Verse 5

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ 

You [alone] we worship, and You [alone] we ask for help

that is, we single out You alone to worship and ask for help. Putting the object at the beginning o f the sentence conveys the meaning o f exclusivity. In other words: we worship You, and we do not worship anyone other than You; we ask You for help and we do not ask anyone other than You for help.

Worship is mentioned before seeking help by way o f mentioning what is general before what is specific, and also to give precedence to Allah’s dues over those o f His slaves.

“Worship” ( ‘ibadah) refers to everything that Allah loves and is pleased with o f actions and words, both outward and inward. “Seeking help” refers to relying upon Allah (4s) when seeking to attain what is beneficial and ward off what is harmful, whilst trusting that one will attain that.

Worshipping Allah and seeking His help is the means o f attaining eternal happiness and salvation from all evils; there is no other way o f attaining salvation apart from doing these two things. True worship can only be that which is learned from the Messenger o f Allah (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam - blessings and peace be upon him) and done with the intention o f seeking the pleasure o f Allah. If it includes these two things, then it is worship. Seeking help is mentioned after worship, even though it is a part o f worship, because in offering all types o f worship the individual needs the help o f Allah (4«); if Allah does not help him, he will not attain what he wants to o f fulfilling commands and heeding prohibitions.