What is meant by fear of Allah?

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Flame of Hope

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Why are Muslims commanded to fear Allah? What exactly is meant by fear of Allah? I'd appreciate any info on this. Jazakallah khair.
 
a more appropriate word would be "awe" instead of "fear"

Awe
Awe is an emotion comparable to wonder[1] but less joyous, and more fearful or respectful. In general awe is directed at objects considered to be more powerful than the subject, such as the breaking of huge waves on the base of a rocky cliff, or the thundering roar of a massive waterfall.[2]
Psychologists have noted that awe can inspire.....
 
To be aware the He is watching your every move and knows your every feeling and thought so watch your step because you will be held accountable for your sins and your good deeds will be rewarded.
 
:sl:

^ Pretty much what Boaz said. We should fear Allah swt because were accountable for all our actions, including our sins and we should fear Allah swt because of the consequences that comes along with these sins.

2:2. This is the Book (the Quran), whereof there is no doubt, a guidance to those who are Al-Muttaqun [the pious and righteous persons who fear Allah much (abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds which He has forbidden) and love Allah much (perform all kinds of good deeds which He has ordained)].

5:35. O you who believe! Do your duty to Allah and fear Him. Seek the means of approach to Him, and strive hard in His Cause as much as you can. So that you may be successful.

59:18. O you who believe! Fear Allah and keep your duty to Him. And let every person look to what he has sent forth for the morrow, and fear Allah. Verily, Allah is All-Aware of what you do.

59:19. And be not like those who forgot Allah (i.e. became disobedient to Allah) and He caused them to forget their ownselves, (let them to forget to do righteous deeds). Those are the Fasiqun (rebellious, disobedient to Allah).

:w:
 
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I was thinking like, fear.....like getting scared the daylights out of ya. It's not that kind of fear, is it? :uuh: :hiding:
 
fear of Allah should undoubtedly be balanced with hope. and likewise hope in Allah should likewise be balanced with fear.
 
"Or could it be the fear of incurring His anger? Disappointment and anger aren't similar, in my opinion. "

---then, is it love?.......

Rabia Al-Basri
If I adore you out of fear of hell
burn me in hell
If I adore you out of desire for paradise
lock me out of paradise
but if I adore you for yourself alone,
Do not deny to me your eternal beauty.

When we love another, their needs are primary.......
William Blake wrote---

"Love seeketh not itself to please,
Nor for itself has any care,
but for another gives its ease,
and builds a heaven in hells despair."
 
:salamext:


Sister, the word 'Taqwa' is used.


What does Taqwa mean? Taqwa comes from the word Wiqaaya.
Imagine someone throws something at you. You put your hands in the way to defend yourself. That is an act of Wiqaaya [Warding some danger off yourself.]



So when someone says "Fear Allah" (Ittaqillah!) - it means to Ward off Allah's anger at you. And that is by avoiding the haraam [forbidden], and doing the good [hasanaat].



Allah knows best.
 
said:
Why are Muslims commanded to fear Allah?
Click to expand...

why should i fear Allah while He is My Lord?

but to Love Him.

actually what is meant....
to what so ever of your dealings, see example of surat Nisa what commandments concerning Heritage etc
if One heeds them that means he is fearing Allah
and one dosent that means...he has no fear to go against the commandments.

But uttering I fear Allah and yet take somebody's wife, what is this...or I fear Allah and still take Riba?

Rabi ghfir war Ham inaka ghafurun Rahiiym
 
I found this saying regarding Taqwa:

“To have Taqwa of Allah… is that He be obeyed and not disobeyed, remembered and not forgotten, shown gratitude and not ingratitude.” [al-Hakim]
 
:sl:

Here's an interesting article about the Station of Fear in Islam:

http://www.islaam.com/Article.aspx?id=664

"Al-khawf is a lamp in the heart, with which the good and the evil inside of the heart can be seen-and everyone you fear from, you run away from him, except Allah-when you fear Him, you run towards Him for refuge."

Hence, the one who fears Allah is a refugee towards His Lord's [mercy] from his Lord's [displeasure].
​
 
Muhammad said:
Here's an interesting article about the Station of Fear in Islam:
Click to expand...

Jazakallah khair brother. I went to another site related to it and found this very interesting bit of information:

The Reasons For Fearing Allah:

O servants of Allah, there are many reasons why we should fear. The following is a list of a number of them;

the fear of death before repenting;

the fear of not living up to one's repentance and breaking one's promise;

the fear of not being able to fulfil Allah’s obligations;

the fear of losing one's softness in the heart and its hardening;

the fear of losing consistency;

the fear of allowing temptations to dominate;

the fear of Allah making one's self responsible for doing goods deeds because of conceit;

the fear of becoming arrogant and egotistical due to the abundance of bounties;

the fear of being distracted from Allah by other creation;

the fear of being led to an evil ending through excessive bounties;

the fear of being punished early (i.e. in this world);

the fear of being disgraced at the time of death;

the fear of being beguiled by the glitter of this world;

the fear of Allah revealing one's secret in one's state of oblivion;

the fear of being stamped with a bad death at the time of death;

the fear of the pangs of death;

the fear of the questions of Munkar and Nakeer in the grave;

the fear of the punishment of the grave;

the fear of the horrors of the horizon (at the time of resurrection);

the fear of the awe during the presentation in front of Allah;

the fear and the shame of being naked (at the time of resurrection);

the fear of being questioned about every little thing in life;

the fear of the bridge (over Hell) and its sharpness; the fear of the fire, its chains and its torment;

the fear of being deprived of Paradise, the Eternal and everlasting kingdom and abode and

the fear of being deprived of seeing Allah's tremendous visage.


--------------------

Such beautiful information! :thumbs_up
 
Actually when we are talking about fear of Allah, we cannot separate it from hope in Allah:

 “Do not fear them but fear me if you are a true believer.” (sur’ah Al Imran:
175)
“they are the one who race ahead to do good deeds calling me with fear
and hope.” (Al-Anbiyaa :90)
Call out to Him with fear and hope. (Surat al-Araaf :56)
They forsake their beds to call their Lord in fear and hope. (Surat as-Sajdah :16)

The fear of Allah is what makes us seek His forgiveness (hope in Allah for His mercy):
Know that Allah is severe in punishment and that Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. (Surat al-Maaidah 5:98)
“[FONT=&quot]O My slaves, who have transgressed against themselves! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah, Verily Allah forgives all sins. Truly He is Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful” (QS. Az- Zumar: 53)
"O son of Adam, as long as you call upon Me and put your hope in Me, I have forgiven you for what you have done and I do not mind. O son of Adam, if your sins were to reach the clouds of the sky and then you would seek My forgiveness, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, if you were to come to Me with sins that are close to filling the earth and then you would meet Me without ascribing any partners with Me, I would certainly bring to you forgiveness close to filling it."(Hadith Qudsi)

In the above verses, Allah gives us reason to fear because His punishment is justly severe, as well as good reason to have hope, since He is the Most Forgiving and Merciful. There should be a balance between fear and hope and not too much or too less of one or the other. If there is too much fear, then a person may negate Allahs quality of mercy and ascribe to Him unkindness (Allah forbid!).
[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]

the scholars of Islaam say,
“He who worships Allah with hope only is a murji’ee. He who worships Him
in fear only is a Harooree (Khaarijee). And He who worships Allah in love
only is a Zindeeq (heretic). But he who worships Allah in fear, love and
hope is a Muwahhid Mu’min (a believer upon Tawheed).”
The Murji’a believed that as long as one believed and testified to Islaam,
they would never enter Hellfire (even temporarily) regardless of their
actions.
As for the Khawaarij, they held that anyone who commits major sins was a
disbeliever and would therefore dwell in Hellfire forever.
The Zindeeqs are sects who became like Christians and reduced the
religion to just ‘love’ devoid of the correct belief or actions.
Therefore its important for every Muslim to combine all three of them in
his heart properly. As was mentioned before, the fear and hope should be
in equal proportions, but as for love then that should be uppermost.
Referring back to Ibn Qayyim’s analogy of the bird, a bird could survive
with a damaged wing but would die without a head. After all it is through
the head that the wings will function.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/35226414/Love-Fear-and-Hope
Click to expand...
[/FONT]
 
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"There should be a balance between fear and hope "---I agree with that....

Generally, I find that the Quran tends to balance concepts ---for example Western people talk about Liberty a lot (freedom/rights) but the Quran balances the concept of liberty with responsibility. Concepts are paired in order to create balance/harmony---for example, unchecked liberties can result in lawlessness and chaos....

When we think of love we can generalize them into 2 types self-love and selfless-love. The first type strives to fullfill the desires/needs of self, the 2nd type strives to fullfill the needs/desires of the other. But when we speak of "Love of God"---we run into a problem----God has no needs or desires. So how do we express "Love of God"? ---through submission (Islam). God has given us Guidance, the criteria to follow (which is for our benefit) and by doing so, we hope to seek his pleasure. The other side of this type of "Love of God" is fear---the fear of dissapointing, the fear of his displeasure. Both hope and fear are motivated by "Love of God"---it is a love that seeks his pleasure(hope) and avoids his displeasure(fear)

The more we practice "love of God", the more we grow in compassion and mercy---2 of God's attributes. So how do we practice "Love of God"?---by remembering. The more we practice "love of God", the more we become aware of God's love, mercy and compassion---and our hearts fill with gratitude........and gratitude is the foundation of selfless love.......and we complete the circle........
 
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