||A Discourse on Taqwa (Obedience to Allah) (1 of 1), Read 19 times |
||Issues: The Islamic Personality |
||Thursday, January 27, 2005 08:01 PM |
Taqwa - Fear of Allah
Ibn Juzayy said in his dictionary of terms from the introduction to his tafsir:
"Taqwa's meaning is fear, clinging to obedience to Allah and abandoning disobedience to Him. It is the sum of all good."
And in his commentary:
We will discuss taqwa in three sections.
Concerning its benefits derived from the Qur'an, and they are fifteen:
Guidance, because of His words "guidance for the muttaqeen (the people of taqwa)";
Help because of His words "Truly, Allah is with the people who have taqwa";
Close friendship [with Allah] because of His words, "Allah is the close friend of the muttaqeen";
Love because of His words, "Truly Allah loves the muttaqeen";
Covering over [of wrong actions] because of His words, "If you have taqwa of Allah He will make for you a discrimination and He will cover over for you your wrong actions";
A way out from unhappiness, and provision from where one does not expect because of His words, "Whoever has taqwa of Allah He will make a way out for him and provide him from where he does not expect";
Facilitation of affairs because of His words, "Whoever has taqwa of Allah He will make ease for him in his affair";
Full covering over of wrong actions and magnification of rewards because of His words, "Whoever has taqwa of Allah He will cover over his wrong actions and magnify a reward for him";
Acceptance of actions because of His words, "Allah only accepts from the people of taqwa";
Success because of His words, "Have taqwa of Allah in order that you might succeed";
Good news because of His words "For them there is good news in this world and in the next";
Entrance into the Garden because of His words "Truly, there are for the people of taqwa with their Lord Gardens of bliss";
Salvation from the Fire because of His words "Then We will save the ones who had taqwa".
There are ten things which awaken taqwa:
Fear of punishment in the next life;
Fear [of punishment in] this life;
Hope of worldly reward;
Hope of the reward of the next world;
Fear of the reckoning;
Shyness and bashfulness before the gaze of Allah, and this is the station of fearful watchfulness (muraqabah);
Showing gratitude for His blessings by obeying Him;
Knowledge, because of His words, "They only fear Allah, of His slaves, the ones who have knowledge";
Exalting and honouring His majesty, and it is the station of awe;
Sincerity in love because of the words of the one who said:
"You disobey God while you make apparent that you love Him,
This, by my life, in analogy is a marvel.
If your love were sincere you would obey Him,
Truly, the lover towards the one he loves is obedient."
And to Allah be attributed the good of the one who said:
"She said, and she had asked about the state of her lover,
'For Allah's sake, describe him and do not omit nor exceed!'
I said, 'If he had feared death from thirst,
and you had said, "Stop! don't approach the water!" then he would not have approached.'"
The Third Section
There are five degrees of taqwa:
That the slave should protect himself from kufr (covering over the truth), and that is the station of Islam;
That he should protect himself from acts of disobedience and forbidden things, and it is the station of turning or repentance (tawbah);
That he should protects himself from doubtful matters, and that is the station of caution or carefulness (wara');
That he should protect himself from even those things that are permitted, and that is the station of doing without (zuhd);
That he should protect himself from the presence of other than Allah in his heart, and it is the presence of witnessing (mushahadah).
That ends what Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi wrote on taqwa.
Edited by administrator