Love Fear and Hope : The Three Essential Ingredients for Eeman
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From ad-Dawah illaah Magazine
One of the most beautiful things about
the concept of worship in Islaam is the truly unique way in which it
incorporates the feeling of love, fear and hope within the hearts of the
worshippers of Allah. Understanding how to combine these three
qualities into the worship (ibaadah) of Allah is one of the most
essential things that every Muslim must grasp, not least because every
sect which has drifted from the Straight Path has strayed in the aspect
of worship. .
In Islaam however, no worship is
complete without the presence of all three qualities: love of Allah,
hope in His Mercy and fear of His Punishment. Contemplate the opening
Soorah of the Qur’aan – Soorah al-Faatihah – and you will see this for
yourself.
Aayah 1: “All praise [and thanks] is for Allah, Rabb of all the worlds.”
In this opening aayah (verse) of the
Qur’aan, we have LOVE of Allah and every time we recite this aayah we
are testifying to our love for Allah. How is that you ask?
It is because in the aayah, we are
acknowledging that Allah is our Rabb and the Rabb of all the worlds.
Rabb is usually translated as ‘the Lord’, but this translation does not
do justification to this name of Allah and all the meanings this name
carries. In reality, Rabb means that Allah is the Creator of everything;
He sustains and nourishes everything; He gives life and Death; anything
good that we have is from Him; everything is dependant on Him and
nothing can happen unless He wills it. Furthermore, for the Muslims He –
the Rabb – in the One who has guided us to the Truth and given us good
morals and manners.
Thus when we testify that Allah is our
Rabb, then we are acknowledging that He is the One who has given us so
many blessings – so many that if we try to enumerate His blessings, we
would be unable to do so. So how could we not but LOVE Him?
After all, we all love those who show
kindness towards us or present us with gifts. And therefore the
Messenger of Allah (salla-allahu alaihe wa-sallam) encouraged the
exchange of gifts between Muslims because it helps to strengthen ties
and develop love for one another. He (salla-allahu alaihe wa-sallam)
said, “Give gifts to one another, you will come to love one another.”[1]
So imagine the LOVE we should have
for our Rabb who has given us everything: nice families, shelter,
security, food, health and above all the Guidance of Islaam and the
Sunnah. We should be overwhelming in our love for Him. That is why we
praise Him and thank Him and say, “All praise (and thanks) is for Allah,
Rabbil-‘aalameen.”
Aayah 2: The Rahmaan (Merciful) and the Raheem (Mercy-Giving).”
In the first aayah of Soorah
al-Faatihah, Allah mentioned He was the Rabb. In this aayah two more of
His beautiful names are mentioned: ar-Rahmaan and ar-Raheem. Ar-Rahmaan
means that He is the Most Merciful. Ar-Raheem means that He is the Giver
of Mercy, in other words His actions are full of Mercy and He shows
Mercy to His creation.[2]
When we mention these two names of
Allah, then we have HOPE. Since He is the One who is full of Mercy, and
we hope He will forgive our mistakes and shortcomings. We should never
loose hope, because Allah says in the Qur’aan, “O My slaves, who have
transgressed against themselves! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah,
Verily Allah forgives all sins (except sins). Truly He is Oft-Forgiving,
the Most Merciful” [39: 53]
The need to have FEAR in our worship is shown by the next aayah of Soorah al-Faatihah.
Aayah 3: “King/Master of the Day of Judgement.”
When we recite this aayah, we remind
ourselves of the Day of Judgement – that awful Day, when all of humanity
shall stand before Allah … naked, uncircumcised and barefooted. People
will appear drunk though they are not. On that Day, every person will
stand before Allah and account for his sins, knowing that not even the
smallest action which he did is hidden from Allah: “So whosoever does
good equal to the weight of an atom, shall see it. And whosoever does
evil equal to the weight of an atom shall see it.” [Soorah 99 : 7-8]
So when we recite this third aayah
of Soorah al-Faatihah, we remind ourselves of this Judgement and
accountability and that should bring about in us a sense of fear – that
maybe our evil actions will be too great and we will be responsible for
them – May Allah protect us from such a fate. Then the next verse goes
on to say: “You alone we worship.” i.e. we single out Allah for our
worship. And how do we worship Him? With LOVE, HOPE and FEAR. And in
order to achieve these qualities, we need Allah’s assistance, so we say
then, “We seek Your Aid.”
Striking the Balance
After understanding the need to have
love, hope and fear in our worship, the next question that naturally
arises is that, in what proportion should these qualities be present in
our worship? Again we turn to the Qur’aan for the answer.
“Call upon Him with Fear and Hope.” [ Soorah (7): 56]
“Their sides forsake their beds, to invoke their Lord in Fear and Hope.” [(32): 16]
So both fear and hope should be
present in our hearts in equal proportions. Anas reported that the
Prophet (salla-allahu alaihe wa-sallam) entered upon a young boy who was
dying. The Prophet (salla-allahu alaihe wa-sallam) asked, “How are
you?” The boy replied, “O Messenger of Allah, I am in between hoping in
Allah and fearing for my sins.” The Prophet (salla-allahu alaihe
wa-sallam) said, “The like of these two qualities do not unite in the
heart of a servant except that Allah gives him what he hopes for and
protects him from what he feared.”[3]
Therefore whenever we do a good
action, we should hope that it has been accepted by Allah, but at the
same time we should also have fear that maybe it isn’t enough or that
the good deed has not been worthy of acceptance. Likewise when we sin,
we should have hope that Allah will accept our repentance and forgive
us, but we should also fear that we may be accountable for it.
This balance should be reflected in our
Dawah (which of course is also worship). So when we invite others to the
Truth, we should not give them the impression that ‘they have nothing
to worry about’, nor do we suggest that ‘they are doomed forever’.
Rather we couple warnings with encouragement. We inform them of the
horrors of the Fire and tell them about the bliss of Paradise. Just as
we find Allah telling us in the Qur’aan: “Verily your Lord is Quick in
Punishment and verily He is the Oft-Forgiving, the Giver of Mercy.”
[(7): 167]
And 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 [eg. the Soofis, the Christians, etc]. But he who
worships Allah in fear, love and hope is a Muwahhid Mu’min [a believer
upon Tawheed].”[4]
The Murji’a were a sect that emerged
within the first century of Islaam. The people of this sect (i.e. the
murji’ees) believe that sins do not affect faith i.e. no matter what
sins a person commits, his eeman (faith) is complete and perfect. They
worship Allah only with hope because they believe that as long as one
believed and testified to Islaam, they would enter Paradise regardless
of their actions.
Unfortunately, all too often nowadays we
find a similar attitude amongst many Muslims today, which is why we
find that so often we try to advice someone to turn to the Deen and
abandon sin, they just point to their hearts and say, “Allah knows what
is in my heart”, or “Allah forgives”, or something else like that.
As for the Khawaarij, they worshipped
Allah in fear only because they held that anyone who commits major sins
was a disbeliever and would therefore dwell in Hellfire forever. This of
course is gross extremism and straying from the correct path. The
Prophet (salla-allahu alaihe wa-sallam) said: “There were two men of
Banoo Israa’eel who strove equally. One of then committed sins and the
other strove hard in worship. And the one who strove in worship cto see
the other in sin and kept saying to him: “Desist.” So one day he found
him committing a sin and so said to him: “Desist” So he replied, “Leave
me by my Lord, have you been sent as a watcher over me?”. He said, “By
Allah, Allah will not forgive you, nor will Allah admit you to
Paradise”. Then their souls were taken and they came together before the
Lord of the Worlds. So Allah said to the one who strove in worship:
“Did you have Knowledge of Me, or did you have any power in what is in
my Hands?” And He said to the sinner: “Go and enter Paradise through My
Mercy.” And He said to the other: “Take him to the fire.” Aboo Hurairah t
said: “By Him in whose Hand is my soul! He spoke a word which destroyed
this world and the hereafter for him.”[5]
Therefore we should never say of
anyone that he or she is a ‘lost cause’ or ‘doomed’ or the like for this
is a great sin. However, we fear for those who commit major sins
because they have been threatened with punishment in the Qur’aan and the
Hadeeth. However it is up to Allah whether He chooses to punish them or
whether He will forgive them.
The Zindeeqs – or the heretics – are
groups, such as many of the Soofis who have become like the Christians
and reduced the religion to just ‘love’ and so all their talk and their
mystical practices are centred around developing more ‘love’.
It is thus clear how imbalances in any
of the three qualities of worship can lead to major deviation and
straying to the True Guidance. It is therefore 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[6],
but as for love then that should be uppermost. As Fudayl ibn-‘Iyaad –
rahimahullah – (d.187H) said, “The love is better than the fear. The
fear checks us from sinning, and the love makes us do what is prescribed
with an open heart.”[7]
May Allah grant us what we hope for
and protect us from what we fear. And may the Blessings of Allah be upon
our Prophet Muhammed, upon his family, his Companions and upon all
those who follow Guidance until the Last Day.
[1] Collected by Imaam Bukhari in al-Adabul-Mufrad and declared hasan by al-Albaanee in al-Irwaa (1601)
[2] As explained by Ibnul-Qayyim (d.751H) in Badaa’I ul-Fawaa’id.
[3] Collected in Sunan at-Tirmidhi and Sunan Ibn Majah and authenticated by Sheikh al-Albani in Ahkam al-Janaa’iz (no.2)
[4] Quoted by Ibn Rajjab in al-Takhweef minan-Naar.
[5] Collected in Sunan Abu Dawood (english trans. vol.3, p.1365, no.4883). See Saheehul-Jaami (4455) by Sheikh al-Albani.
[6] This was the opinion of most of the
Salaf. Al-Fudayl ibn ‘Iyyaad said that, when one is healthy and well,
then fear should predominate, but when terminally ill then hpoe should
predominate – so that one should strive to do good when well and not
despair of Allah’s Mercy when terminally ill. [Al-Takhweef minan-Naar]
[7] Reported in Al-Takhweef
minan-Naar of Ibn Rajab. Note that some scholars hold that the fear is
better than love, and Allah knows best.
From ad-Dawah illaah Magazine
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