عبادة
ʿibāda
Worship and devotion to God, in ritual and in the whole of a life lived for Him.
What it means
The Quran says: “I did not create jinn and humans except to worship Me” (51:56). The five pillars are its core acts, but the Prophet taught that every good deed done for God’s sake is worship, even a kind word or removing harm from the road (Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim). Prayer, fasting, charity and pilgrimage are called ibadat in law, as distinct from dealings between people.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 39, listed as ʿIBĀDAH. The definition is restated here.