Taqwa Part 1

The Value and Effect of Taqwa

In addition to the dramatic effects of taqwa in the afterlife and the fact that it is the only way of salvation for human beings from everlasting wretchedness, taqwa has many other values and effects in this worldly life. Imam Ali (a), who emphasized taqwa in his instructions and urged people towards it in a very outstanding way, has referred to numerous outcomes of taqwa. For example, he stated:

عتق من كل ملكه و نجاه من كل هلكه

Freedom from all types of slavery, and deliverance from all ruin.15

Or elsewhere, he stated:

فَإِنَّ تَقْوَى اللَّهِ دَوَاءُ دَاءِ قُلُوبِكُمْ وَ بَصَرُ عَمَى أَفْئِدَتِكُمْ وَ شِفَاءُ مَرَضِ أَجْسَادِكُمْ وَ صَلَاحُ فَسَادِ صُدُورِكُمْ وَ طُهُورُ دَنَسِ أَنْفُسِكُمْ وَ جِلَاءُ عَشَا أَبْصَارِكُمْ وَ أَمْنُ فَزَعِ جَأْشِكُمْ وَ ضِيَاءُ سَوَادِ ظُلْمَتِكُم‏

Certainly, fear of Allah (taqwa) is the medicine for your hearts, sight for the blindness of your spirits, the cure for the ailments of your bodies, the rectifier of the evils of your breasts, the purifier of the pollution of your minds, the light of the darkness of your eyes, the consolation for the fear of your heart, and the brightness for the gloom of your ignorance.16

In fact, Imam Ali (a) holds that taqwa is beneficial for all the difficulties and hardships of human beings. In fact, if we do not merely consider the negative aspect for taqwa and think of it in the same way as Imam Ali (a) did, we must agree that taqwa is one of the pillars of a person’s life, whether in one’s personal or social life, and that the basis of life would be unstable without it.

The value of something becomes clearer when it is known whether or not something else could replace it. Taqwa is one of the necessary components of life because nothing, whether it be power, money, or law-making, can replace it.

Among our daily problems is the existence of too many rulings and regulations which continually change. Laws and regulations are created for special issues and then they are changed and new ones are made. However, laws are not enough to reform the society.

Of course, there is no doubt that law itself is also a fact of life. Aside from general divine laws, people need a series of civil laws. But societies are not entirely reformed by them. Restrictions are introduced by the law; thus, people should have a kind of power to see the value of these restrictions and to accept them. This faculty is called taqwa. It is said that the law should be respected. This is true, but if the principles of taqwa are not applied, can we still expect people to observe all the laws and regulations all the time?

For instance there are some problems in our life which are officially discussed and in the media people are asked to suggest their solutions for them. The increasing number of people getting a divorce, the revision of the election system, and traffic regulations are some of them. Though I may not

know all the reasons for the increase in the number of divorce, I do know that losing taqwa is a major reason.

If people did not lose taqwa and were not so unrestrained, we would not have such a high number of divorces. In the past, people had more difficulties and needs in their lives, but due to their commitment to religious and moral values, there were less cases of divorce. Certainly, the problems we see in family life today are more than in the past. Taqwa and faith can solve many of them.

Today, we have lost them and although our resources today are better than in the past, we face more problems. Considering the rise in the divorce rate, we can try to decrease it using the force of increasing the restrictions of the law for men and women, using the force of the regulations, the administration of justice, executive power of the government, and by changing regulations and laws. However, all of these options will not solve the main problem.

Regarding the issue of elections, we see that some people insist on the view that problems in elections have arisen from flaws in the election law that have been created during last fifty years and are not compatible with today's needs. I am not going to defend the present election law. It certainly has defects. But do people act even according to the current law? Is the current law the cause of corruption?

Or is corruption happening because people do not act even according to current law, and no one considers any limit for himself or gives others any rights. Would the current law allow anyone to enter a city and forcefully tell them “I am your representative whether you accept it or not?” while people of that city have never seen or heard of his name before? Such corruptions cannot be stopped by simply developing or changing the law. It is only possible when there is a kind of awareness, faith, and taqwa among the people.

Finally, regarding the lack of commitment toward traffic laws and speeding, does the problem exist because of existing regulations or because of something else?

Nowadays, we are frequently facing many social issues. People ask why the divorce rate is rising and why people commit crimes such as robbery and murder. Why has cheating become common? Why has prostitution become common?

It is the weakness of faith and the destruction of the fortress of taqwa that cause such corruptions. It is very strange that there are people who speak and write about these questions frequently, but they themselves cut down the roots of these concerns from the souls of the people and lead them into moral anarchy, into destruction of foundation of taqwa, and into impairing the immunity of taqwa because they essentially do not believe in it. If there is no faith and taqwa - we take refuge with God - people become more vulnerable and may even consider stealing, cheating, and committing crimes as acceptable acts.