“Iyyaka na’budu” means You [alone] do we worship. Man's servitude to God means submission to God. This is the meaning of serving and worshiping God. In many divine religions and in Islam, the meaning of a relationship between God and human beings is servitude and being God’s servant. Being a servant of God means being a servant of perfection, goodness, and absolute light. This kind of servitude is something good. But being the slave of human beings and being a captive of other human beings is something very bad, because human beings are not perfect and they have limits. Being their servant is humiliating for a person. Being the servant of the oppressive powers is humiliating for a person. Being the servant of one’s whims and carnal desires is humiliating and degrading for a person. So servitude is not one of those things that is always bad or always good. No, servitude can be very bad in one place and very good in other places. Being a servant of God is a truly sublime concept.
Imam Khamenei
April 10, 1991
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