Sometimes it so happens that a man does a work and his limbs and his tongue also join him in this, and his heart also cooperates. Further on, he writes: But there are different degrees of the worship of Satan. If you obeyed him, you in fact became guilty of worshiping him. If it is not permissible, your self is Satan itself, or Satan is with it. Likewise, if your self urges you to do something, you should see whether it is permissible to do it according to the Sahariah or not. If it is not, Satan is with him and if you obeyed him in this, you worshiped him and his Satan. Then he writes: If a person comes to you and commands you to do something, you should see whether his command is in accordance with the command of Allah or not. Obedience of the rulers will be their worship only in cases where they are obeyed in matters in which Allah has not given leave to obey them. Did not the angels fall prostrate before Adam in obedience to Allah’s command? This was nothing but worship of Allah. After this, the Imam raises the question: If ibadat means itaat, then have the Muslims been commanded to worship the Prophet and the rulers in the verse: Atiullaha wa ati-ur-rasula wa ulil-amri min-kum? He himself answers it thus: If obedience to them is in accordance with the commands of Allah, it will be Allah’s worship (ibadat) and His obedience (itaat). He writes: Do not worship Satan means: Do not obey him, the reason being that only falling prostrate before him is not forbidden, but following him and obeying his commands also is forbidden therefore, itaat (obedience) is ibadat (worship). In this connection, the fine explanation given of it by Imam Razi in his Tafsir Kabir is also noteworthy.
This subject has already been explained above in (Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayat 172) (Surah An- Nisa, Ayat 117), (Surah Al-Anaam, Ayats 121, 137), (Surah At- Taubah, Ayat 31) (Surah Ibrahim, Ayat 22) (Surah Al-Kahf, Ayat 52) (Surah Maryam, Ayat 42), (Surah Al-Qasas, Ayat 63) and (E.N. Here again Allah has used ibadat (worship) in the sense of itaat (obedience). (36:61) and serve Me alone: this is the Straight Way? ĥ3.