Only Fear Allah

[Stefanie Mordaunt]

Thisverse reminds the Holy Prophet (s) that all those who deliver the message of God are not worried about the dissatisfaction of people with their message. When the Prophets changed what was traditional and prevalent in their societies they met with a lot of resistance and opposition. Those who did not like the changes that the message brought spoke against them, plotted to harm them, and taunted and ridiculed the message. But the true messengers of God were concerned only about Allah and were afraid only of His dissatisfaction with them.

Tafsīr-e Namūne explains that the word yakhshawna refers to those who fear Allah, a fear that is mixed with respect. It is not just fear alone. Because Allah is so great in their eyes, these messengers are in awe of God. Muḥaqqiqe Ṭusī has distinguished between khashya and khawf saying that the khawf is due to the anticipation of negative consequences of sinning. Khashya is an awareness of the Greatness of God and the anticipation of being deprived of His Grace. Thus we read in Sūrat Yāsīn that the obedient servant has the khashya of the All-beneficent in secret (Q 36:11).

Sahih International: And among people and moving creatures and grazing livestock are various colors similarly. Only those fear Allah , from among His servants, who have knowledge. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Forgiving.

Yusuf Ali: And so amongst men and crawling creatures and cattle, are they of various colours. Those truly fear Allah, among His Servants, who have knowledge: for Allah is Exalted in Might, Oft-Forgiving.

Mohsin Khan: And of men and AdDawab (moving living creatures, beasts, etc.), and cattle, in like manner of various colours. It is only those who have knowledge among His slaves that fear Allah. Verily, Allah is AllMighty, OftForgiving.

He further explains that it was the fear of Allah, and awe and humility in front of Him, which raised the Companions and the Pious Predecessors to such lofty ranks, to the extent that not only did they abstain from the ḥarām (forbidden), but also from the makrūh (disliked).

The fear of Allah is unique to other types of fears. In life, you tend to run away from things you fear. For example, anyone who is scared of spiders or rodents will freeze or run upon seeing them. However, fearing Allah (subḥānahū wa taʿālā) is unique and beautiful. It makes you run to Him, and not away from Him. The more you fear Him, the more you turn to Him.

Although Allah is beyond all worldly examples, think of an elderly grandfather or an older person who is well-respected. As soon as he enters the room, everyone falls quiet out of respect for him. The silence is not because he is a tyrant of the household; rather, it is because of the respect that his family accords him. This type of fear is known as haybah or khashyah, a reverential type of fear.

There are two categories of people who fear Allah: (1) the general people who fear the punishment of the world and the hereafter (grave, Hell-fire etc.); (2) the elite who are acquainted with Allah through His Names, and thus fear Allah Himself due to His greatness, grandeur, power and magnificence. This does not mean that they do not share the fears of the first category, but their fear and awe of Allah Himself outweighs the fear of His punishment. In other words, they are scared of being distanced from Him and of there being a barrier (ḥijāb) in between them.

Those who recognise Allah and appreciate His greatness and majesty, will always fear that their deeds are not good enough. They always fear that their deeds will not be accepted, due to their deficiencies. Allah says,

Contrast this with our beloved Prophet ﷺ. His blessed face would change when he would see a cloud or a strong wind approaching. He would go out, and pace back and forth, out of worry. He was asked by his wife the reason for his actions and why he did not see it as positive sign of rain, like others did. He ﷺ explained that he was scared it may bring with it punishment, just as the previous nations were punished.

We should reflect on the gravity of standing before Allah, the terrors of the grave, the horrors of the Day of Judgement, the sharpness of the ṣirāṭ and the torment of the Hell-fire. A practical means to do this is to visit the graveyard and ponder on all of the above.

We should think about how much we have disobeyed Allah. We should feel scared that we may not get a chance to repent before we die, and that we may not be forgiven. We should reflect on how little we have prepared for our journey to the hereafter, and feel very scared.

"It is only Satan that suggests to you the fear of his 'AuIiya [supporters and friends (polytheists, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah and in His Messenger Muhammad (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) so fear them not, but fear me, if you are (true) believers."

"The Mosques of Allah shall be maintained only by those who believe in Allah and the Last Day; offer prayers perfectly (Iqamat-as-SaIat), and give Zakat and fear none but Allah. It is they who are expected to be on true guidance."

"It is the weakness of certainty (complete Faith) to seek pleasure of others by displeasing Allah and to praise others for the livelihood which was provided by Allah and to blame others for the thing not bestowed by Allah. Not even the greediness of the most greedy person can bring the livelihood of Allah, and not even anybody's aversion can prevent it."

"Whoever seeks Allah's pleasure at the cost of men's displeasure, will win the pleasure of Allah and Allah will cause men to be pleased with him. Whoever seeks to please men at the cost of Allah's displeasure, will win the displeasure of Allah, and Allah will cause men to be displeased with Him."

First, it is rightly said that you can never love a person whom you fear (a statement often ascribed to Aristotle). There is no room in the heart for both fear and love towards the same person or thing. It is either one, or none.

One should also bear in mind that the Arabic language is so rich and diverse that sometimes two apparently synonymous words may be significantly different. They may be a world of subtle meanings apart.

Thus, a believing man has no reason to worry about anything, let alone be afraid, except about whether he will succeed in his mission or not. Everything else is secondary and takes a back seat. Whatever aids a believer in what he strives for is priceless to him and he effortlessly develops a deep affection for it. He loves only those things. The more they are important for his life aims, the more he loves them.

A believer furthermore does not need to fear anybody and anything because it is unnatural and counterproductive. It is likewise incompatible with his second nature: love. A believer is the bravest being. He is on the right path, is an embodiment of Truth, and has Almighty God, the Creator and Master of all creation and the Absolute Truth, on his side. Not only that, God is his best ally, protector and friend on his journey.

Fears associable with such a person are not fears per se. The abject fear of the coward is unknown to him. The fear before a potential unidentified danger is also unfeasible, for only actual dangers are confronted, making that pursuit an act of courage itself. There is no such thing as childish (immature) and imaginary fears for a believer.

Moreover, the fear of a sensible man who wants to protect himself and such as have been entrusted to him against some actual evil forces, is no more than a preventive measure against those forces before they are systematically prevailed over. At the end of the day, that, too, does not warrant to be called a fear. Rather, it is a great act of bravery, diligence and maturity.

Believers do not fear God. They love Him more than anything else. He means to them everything. All value, goodness, beauty and knowledge come only from Him. Believers know they came from God as their Creator, they belong to Him, they live under His care, love and providence, and in the end they return to Him.

At any rate, it is either love or fear. One needs to fear God only because he does not love Him. Whereas one needs not fear God only because he loves Him and behaves in accordance with the dictates of that love.

Even the Prophets have been praised by dint of this type of positive fear: (Allah praises) those who convey the messages of Allah and fear Him (yakhshawn) and do not fear anyone but Allah. And sufficient is Allah as Accountant.

This category of fear is often mentioned in the context of the Hereafter. The reason for that is that in the Hereafter all veils will be lifted and people will discover and come to terms with the whole Truth. It will be then that their hearts and souls, as well as their entire being, will be overwhelmed by the greatness and magnitude of Truth. Every aspect of their selves will clearly display such an inner and also outer condition.

We are taught that anything that stops us from doing good is from Shaytan. And we are also taught that whenever he instills his devilish whispers in us, we seek refuge from him in the embrace of the Almighty Allah. (Quran: 7:200)

So by that definition, any other fear besides that is a pathological fear. Meaning it is like an expected anomaly on the path of goodness that must be removed by the proper system of Iman and Tawakkul al-Allah.

Since Shaytaan has promised Allah to attack us from every direction, it is expected of him to try and hinder you from achieving your dream goals too. It is his mission to make sure we stay in a low-key, paralyzed state of frustration, excuses, procrastination, self-doubt, and self-annihilation as we set out to do good.

As we learn in the Quran, the easiest weapon of destruction for man is his Nafs, so really all Shaiytan has to do is to blow whispers in our hearts of doubt and fear and his job is pretty much over as from that point onwards, we self-sabotage. In other words, we fall victim to fear and get in our own way of achieving our goals.

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