Maulana Wahiduddin Khan | The Sunday Guardian | February 21, 2016, p. 12

According to the Quran, worship of God controls one's character. In Chapter Al-Ankaboot, the Quran says: 'Surely prayer restrains one from indecency and evil.' (29:45)This Quranic verse gives us a very important aspect of worship. It presents the true picture of the worship of God.

Worship is not a spiritless ritual. Worship is a living act. A worshipper recites verses of the Quran during his prayer. These verses tell him about the dos and don'ts of his daily life. They tell him what the secret of success is and how one can obtain salvation in the world Hereafter.

It means that worship makes a person very conscious about his daily behaviour and his social conduct - from his family life to other walks of life. After performing prayer, when the worshipper returns to the society, he is a man with a difference.

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For example, in his worship, the worshipper repeatedly says AllahuAkbar, which means, 'Only God is great', or in other words,'Greatness belongs only to God Almighty'. This saying inculcates the spirit of modesty in the worshipper. At the end of this worship, he addresses all of mankind by saying, As-salamalaykumwa-rahmatullah, which means 'Peace and blessings of God be upon you'.

A believer who worships every day and imbibes in himself this spirit through his worship, is bound to become a person who is very cautious in his behaviour. He would lead a life of modesty. He would live with the spirit of peace for all mankind.

This Quranic verse gives us a criterion to judge the veracity of worship of every individual. If one's worship reflects in one's behaviour, then it is worship in the true sense of the word.

Those whose worship does not fulfil this criterion are merely performing a spiritless ritual and not engaging in real worship.