Iyyaka Na Budu Wa Iyyaka Nastaaeen (Verse 05, Surah Fatihah)

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ

Thee (alone) we worship; Thee (alone) we ask for help.

NA-BUDU

Worship is not mere carrying out some ritual. In thought and action "Thee alone we worship" is an unconditional commitment to the service of Allah, and none else, in order to live and die as it would please the Lord-master. The devotee puts an obligation upon himself to serve only Allah and none else. It creates an essential spirit of faithfulness to the only real master, and sets him free from the fear and subjugation of all the false authorities. The faithful servant, consequently, invokes the master's pleasure to obtain the fulfilment of his needs and wants, because he expects nothing from anyone else except from the real master whom he serves exclusively. This declaration is also a source of total satisfaction, as the devotee vows to live and die as Allah wills, and not as he himself prefers.

It is logical as well as profitable to seek help only from Allah whom the supplicant has accepted as his rabb, and has undertaken to serve Him only, because the infinite mercy of the merciful Lord will be available to the seeker of help in proportion to the sincerity of his commitment. Through this prayer, the pray-er, in all his prayers, invokes the divine mercy, and even if the desired relief is apparently delayed or withheld, he gets the satisfaction that petition has been put forward to the proper authority who alone knows what is best for the invoker, in his own interest. As only light, not darkness comes forth from the light, so the withholding of mercy of the merciful Lord should never be misunderstood as indifference or pitilessness, because inadequate and faulty conjectures cannot comprehend the infinite wisdom of the all-wise Lord.