Worship is divided into two categories:

1. The first category is the universal servitude that applies to every creature. All are servants of Allah—believer and unbeliever alike, the openly sinful and the hypocrite—because they are all under His control and subjugation, and because His worship is obligatory for them. This general servitude embraces every created being, for they are all described as “servants of Allah” in the sense that He created them and holds them in complete subjection; none can escape His grasp or authority. The Exalted says: “There is none in the heavens and the earth but will come to the Most Merciful as a slave” (Maryam 19:93). This includes everyone in the heavens and the earth, believer and unbeliever; all will come on the Day of Resurrection submissive to Allah, for no one shares with Him the slightest portion of His dominion.

2. The second category is a special servitude reserved for the believers. Allah says: “The servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk upon the earth humbly” (al-Furqan 25:63), and He says: “My servants—you will have no authority over them” (al-Hijr 15:42). Satan himself said: “Except for Your devoted servants among them” (al-Hijr 15:40). This is a specific servitude—the servitude of obedience and drawing near to Allah through monotheism.

Regarding the legal definition of worship, the scholars have expressed it in different ways, although their meanings are the same. Some of them say