Taqwa Part 1

The meaning of Taqwa

Taqwa is the prerequisite for a person who wants to live his life by certain principles, whether they are religious or not, and he is to have a clear direction in order to move towards a specific goal. In doing so, he is to protect himself against transitional desires inconsistent with his goals and principles.

Thus, taqwa in a broader sense is a requirement for everyone who wants to be a true human being, live under control of reason, and follow certain principles. In religious context, taqwa is the quality of those who protect themselves from all that is considered by religion as wrong and sinful. In stating this, there are two kinds of taqwa: the first is just to avoid facing situations, in which sins may take place and this is the quality of the weak people and leads to seclusion and isolation, while the second is to face challenges and remain persistent and this is the quality of those who are strong in their faith and can play an active role in society.

According to the first type, a person protects himself from sins by refraining from a situation that leads to committing one. This is similar to a person who avoids an infested environment to protect his health.

According to the second type, a person creates a state and power in his soul that gives him a spiritual and moral security. That is, if he does find himself in a situation where the means and causes of sin are around him, that spiritual state protects him and prevents him from committing sins. This is similar to a person who creates a medical immunity in his body so that the microbes of the diseases have no effect on his health.

Now, laymen consider taqwā to be the first type. For those who are said to have taqwā, it usually means that he is a cautious man who secludes himself in an isolated corner and refrains from the causes of sin. It has been understood this way because the word taqwā has always been translated for us as abstinence.

Moreover, abstinence from sin has been gradually construed as avoiding the grounds for sins; later on the meaning changed into isolation and avoiding society. Thus, when this word is heard in ordinary conversation, a state of avoidance and reluctance comes to mind.

Though the prerequisite of leading a reasonable life is to follow specific principles, it is not wise to avoid social life in doing so. The key to living the right way is to create a state of immunity in our soul that eventually protects us. Sa‘dī, in his famous book of poetryGulistan , says:

I beheld an illustrious man in a mountain region

Who had contentedly retired from the world into a Cave

Why, said I, comest thou not into the city

For once to relax the bonds of thy heart?

He replied: ‘Fairy –faced maidens are there.

When clay is plentiful, elephants will stumble.’4

In the above poem, the man who secluded himself in the mountains refrains from returning to the city because of the “fairy-faced maidens” who may eventually cause him to “stumble.” This is the first kind of “taqwa”. However, it is not to a person’s advantage to keep himself away from a

slippery surface to refrain from slipping. Better than that is to know how to walk on it without losing his balance. Baba Taher says:

Beneath the tyranny of eyes and heart I cry,

For, all the eyes see, the heart stores up:

I'll fashion me a pointed sword of steel,

Put out mine eyes, and so set free my heart.

Undoubtedly, our heart will be captivated by everything our eyes fall upon. However, blinding ourselves is not our only option. A better way is to create a power in our heart so that our eyes do not captivate our heart. If we want to make a dagger with an iron point to release our heart from our eyes, we need another dagger for our ears because everything our ears hear, our heart turns to it.

The same goes for the senses of tasting, touching, and smelling. In this case, a human being becomes like a lion without a tail, belly, and head which Mulawi (Jalal al-Dim Rumi) described in his story inMathnawi .