What is “al-Ihsan”?

Like you I've often read the term “al-Ihsan” translated in a way that I can't help but find unfortunate: "al-Ihsan is when you worship Allah as if you see Him”.

 

Here it's the term “ta'bouda” which is translated as “you worship”, in which I see an unfortunate double translation, or rather an unfortunate translation within an unfortunate translation, as we've been conditioned to visualize “worship” as “doing acts of worship” such as praying, fasting, etc. According to this interpretation, it's a matter of “praying as if you could see God”, of saying “Allahu akbar” as if you could see God in front of you. To see things in this way is, in my opinion, anthropomorphism, and cannot therefore be the meaning of a Prophetic teaching. 

 

“Ta'abuda” does not mean ‘worship’ in this sense. The term comes from “al-‘ibada” which means “to express, develop and exercise one's belonging to God”, what we call one's “’Ubudiya”. So it's no longer a question of “worshipping God as if you could see Him”, but of “walking towards God, taking the path of God, as if you could see Him”! And how can we accept this advice, this recommendation? How can we make it our own and apply it to our lives? For my part, I could paraphrase it this way: “al-Ihsan is when you manage to see and observe the All-There-Is in everything and everyone”. That's how you come to “walk towards God as if you were seeing Him”. It's easy to see why al-ihsan is something superior.

 

Al-Ihsan means walking in full awareness and confidence that the All-There-Is sees and observes you but not in the sense of “I must live in fear because I'm being watched”, which leads to fear and worry. Awareness that God sees me doesn't have to result in fear, it's rather an awareness that: I'm aware that the All-There-Is observes me, i.e. that every word I say and every action I take has an impact on everyone and everything. Because everything is One: everything is connected, everything is interconnected. So this awareness that God is watching me gives me faith and courage and makes me grow in confidence, awareness and gratitude.