Taqwa Part 1

Fear of God

It is necessary to understand that it is not expected for one to harbour negative thoughts of God when fearing Him. God is not meant to be viewed as an abominable or frightening entity. Rather, God is absolute perfection and the best source for a human being to love. The concept of human beings having to fear God actually refers to fearing the rule of divine justice. This notion is seen in the following supplication:

O Who is not hoped but for His favour, and is not feared but His justice.1

The notion of fearing His justice is seen in another supplication:

You are too great to be feared but Your justice, and to hoped but for Your beneficence and favour.2

Justice in itself is not a vile entity. Fearing justice actually alludes to fearing oneself because of his past wrongs or a person fears that he may break the limit and violate other people’s rights in the future.

As for the issue of fear and hope where a believer must always be hopeful and optimistic while simultaneously fearful and worried, it means that he must always be fearful of transgressing in following his unquenchable desires so that they never take the rein of his affairs from his reasoning and his faith, while at the same time he must be hopeful and confident in God, and to rely on God who will always help him. Imam Ali ibn Husayn (a) states in the well-known Du‘a ofAbu amzah Thūmālī:

O My Lord! When I look at the sins I have committed, I become fearful and when I look at Your generosity, I harbour hope.3