The Whatness of Worship in Theological Denominations' Viewpoints with Emphasis on Criticizing Wahhabism

The concept of worship is one of the challenging concepts in the theology of Islamic denominations and Wahhabism. The rigid standpoint of Wahhabism in defining this concept is confronted by other groups. By presenting a simple definition of worship, Wahhabis have defined it as submission, humility and love. With this definition, they have put this concept as one of the foundations of defining monotheism and polytheism. Therefore, the have considered Istiqathah, seeking intercession, vows and slaughtering not to Allah as shirk, and the person who performs them has been called a polytheist. Imamis, Ashʻarites and Maturidis have opposed Wahhabis in this definition. The believe that worship is a combination of submission and humility to someone, along with belief in his/her as a lord, divine, creator, and other attributes of a deity. The Wahhabis' definition of worship suffers from the inclusion of a baseless condition which is ultimate love, and the lack of proper inclusivity and exclusivity; for many kinds of worship are excluded, while many acts which has nothing to do with worship are included.