khalefah, His trustee on earth (Quran 2:30). Mankind’s basic trust, our responsibility, is to believe in and worship Allah:

And I did not create the Jinn and mankind except to worship Me… (Quran, 51:56-58)

Very simple! The purpose for man’s creation is to worship the Creator. The essence of Allah’s message through all of the prophets also was: O mankind, worship Allah, you have no deity other than Him. (Quran, 7:59,65,73,85; Also 11:50,61,84; and 23:23,32). Allah further states that He made this life in order to test man so that every person may be recompensed after death for what he has earned:

[He] who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed - and He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving. (Quran, 67:2)

http://www.islam-guide.com/purpose-of-life.htm

[aadil77]

I think the simple answer is because its His will, just like He commands us to pray, to give alms, to be good people etc

He has created this system for mankind to live by, either you accept it or you reject it, the outcome of your decision has been made clear. Some things can't be questioned for logic, they're simply Allahs will, its like asking why He created the earth or people.

Allah commanding you to worship Him is not a matter of His needs, rather its for your own benefit/needs if you want to succeed in this process of life that He has created, all He requires is that you worship and remain loyal to one who created you.

[Darth Ultor]

I find meditation to be more beneficial to the human spirit and his or her connection to God than prayer. Really, the only time that I don't feel that I'm doing a ritual by praying is on Yom Kippur.

[Predator]

It seems rather ungodly for Him to demand worship and submission as if He is human king ruling an absolute monarchy.

It seems rather blasphemous and rebellious of you to portray your creator as if he were some tyrant ruling over you .
The Prophet (PBUH) said -God had created 3 groups of Angels praying to him NON-STOP still Judgement day . One were praying standing, the other 2 were praying while prostrating and bowing to him. And when the trumpet for doomsday was blown , the angels looked up to God and said " O Lord , we have not given you enough worship "

[aadil77]

Indeed, it does seem very wierd for an omnipotent diety to desire worship from His human creation- not to mention why God would be angered when His creation don't worship Him when He's granted them freewill. Surely if all worship was what God wanted, He would not give man free will?

Its not a desire, god has no desires or needs.

But can you answer this question, why did god create earth or people, why did he create all the planets in space?

Did he desire to have to create these things, was it just for fun, to watch a little world of people and then eventually send some to hell, then some to heaven? No, we simply don't have the knowledge to know the reasoning behind His will - All we can say is that it was His will and we have to accept it, so in the same way don't assume that god would want us to worship Him out of His desires

[cat eyes]

Indeed, it does seem very wierd for an omnipotent diety to desire worship from His human creation- not to mention why God would be angered when His creation don't worship Him when He's granted them freewill. Surely if all worship was what God wanted, He would not give man free will?

Praying is like medicine for the soul.. it increases ones belief in god. it dose so many things that non muslims cannot understand but why do you think Allah cares whether some one prays or not? thats upto them. they simply get punishments because when one has not prayed at all through his life, he has no iman because not praying weakens ones belief and they fear Allah less this results in humans doing so many sins

[Darth Ultor]

It seems rather blasphemous and rebellious of you to portray your creator as if he were some tyrant ruling over you

I did not portray God like that, you're just taking what I said out of context. If you read the whole post, you would know that I say that I worship God out of respect and gratitude. I really don't like it when some people portray God as a dictator when He is not at all. What I was saying that the way the punishments are described for not worshiping God are inconsistent with Him being Most-Merciful. I think that conditions for reward and punishment in the Hereafter is a lot more sophisticated than that.

[aadil77]

What I was saying that the way the punishments are described for not worshiping God are inconsistent with Him being Most-Merciful. I think that conditions for reward and punishment in the Hereafter is a lot more sophisticated than that.

Not really, is it that hard to worship Him and Him alone? seems a simple task in return for eternal paradise. After a lifetime of sin when someone accepts the truth - Allahs gives them a clean slate, every one of their sins is forgiven - if that is not Most-Merciful I don't know what is.

[Predator]

Not really, is it that hard to worship Him and Him alone? seems a simple task in return for eternal paradise. After a lifetime of sin when someone accepts the truth - Allahs gives them a clean slate, every one of their sins is forgiven - if that is not Most-Merciful I don't know what is.

A Hajj and A pilgimage to Makkah in Ramadan, if accepted by God also results in forgiveness of Sin. Allah is most merciful

[CosmicPathos]

Well in ISlam, every matter which is permissible, if it done with the intention of loving Allah is a matter of worship. So we are not being forced to do every action with that intention. but if we do then God calls that action worship too. THere are only few obligatory prayers that we Muslims have to do (Obligatory prayers daily, fasting, hajj, and zakat). The rest is optional and we do all out of love for Him.

Can a Muslim be a Muslim who loves and believes in Allah yet ignores obligatory prayers? If he thinks that they are not obligatory then he is outside the fold of Islam because he has contradicted himself by saying that he believes in Almighty Allah yet ignores His command.

Regarding God throwing people in Hellfire for just not believing in His existence, well that is how it is. Just like how we on Earth exist when we did not have any say in our existence! Yet we dont question why we exist, we rather enjoy worldly life, then why question why Heaven and Hell exist?

And regarding God being All-Merciful does not mean that He is just that. He is also All-Wrathful.

[aadil77]

A Hajj and A pilgimage to Makkah in Ramadan, if accepted by God also results in forgiveness of Sin. Allah is most merciful

Allah has given us soo many opps to be forgiven of our sins, sincere repentance on certain days and times - and you can get all your sins washed away
So many opps to gain massive rewards, from fasting in the month of ramadan to the simple act of looking at your parents with love
So many blessings given to us throughout life, blessings even in disguise



'Which is it, of the favours of your Lord, that ye deny? '
(55:13)

[marwen]

I'm not really able to explain Allah's will. Allah wanted us to worship him and that's his will.
But I'm sure Allah asked us to worship him for our best, because Allah has no interest in our prayer, he ordered us to pray just to become better persons. Worshipping Allah will let you concentrate all your trust in one God to not be confused. And repeated prayer make us remember good morals and purify our souls from sins and bad ideas. And as a result, the earth become a safer place and the conflicts and violence between people will be less. The social role of prayer/religion is very important because man-made laws are not very respected by people, the laws based on belief(religion) are more sacred and more respected because they emerge from your inside as a believer. Repetitive prayer is a way to remember always these "religious" laws so they will be more respected.

[Darth Ultor]

I don't mean to sound blasphemous, but prayer doesn't give me as strong a connection with God as, let's say, meditation or giving charity or volunteering for an organization which tries to create a fun environment for kids with cancer. I do pray though. Most of all, there are personal experiences that make feel connected to God. I put my trust in God and never lose faith and try to be a better person.

[Ramadhan]

Indeed, it does seem very wierd for an omnipotent diety to desire worship from His human creation- not to mention why God would be angered when His creation don't worship Him when He's granted them freewill. Surely if all worship was what God wanted, He would not give man free will?

You need to brush up on your bible.

Jesus pbuh himself worship God regularly, he prostrated, he prayed.

[Ramadhan]

I did not portray God like that, you're just taking what I said out of context. If you read the whole post, you would know that I say that I worship God out of respect and gratitude. I really don't like it when some people portray God as a dictator when He is not at all. What I was saying that the way the punishments are described for not worshiping God are inconsistent with Him being Most-Merciful. I think that conditions for reward and punishment in the Hereafter is a lot more sophisticated than that.

Clearly, man is stubborn and blinded by his own intellect.

Even after given knowledge of great rewards and great punishments, man is still in dispute whether to worship God.

[Ramadhan]

Thats not blasphemy. There are allot of people who dont "feel" a connection to God strictly thruogh prayer. Medetation is a great way to get connected.

you jumped into other people conversation without reading the sequence.

read again.

Airforce said it was rather blasphemous and rebellious of Boaz because Boaz said: "It seems rather ungodly for Him to demand worship and submission as if He is human king ruling an absolute monarchy."

if that is not rather blasphemous to you, then I pity you.

By the way, are you Big Guy/Italian Guy?

[Supreme]

You need to brush up on your bible.

Jesus pbuh himself worship God regularly, he prostrated, he prayed.

That is not in dispute here. What is in dispute is the motive of an omnipotent deity desiring worship. Boaz is completely right- it does seem like the wishes of a God lacking in self esteem and confidence, that they would create a race with the pure intentions of that race worshipping Him. Why such a diety would give a race free will, when all He wanted was worship and could have given the race no choice but to worship,, is also a valid point.