This House?

Thanks to MuslimMatters, yesterday I watched (or listened to, more like) a good video/lecture (maashaaAllaah) about the traps of Shaytan. I've heard a similar lecture before, but it was a good reminder, and I think that anyone should go and have a listen, especially if they don't already know the traps of Shaytan. Muhammad Alshareef's lecture like it is called 'When Wolves Become Shepherds: the Devil's Da'wah Techniques.'

But there was an interesting side point that caught my attention, and that's what I'm sharing with you. The shaykh mentioned a story about a boy who noticed an uncle making du'a to the Ka'ba: not just in front of the Ka'ba, but actually asking the Ka'ba for something. Of course, that is shirk, right? Associating partners with Allah? And that's something we are not allowed to do.

Now, the boy wanted to correct the uncle without embarrassing him, so he used an interesting technique--something that youth (ourselves) should try to implement when speaking to our elders. So the boy asked the uncle if he could correct his recitation of Qur'an, to which the uncle agreed, and then the boy proceeded to recite Surah Quraysh. But this is what he recited:

Li-eelafi quraysh
Eelafihim rihlata ashshita-iwassayf
FalyaAAbudoo hadha albayt...

And so the uncle stopped him to correct him. Because he made a mistake--see it? The uncle, who was a Muslim and knew this short and common surah from the Qur'an tells the boy, 'No, you need to say, "FalyaAAbudoo rabba hadha albayt."' That is, in English, "So let them worship the Lord of this house." The 'house' in this surah is the Ka'ba, but if the word Rabb is left out, then the ayah talks about worshiping the Ka'ba. The boy says ok, and he starts to recite again:

Li-eelafi quraysh
Eelafihim rihlata ashshita-iwassayf
FalyaAAbudoo hadha albayt...

And the uncle stops him again, for the same mistake, and tells him he needs to say "FalyaAAbudoo rabba hadha albayt." And the boy says okay, rabba hadha albayt, (i.e., "Lord of this house") and then starts to recite again:

Li-eelafi quraysh
Eelafihim rihlata ashshita-iwassayf
FalyaAAbudoo hadha albayt...

And then the uncle catches on, sees what the boy is trying to tell him, that he should worship the Lord of this Ka'ba, and not the Ka'ba itself. Du'a is worship--remember that.

In reciting al-Fatihah we say that we worship only Allah, and that we seek help only from Allah, (iyyaka na'budu, wa iyyaka nasta'een). As Muslims, we do not worship the Ka'ba--we worship the Lord of the Ka'ba, the Lord of the 'Alameen, and Him alone.

Li-eelafi quraysh
Eelafihim rihlata ashshita-iwassayf
FalyaAAbudoo rabba hadha albayt
Allathee atAAamahum min jooAAinwaamanahum min khawf

For the accustomed security of the Quraysh -
Their accustomed security [in] the caravan of winter and summer -
Let them worship the Lord of this House,
(He) Who has fed them against hunger, and has made them safe from fear. (Quraysh 1-4)