ع ب دworship, servanthood

العابد · al-ʿābid · the worshipper

• Met in: V1 p6 ¶2k: «فضل العالم على العابد كفضلي على أدنى رجل من أصحابي», "the excellence of the scholar over the worshipper is like my excellence over the lowest man among my Companions". Again in V1 p6 ¶2l and ¶2m, and «ألف عابد», "a thousand worshippers", in V1 p6 ¶3a.
• Dictionary form: عَابِد. Lane: "A server, a worshipper, or an adorer, of God: an obeyer of God with humility, or submissiveness: [a devotee]". The verb عَبَدَ اللّٰهَ: "He served, worshipped, or adored, God".
• Pattern: فَاعِل (fāʿil), the doer, like عَالِم, the one who knows. On this page the two stand side by side: العالم and العابد differ by one letter, ل and ب.
• Meaning here: Someone given to worship: prayer, fasting, devotion. Ghazali grants that the worshipper has knowledge too, of the worship he keeps up, or it would not be worship (V1 p6 ¶2l). The scholar's knowledge goes further.

Ibn Faris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha, root عبد, vol 4, p 205

العين والباء والدال أصلان صحيحان، كأنهما متضادان، و [الأول] من ذينك الأصلين يدل على لين وذل، والآخر على شدة وغلظ

Two sound origins, almost opposites: the first shows softness and lowliness, the other hardness and toughness. Worship belongs with the first: Lane's "obeyed God with humility".

Urdu bridge

عابد (a devout worshipper), عبادت, عبادت گزار and معبود are all Urdu, and عبد (servant) is in names like عبداللہ, "servant of Allah". (to be confirmed)

Quran

275 words from this root (Quranic Arabic Corpus). Most common: عَبْد (servant) ×131, عَبَدَ (worshipped) ×122, عَابِد (worshipper) ×11.

وَمَا خَلَقْتُ ٱلْجِنَّ وَٱلْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ

And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.

Surah Adh-Dhaariyat (51), ayah 56 · Saheeh International

Why this ayah: «إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ», "except to worship Me": worship is what people were made for. That is why it is so striking when the hadith put the scholar above the worshipper.

In the Ihya

العابد: 80 times in the Ihya.