Belief in Allah with Love Hope and Fear 2 of 3

Salvation Lies Between Hope and Fear

Shaytan(Satan) uses two emotions to lead people astray:

*Despair

As Muslims we must remain between the two – not having Excessive Fear nor Excessive Security.

Excessive Fear Leads to:

• ·         Sadness,
• ·         Depression,
• ·         Despair,
• ·         Hopelessness

When a person reaches this level it is very hard to come back. Some in turn give up and apostate, or even kill themselves thinking there is no way out or redemption.

Excessive Hope Leads to:

• ·         Negligence,
• ·         Half Heartedness,
• ·         Taking Allah (swt) for granted

The person reaches a level of carelessness while thinking that all will be forgiven as he gives in to his likes and ignores the likes of Allah.

The correct course lies in between the two:

This is wherein the person does good in the light of the Shari’ah(Islamic Legislation) and is hopeful of being rewarded for it. Or, if he/she commits a sin, they repent sincerely, being hopeful of Allah’s forgiveness.

Allah Says:

“Verily, those who believed, and those who migrated and fought in the way of Allah, it is they who are hopeful of Allah’s mercy. And Allah is very Forgiving, very Merciful.” [Al-Baqarah (2:218)]

A person with too much hope:

May indulge in sins and due to his excessive hope, doesn’t repent for them – this is known as False Hope.”

In turn he dies upon those sins he commits and will stand before Allah in a bad way on the Day of Judgment.

How to recognize if one has Fear of Allah

Signs of Fear of Allah:

The tongue informs us: if we talk evil, backbite and engage in frivolous gossip, it shows that there is very little concern. We should engage our tongues in the remembrance of Allah, in the recitation of the Quran and in the circles of knowledge.

In the heart we should expel hatred, enmity and jealousy and replace them with well-wishing and care for Muslims.

• ·         We should be careful of what we put in our stomachs.
• ·         Our eyes should not wander off to look at haram(unlawful) objects.
• ·         Our feet should not walk towards haram places.
• ·         We should not extend our hands for haram purposes.

Also:

We should be concerned in our good deeds that we don’t perform them for anyone else except Allah.

Why should we Fear Allah?

• ·         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 fulfill Allah’s obligations;
• ·         The fear of losing one’s softness in the heart and its hardening;
• ·         The fear of losing consistency;

Also:

• ·         The fear of allowing temptations to dominate;
• ·         The fear of Allah making one’s self responsible for doing good 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(The Angels who test the faith of the dead in their graves) 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 of 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(Hell), its chains and torment
• ·         Finally:
• ·         The fear of being deprived of Paradise, the Eternal and everlasting kingdom and abode.
• ·         The fear of being deprived of seeing Allah’s tremendous visage(face).

Whenever we do a good deed we should fear the following:

 The fear of not being accepted because Allah says:

‘Allah only accepts from those who fear’ [Maidah: 27]

The fear of showing off, for Allah says: ‘They have been instructed to worship Allah sincerely; religion is for him Alone.’ [Bayinah: 5] 

The fear of preserving the good deed because Allah says: ‘Whoever brings a good deed shall have ten times its reward.’ [An’am: 161]

And Also:

The fear of being deserted in performing good deeds, for Allah says; ‘My reconciliation (with good) is only through Allah; it is upon Him that I trust and it is to Him that I resort.” [Hud:88]