What is the difference between worship and prayer, and why does God ask to be worshipped?

Worship means complete devotion to God, and the ritual prayer is one form of it, while supplication serves the person who prays. God needs neither, but human beings need both.

In English, as in German, the words worship and prayer are often mixed up. The Holy Qur’an uses its own terms for them, and it helps to keep them apart.

Worship means complete devotion to God. One turns to Him without any ulterior motive that would divert that devotion elsewhere, not even towards one’s own wishes. According to the Holy Qur’an, Islam does not differ in this from the religions that came before it. All true religions shared this core. Only the outward form of some acts of worship differs.

The word prayer, however, has two meanings. On the one hand it refers to the set prayer that Muslims perform five times a day. This ritual prayer is part of worship, but not the whole of it. On the other hand prayer means a personal request, when someone raises their hands or asks God for something in their heart. Such a request is for the person’s own sake, and the last verse above promises that God hears it.

That leaves the question of why God asks to be worshipped. God needs nothing, and no one can give Him anything. He does not demand worship in order to be honoured. The benefit lies with the human being. Whoever devotes themselves fully to God finds the purpose for which they were created, as the first verse above says.