(Taken from the compilation of Abu Maryam Majdi Fathi Al-Syeds Fear of Allah)
All praise is due to Allah We praise Him, and seek His help and ask Him
for forgiveness. We also seek refuge from the evil of ourselves and from the
adverse consequences of our actions. Whomsoever Allah guides, there is no one
to misguide him and whomsoever He misguides, there is none to guide him. I
testify that there is no deity except Allah and I testify that Muhammed (s) is
His servant and messenger.
Allah says in sura Ale Imraan (102): O you who believe! Fear Allah as
he is supposed to be feared and do not die unless you are in the state of
submission.
Also in sura Nisa(1) Allah says: O you who believe! Fear Allah who has
created you from a single soul and then created from that its mate and then
from them disseminated many men and women. Fear Allah in whose name you plead
with each other and respect your relatives. Allah is forever a guardian over
you.
Again in sura Nisa (131) Allah says: Verily, We have enjoined on those
who were given the Book before you, and on you (O Muslims) to fear Allah.
From amongst His servants, only those who know fear Him. (Fatir 28)
There are several other places in the quran and the authentic sunnah
where we Muslims are commanded to fear Allah (swt). Infact in the beginning of
sura Baqara Allah (swt) says that this quran is no doubt a guidance for people
who are mutaqeen i.e. God conscious and God fearing.
When the Prophet (s) sent Muad (rd) to Yemen, he(s) enjoined the
following upon him:
O Muaadh, fear Allah wherever you may be, and follow up a bad deed with
a good one and it will wipe it out, and behave towards people with beautiful
manners.(Tirmidhee, Ahmed)
Today we have gotten ourselves so much involved in this materialistic
world that we have forgotten what is for sure to come; things that we are
supposed to believe as part of our faith. Yes I am talking about death that
every soul shall taste; the torment of the grave, the day of judgment when all
of us will be accountable for our deeds and actions in this world; and finally
the everlasting life after that. Today when we hear people talk about these
things, we are unmoved. Our attitude is care free; well see when it comes
(ASTAGFIRULLAH). When we hear about torment of hell, or the bounties of
paradise our hearts do not feel anything. They do not tremble, nor do they get
overjoyed with the pleasures of paradise. Why is that ? The simple answer to
this question is that the fear of Allah has left our hearts. We have made this
world if not sole, a major concern and purpose of this life. The love of this
world and its material things have settled in our hearts to an extent that this
religion that Allah (swt) has blessed us with has become a secondary thing. We
prefer this worldly life and its temporary pleasures over following Allah and
His Messenger (s). The hearts have died before their bodies and as a result,
they have lost both worlds.
Our predecessors, the salaf and those who followed them used to fear
Allah tremendously. So much so that tears would fall involuntarily and their
feet would swell because of their long nights on the prayer rugs. They knew
that death would come with all its anxieties and turmoil; the grave would
appear with its nerve-racking experience; the trumpet would be blown and the
Day of Judgment would come down with all its hair-raising realities.
Dear brothers and sisters in Islam! If we fear Allah in this world than
inshAllah we will be spared the fright of those moments; as Allah says in sura
Qaaf (22): Certainly you were adverse to this (moment of death), so now that
we have raised the curtains from you, your sight is sharp and keen.
Inorder to fear Allah properly we need to understand what is meant by
fearing Allah, and to look at the companions of the prophet(s) as to how they
feared Allah.
When someone fears something, he tries to run away from it. However we
find a remarkable difference that when man fears his Creator he seeks refuge in
Him and begins to obey Him. This is the awe of Allah which is quite apparent
in the verse in Dhariyat (50): So run (escape) towards Him... Ibn Abass(rd)
explained this verse as meaning: Run towards Him through repentance; escape
from Him to Him and obey Him.
It is not enough to fear Allah without actually obeying Him. Infact
this fear should cause us to follow Allahs guidelines, and keep away from His
prohibitions.
We find many merits of fear of Allah in the quran and sunnah.
Allah in sura Ar Rahman (46) says; And he who fears his Lords rank will
have two gardens (in Paradise). Mujahid said that this refers to a person who
thinks about committing a sin but doesnt go through with his thought because of
Allahs fear.
In sura Noor(37) Allah says: They fear a day in which hearts and eyes
will turn (out of bewilderment). Hasan Basri says: What do you think of a day
when people will stand on their feet for 50,000 years without having a bite to
eat, a drop to drink until their necks will break from thirst and their
stomachs will burn out of hunger. Then they (the disobedient) will turn to
Hell and drink from a fountain whose water will be boiling and whose heat will
be scorching.
Brothers and sisters in Islam! this is no fairy tale. This is quran
and sunnah which is the truth. After listening to all this how can we not fear
our Lord and still say we believe in Him and what is said in the
quran and sunnah. Or is it that we are sure that we are prepared to meet our
Lord as obedient servants who wont go through this trial. What is that has
beguiled us about our generous Lord as we close the doors and commit sins
behind the curtains. What will become of us when our organs will testify
against us?
Anas (rd) narrates that the Prophet (s) gave such a sermon that he had
not heard anything like it before. In this sermon he said: If you knew what I
know, you would laugh more seldom and cry more often. The companions covered
their faces as they were crying and sniffling. (Bukhari)
Adi ibn Hatim (rd) says that the Prophet (s) said: Allah will speak to
each and every one of you without any translator. So you will try to see who
is more fortunate than you and you will see nothing except what you have sent
forward (deeds); you will try to see who is less fortunate than you and you
will only see what you have sent forward. You will look in front of you and
you will see Hell. So fear (protect yourselves from) Hell, even though it may
be through a date.
Abu Hurairah(rd) says that he heard the Prophet(s) said: Seven kinds
of people will be granted the Shade of Allah on a day that will offer no other
shade except Allahs. He mentioned them until he (s) spoke about a person who
is invited by a beautiful respectable woman (to commit sin ) but refrains from
doing so by saying : I fear Allah. (B & M).
Abu Hurairah (rd) narrates that the Prophet (s) said: A person who
cries out of fear of Allah will not enter Hell until milk can go back into the
udder. (Tirmidhi, Nisai, and Ibn Majah)
When we look at the lives of the companions, we see that they had the
great fear of Allah, and due to this they used to cry a lot.
Omar (rd) ,who was considered hard hearted used to cry out of fear of
Allah. Abdullah ibn Shaddad says that he heard the sobbing of Omar(rd) in the
last row of prayers as he was reciting the verse: I complain about my grief and
sorrow to Allah.( Yusuf 86)
Ibrahim Taymi says: I have met sixty companions of the Prophet (s) in
this masjid, the youngest of whom was Harith bin Suwaid (rd). I heard him
recite Surah Zilzal until he reached the last verse: So who ever performs an
atoms worth of good will see it (its reward). He cried and said: This is
indeed a grave account.
And indeed in the lives of the Sahaba we have a good example of God
fearing. Abu Imraan Al-Juni reports that Abu Bakr (rd) used to say: I wish I
was a hair in the side of a believer. Hassan narrates that Abu Bakr use to
say: If only I was a tree cut down and eaten.
Abdullah bin Omar (rd) says that Omar(rd) used to say: If a goat had
died with the driftage of the Euphrates, I would worry that Omar might be held
accountable for it.
Omar (rd) also used to say: If someone announced from the heavans that
everybody will enter Paradise except one person, I would fear that that person
would be me.
Brothers and sisters! this was the fear of the second Khalifa of the
Muslims, about whom the prophet (s) said that if there were to be any prophet
after me, it would be Omar (rd).
Abdullah ibn Abbas (rd) said to Omar(rd) when he was stabbed: O Leader
of the Believers! You accepted Islam when others disbelieved; you struggled
along with the Prophet (s) when others deserted him(s); the Prophet(s) died
while he was pleased with you; no two people have disagreed with you and you
are about to die as a martyr. Omar(rd) replied: The flattered is the one whom
you flatter. By Allah! If I had what ever the sun rose upon I would give it
away in order to protect myself from what is about to rise (upon me).
Can we even think of comparing ourselves with the status of Omar(rd)?
Of course not. But even with his high status and being among the
ushraemubasshara his fear of Allah (swt) was tremendous. He was aware and
truly believed in the true realities of what is to come. We can imagine where
we stand.
Abdur-Rahman ibn Abi Layla narrates from Abu Dharr(rd): By Allah! If
you knew what I knew you would not find joy with your wives and you would not
be able to relax on your beds. By Allah! I wish that Allah would have created
me as a tree whose fruit is eaten.
Ali (rd) describes the characteristics of the Companions: By Allah I
have seen the Companions of the Prophet (s) such that I have not seen anybody
like them today. They used to wake up as if they had ridden goats all night
with their clothes and hair dishellved. They spent the night performing ruku
and sajdah for Allah, reciting the Book and alternating between their feet and
foreheads. And when they awoke in the morn, they remembered Allah and remained
like a tree (whose branches) swaying in the wind with their eyes pouring tears
so much that they wet their clothes. Now, it seems as if people are going to
sleep completely oblivious and unaware.
Brothers in sisters in Islam! Our predecessors did their job. Now its
our time. As long as this heart of ours is beating, we can do whatever we want.
As Ali(rd) said, Today is deeds without reckoning and tomorrow is reckoning
without deeds. We have time to learn from the Sahaba and the pious
predecessors and return to Allah in repentance and remorse for the time that we
have lost so that we may attain true success both in this world and the
hereafter.
Finally let me quote you the saying of Hasan al-Basari: Believers
expedited their fear in this world so Allah will give them security on the Day
of Judgement. The Hypocrites put off their fear in this world so Allah will
instil fear in them on the Day of Judgement.
And as for he who fears the rank of his Lord and prevents his self from
desires, Paradise is certainly his abode. (An-Naziaat 40)
This page maintained By Shahid
Lats Updated: May 01, 1998
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