Salaam alaikum warahmatullah I hope we're doing well.
We're going to speak about Taqwa is this morning. All praise
is due to Allah. To His Supreme Dominance all the faces are humbled, to His
Sublime Status all the foreheads are submitted, and for fear of Him all the
eyes are filled with tears. I bear witness that there is no deity save Allah,
having no associates. I also bear witness that our Master Muhammad is the
Servant of Allah and His Messenger. He is the Imam of the pious. May the peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him, his pure blessed family and companions, and
all those who follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment. As to what
follows, I urge you, O servants of Allah, and myself to be aware that you are
asked to obey Him, the Most Exalted, in line with His orders:
“and fear Allah and know that you will meet Him. And
give good tidings to the believers.”
(Al-Baqara: 223).
Dear Muslims, Please know that ,the fear of Allah, the
Almighty, is a great principle of Islam to which a lofty status has been
attributed.
Allah, the Most Exalted, orders us to fear him as evidenced
in this Aya,
“and be afraid of [only] Me.” (Al-Baqara: 40).
Obedience to Allah is the fruit of piety. It was narrated
that Urwa ibn Az-Zubai said in this regard, “Piety
is to fear Allah.”
Amongst the great merits of being conscious of Allah is that
it is conducive to guide Muslims to perfect their actions and be devoted to
good deeds. It was narrated that a man once asked the Prophet pbuh, “O Allah's Messenger pbuh! What
is Ihsan ?
He pubh said, "Ihsan is to worship Allah as if you see
Him, and if you do not achieve this state of devotion, then (take it for
granted that) Allah sees you.” On the same
matter, one of the righteous ancestors said, “When
Allah, the Most Gracious, wants good for His servant, He guides his heart to
righteousness so that he fears Him in the unseen.”
Allah, the Exalted is He, praises those who are mindful of
Him even when they are unseen. He says, “who
fear their Lord in the unseen, while they are of the Hour, apprehensive.” (Al-
Anbiyaa: 49).
That is: those who fear Allah in their hearts and when they
are alone with themselves, they are worried about the Day of Judgment and,
hence, they prepare for it by being as much obedient to Allah as could be Glad
tidings, then, to those who achieve such a state of devotion for they will, by
Allah’s favour, attain His
forgiveness and rewards. The Most Sublime says, “indeed, those who fear their Lord in the unseen will
have forgiveness and great reward.”
(Al-Mulk: 12).
Amongst the great rewards that they will reap is that Allah,
the Most High, will protect them under His shade on the Day of Resurrection. In
the following Hadith, the Messenger of Allah pbuh mentions seven types of
people those who will gain such gracious status and find refuge with Allah.
Those who combine the qualities of fear of Allah, consciousness of Him and
being devoted to His obedience.
He pbuh said, “Seven
(people) will be shaded by Allah by His Shade on the Day of Resurrection when
there will be no shade except His Shade. (They will be), ….a young man who has been brought up in the worship
of Allah, a man whose heart is attached to mosques (offers his compulsory
congregational prayers in the mosque), a man who gives in charity so secretly
that his left hand does not know what his right hand has given, a man who
remembers Allah in seclusion and his eyes are then flooded with tears, and
(finally)a man who is called by a charming lady of noble birth to commit
illegal sexual intercourse with her, and he says, ‘I am afraid of Allah’.” All of
these people possess the qualities that Allah, the Almighty, praised in this
Aya, “but as for he who feared the
position of his Lord and prevented the soul from [unlawful] inclination. Then
indeed, Paradise will be [his] refuge.”
(An-Naziaat: 40-41). Thus, those who obey Allah and are mindful of the things
that He has banned, will, by His grace, win Paradise as their perpetual
dwelling as per Allah’s promise to
them. The Almighty says, “and Paradise
will be brought near to the righteous, not far. [It will be said], ‘This is what you were promised
- for every returner [to Allah] and keeper [of His covenant]. Who feared the
Most Merciful unseen and came with a heart returning [in repentance]. Enter it
in peace. This is the Day of Eternity.’
They will have whatever they wish therein, and with Us is more.” (Qaf 31-35). Indeed,
obedience to Allah and fearing Him are one’s
path for cherishing the eternal blessings of Paradise. About them, the Almighty
says, “and they will approach one
another, inquiring of each other. They will say, ‘Indeed, we were previously among our people fearful
[of displeasing Allah].
So Allah conferred favour upon us and protected us from the
punishment of the Scorching Fire’.” (At-Toor: 25-27). That is: we
feared Allah in this world, were conscious of His punishment and devoted to His
obedience. Thus, Allah, the Almighty, bestowed upon us His favour and protected
us from the punishment we have feared of. Therefore, whoever is mindful of
Allah in this world, he will get refuge with Him at the Day of Judgment. When
the Prophet pbuh talked to people about Allah, the Most Exalted, he said, “Allah says, ‘by My Might, I shall not bring two fears together
upon a servant, nor shall I bring together two securities upon him. If he fears
me in this world, he shall have no fear in the next; and if he feels secure
from me in this world, then he shall have no security in the next’.”
Being conscious of Allah is conducive to boost our
self-observation in our private and public matters, at work and in our dealings
and relationships with one another. Allah, the Almighty, emphasised in many
places in the Quran the need for His servants to be mindful of their actions
always. This way, they will be aware of all their inner desires and whims and
thereby control them. Allah says, “and
know that Allah knows what is within yourselves, so beware of Him.” (Al-Baqara: 235). He also
says, “indeed Allah is ever, over
you, an Observer.” (An-Nisaa:
1). Those who observe themselves will also reflect on and understand Allah’s saying, “and He is with you wherever you are and He is all
seer over our actions .” (Al-Hadid:
4). This means that Allah is watching over you always and seeing what you do.
He equally knows all that His servants do. He hears what they say and sees
where they are. He is well acquainted about their secrets and private
conversations. Thus, being heedful of Allah will, definitely, urge us to seek perfection
in all our affairs. As such, we will only say and do all that earns us Allah’s satisfaction and benefits us
in this world and the next. This is because we will be wide aware that Allah,
the Most Exalted “knows that
which deceives the eyes and what the breasts conceal.” (Ghafir: 19).
One of the righteous people said in this regard, “Make a pact with yourself in
three (areas): when you do something, remember that Allah sees you, and when
you speak, remember that Allah hears you, and when you are silent, remember
Allah’s knowledge of your inner
(thoughts, feelings and being).” Ultimately, when one observes
his Lord, hoping for His mercy and fearing from His punishment, he will, by
Allah’s favour, attain the great
rewards that He promises in this Aya, “but
for he who has feared the position of his Lord are two gardens.” (Ar-Rahman: 46).
Let us, therefore, reflect and decide whether or not we are
amongst those who fear Allah and are mindful of Him in words and deeds. Let us
also think and decide if we are nurturing such values in the minds of our
children or not.
We shall end and we ask Allah to make us from the people of
taqwa. We may have to get time and touch on other parts of Taqwa. Wassalaam
alaikum warahmatullah