Fear of Allah

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ. الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَالْعَاقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ وَصَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ خَاتَمِ النَّبِيِّينَ وَعَلَى جَمِيعِ الأَنْبِيَاءِ وَالْمُرْسَلِينَ.

All Praise is due to Alláh, We praise Him and we seek help from Him. We ask forgiveness from Him. We repent to Him; and we seek refuge in Him from our own evils and our own bad deeds. Anyone who is guided by Alláh, he is indeed guided; and anyone who has been left astray, will find no one to guide him. I bear witness that there is no god but Alláh, the Only One without any partner; and I bear witness that Muhammad, peace and blessings on him, is His servant, and His messenger.

Dear Brothers and Sisters …

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Be conscious of Allah, obey Him, uphold your religion for Him, submit to Him and dedicate your deeds purely for His sake. Be consistent in your good deeds for consistency is better than lots of good deeds done inconsistently. And there is no acceptance without sincerity:

In our pervious khutbah we talk about Attaining the Love of Allah and today we will talk about Fear of Allah.

Indeed Iman (faith) has qualities and branches and from the best qualities of Iman (faith) is fear and awe of Allah. Allah has praised the best of His creation and the most righteous of them in that they adorn themselves with the fear and awe of Him the Exalted. He the Exalted said about the close angels:

In Surah An Nahl Ayat 50,

They fear their Lord above them, and they do what they are commanded.

And he said about Zakariyah and his household in Surah Al Anbiyaa in ayat 90:

Indeed, they used to hasten to good deeds and supplicate Us in hope and fear, and they were to Us humbly submissive.

And He said about all His messengers in Surah Al Ahzab ayat 39:

[Allah praises] those who convey the messages of Allah and fear Him and do not fear anyone but Allah. And sufficient is Allah as Accountant.

The people who fear Allah are the ones that benefit from the revelation and remembrance that Allah revealed. As Allah said:

Az-Zumar (39) 23: Allah has sent down the best statement: a consistent Book wherein is repetition. The skins shiver therefrom of those who fear their Lord; then their skins and their hearts relax at the remembrance [i.e., mention] of Allah. That is the guidance of Allah by which He guides whom He wills. And one whom Allah sends astray – for him there is no guide.

And indeed, the people who have fear of Allah the Exalted, are of sound minds. They were bestowed with minds such that they attained, after the grace of Allah on them, victory, triumph and success as the Almighty said in Surah Ar-Ra’d ayat 19-21:

(19) They will only be reminded who are people of understanding

(20) Those who fulfil the covenant of Allah and do not break the contract

(21) And those who join that which Allah has ordered to be joined and fear their Lord and are afraid of the evil of [their] account.

And those having fear and awe of Allah are promised forgiveness of their sins and multiplying their rewards as Allah said in Al Mulk ayat 12:

Indeed, those who fear their Lord unseen will have forgiveness and great reward.

There are many reasons for fearing and revering Allah among which is that He the Glorified and Almighty commanded us to do so in Surah Al Imran ayat 175:

So fear them not, but fear Me, if you are [indeed] believers.

And Allah said in Surah Al Baqarah ayat 40:

Trans:   Fear none but Me 

And Allah said in Surah Al Baqarah ayat 150:

Trans: So, fear them not but fear Me. 

And from the reasons of fearing Allah is that Allah Almighty described Himself with attributes that fill the hearts with reverence and awe. Allah Almighty said about Himself:

Surah Ibrahim (14) 47: Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Owner of Justice.

And Allah said:

Surah Al Burooj (85) 12: Indeed, the assault [i.e., vengeance] of your Lord is severe.

And Allah said:

Al Imran (3) 28 & Al Imran (3) 30: And Allah warns you to be aware of Him.

Indeed the praiseworthy fear of Allah is the one that restrains the person from doing what angers Allah. And the greatest and most confirmed is the fear that prevents from associating others with Allah as the Almighty said:

Surah Al Muminoon  57-61: (57) Indeed, they who are apprehensive from fear of their Lord (58) And they who believe in the signs of their Lord (59) And they who do not associate anything with their Lord (60) And they who give what they give while their hearts are fearful because they will be returning to their Lord (61) It is those who hasten to good deeds, and they outstrip [others] therein.

Oh Muslims: Be conscious of Allah and know that the description of a person as fearing Allah does not mandate that he is accurate and does not sin at all. But the fear of Allah mandates that he hastens to the repentance whenever he errs in implementation of Allah’s words:

An-Noor (24) 31: And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed.

And the one fearing Allah does not ever despair because Allah the Almighty stated:

Al Hijr (15) 56: He said, “And who despairs of the mercy of his Lord except for those astray?”

Rather he seeks forgiveness and repents and flees from Allah to Allah hoping for His reward and forgiveness just as he fears His torment and retribution. For Allah has given assurance of accepting the repentance of those who repent.

Ash-Shuraa (42) 25: And it is He who accepts repentance from His servants and pardons misdeeds, and He knows what you do.

One of the greatest means of achieving this degree of Iman (faith), which is fear, awe and reverence of Allah, is by learning the religious knowledge with sincerity. For whoever is more knowledgeable of Allah has more fear of Him as Allah said:

Faater (35) 28: Only those fear Allah, from among His servants, who have knowledge.

If the only fruits of the fear of Allah was that the person who cries while alone out of the fear of Allah will not have the fire touch him and will be among those whom Allah shades with His shade on the day that there is no shade but His shade this would have been sufficient. And this would be enough for people to compete for. The Prophet ﷺ said:

There are seven whom Allah will shade with His shade on the Day when there will be no shade but His” and he mentioned “a man who remembers Allah when he is alone and his eyes flow (with tears)” [al-Bukhari 660, Muslim 1031]

And the Prophet ﷺ said: There are two eyes that shall never be touched by the Fire: An eye that spent the night standing on guard in the cause of Allah and an eye that wept from the fear of Allah [At Tabarani 5779]

Oh Allah make us among those who fear You and are conscious of You and seek your pleasure in all their affairs. O Allah, grant us fear of You such that it acts as a barrier between us and acts of disobedience. And facilitate for us acts of obedience that will take us to Your Paradise.

Remember Allah, the Great – He will remember you. Thank Him for His favors – He will increase you therein.  And seek forgiveness from Him – He will forgive you. And be conscious of Him – He will provide you a way out of difficult matters. And, establish the prayer.

BY IMAM SYED MAHBOOB RASOOL