The Arabic word ibadah (عبادة) or ibada usually translated "worship", is connected with related words literally meaning "slavery", and has connotations of obedience, submission, and humility. The word linguistically means "obedience with submission".
In terms of Islam, ibadah is the obedience, submission, and devotion to Allah (God) along with the ultimate love for Him. Muslims believe that ibadah is the reason for the existence of all humanity. That is, Muslims believe that all people exist only to submit to Allah.
Ibadah consequently means following Islamic beliefs and practices – its commands, prohibitions, the halal, and the haram. For Muslims, ibadah is also something that comes from the heart, or sincerity, as a result of belief in Islam. Therefore, ibadah is something that can not be forced upon another person.
Famous quotes containing the word submission:
“The great problem of American life [is] the riddle of authority: the difficulty of finding a way, within a liberal and individualistic social order, of living in harmonious and consecrated submission to something larger than oneself.... A yearning for self-transcendence and submission to authority [is] as deeply rooted as the lure of individual liberation.”
—Wilfred M. McClay, educator, author. The Masterless: Self and Society in Modern America, p. 4, University of North Carolina Press (1994)