Fear of Allah

Be conscious of Allah the Exalted and know that you will return to Him and will be judged and recompensed for your deeds. Indeed Iman (faith) has qualities and branches and from the best qualities of Iman (faith) is fear and awe of Allah. Because if the heart is replete with the fear and awe of Allah this spurs a person to hasten renouncing this fleeting worldly life and desiring the everlasting afterlife and being steadfast in its path in private and public. This is because he is ever mindful of the One whose knowledge, sight and hearing encompass everything. And whoever is like this is the truly happy in this world and the afterlife.

Allah has praised the best of His creation and the most righteous of them in that they adorn themselves with the fear and awe of Him the Exalted. He the Exalted said about the close angels:
An Nahl (16) 50: They fear their Lord above them, and they do what they are commanded.

And he said about Zakariyah and his household (peace be upon them)

Al Anbiyaa (21) 90: Indeed, they used to hasten to good deeds and supplicate Us in hope and fear, and they were to Us humbly submissive.

And He said about all His messengers:
Al Ahzab (33) 39: [Allah praises] those who convey the messages of Allah and fear Him and do not fear anyone but Allah. And sufficient is Allah as Accountant.

The people who fear Allah are the ones that benefit from the revelation and remembrance that Allah revealed. As Allah said:
Az-Zumar (39) 23: Allah has sent down the best statement: a consistent Book wherein is reiteration. The skins shiver therefrom of those who fear their Lord; then their skins and their hearts relax at the remembrance [i.e., mention] of Allah. That is the guidance of Allah by which He guides whom He wills. And one whom Allah sends astray – for him there is no guide.

And indeed the people who have fear of Allah the Exalted are of sound minds. They were bestowed with minds such that they attained, after the grace of Allah on them, victory, triumph and success as the Almighty said:
Ar-Ra’d (13) 19-21: (19) They will only be reminded who are people of understanding (20) Those who fulfil the covenant of Allah and do not break the contract (21) And those who join that which Allah has ordered to be joined and fear their Lord and are afraid of the evil of [their] account

And those having fear and awe of Allah are promised forgiveness of their sins and multiplying their rewards as Allah said:
Al Mulk (67) 12: Indeed, those who fear their Lord unseen will have forgiveness and great reward.

There are many reasons for fearing and revering Allah among which is that He the Glorified and Almighty commanded us to do so:
Al Imran (3) 175: So fear them not, but fear Me, if you are [indeed] believers.

And Allah said:
Al Baqarah (2) 40: Fear none but Me

And Allah said:
Al Baqarah (2) 150: So fear them not but fear Me.

And from the reasons of fearing Allah is that Allah Almighty described Himself with attributes that fill the hearts with reverence and awe. Allah Almighty said about Himself:
Ibrahim (14) 47: Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Owner of Retribution.

And Allah said:
Al Burooj (85) 12: Indeed, the assault [i.e., vengeance] of your Lord is severe.

And Allah said:
Al Imran (3) 28 & Al Imran (3) 30: And Allah warns you to be aware of Him

And from the reasons for fearing Allah Almighty is that we will have a day in which we will return to Allah and He will recompense for an atom’s weight of good and an atom’s weight of evil as Allah said:
Az-Zalzalah (99) 6-8: (6) That Day, the people will depart separated [into categories] to be shown [the result of] their deeds. (7) So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it (8) And whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it.

And Allah said:
Al Baqarah (2) 281: And fear a Day when you will be returned to Allah. Then every soul will be compensated for what it earned, and they will not be wronged [i.e., treated unjustly].

Indeed the praiseworthy fear of Allah is the one that restrains the person from doing what angers Allah. And the greatest and most confirmed is the fear that prevents from associating others with Allah as the Almighty said:
Al Muminoon (23) 57-61: (57) Indeed, they who are apprehensive from fear of their Lord (58) And they who believe in the signs of their Lord (59) And they who do not associate anything with their Lord (60) And they who give what they give while their hearts are fearful because they will be returning to their Lord (61) It is those who hasten to good deeds, and they outstrip [others] therein.

Fearing deters from immoralities and evils and other matters which anger Allah Almighty. And Allah recounted the narratives of those with praiseworthy fear so that we emulate them. Such as the Yusuf’s (peace be upon him) virtue in refraining from fornication, in spite of the great temptation, due to his fear of Allah as the Almighty said:
Yusuf (12) 24: And she certainly determined [to seduce] him, and he would have inclined to her had he not seen the proof [i.e., sign] of his Lord. And thus [it was] that We should avert from him evil and immorality. Indeed, he was of Our chosen servants.

And the narrative of the son of Adam (peace be upon him) who refrained from killing and said:
Al Maeda (5) 28: If you should raise your hand toward me to kill me – I shall not raise my hand toward you to kill you. Indeed, I fear Allah, Lord of the worlds.

And as Mary (peace be upon her) said when Gabriel appeared to her in the form of a most perfect and handsome man. She was in seclusion and did not know who he was. Allah Almighty showed her great chastity and fear of her Lord. She thought it was man from Bani Israel with indecent intentions so she said:
Maryam (18) 19: Indeed, I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you, [so leave me], if you should be fearing of Allah.

And just as the Prophet ﷺ narrated to us the story of the man who was infatuated with the daughter of his uncle. When he was in a position to fornicate with her and she reminded him to fear Allah, he left her in fear of Allah. Subsequently, Allah saved him and his companions from the cave (that they were trapped in).

And as happened with Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) when she inadvertently got separated from the army. Sufwaan bin Al Mu3tel ( صفوان بن المعطل ) found her and took her to Madenah and he did not speak to her and she did not speak to him in modesty and fear of Allah in spite of the absence of people. She stated:
So I covered my face with my veil. By Allah, he did not speak to me a word and I did not hear a word from him except “We are from Allah and unto Him we return” (He said “We are from Allah and unto Him we return” when he first saw her from afar). [al-Bukhari 4141, Muslim 2770]

And with this consciousness and fear of Allah and complete chastity, after the grace of Allah, Allah Himself defended her and declared her innocence from the accusations in verses that will be recited until the Day of Resurrection.

Oh Muslims: Be conscious of Allah and know that the description of a person as fearing Allah does not mandate that he is infallible and does not sin at all. But the fear of Allah mandates that he hastens to the repentance whenever he errs in implementation of Allah’s words:
An-Noor (24) 31: And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed.

And the one fearing Allah does not ever despair because Allah the Almighty stated:
Al Hijr (15) 56: He said, “And who despairs of the mercy of his Lord except for those astray?”

Rather he seeks forgiveness and repents and flees from Allah to Allah hoping for His reward and forgiveness just as he fears His torment and retribution. For Allah has given assurance of accepting the repentance of those who repent.

Ash-Shuraa (42) 25: And it is He who accepts repentance from His servants and pardons misdeeds, and He knows what you do.

One of the greatest means of achieving this degree of Iman (faith), which is fear, awe and reverence of Allah, is by learning the religious knowledge with sincerity. For whoever is more knowledgeable of Allah has more fear of Him as Allah said:
Faater (35) 28: Only those fear Allah, from among His servants, who have knowledge.

And from the means of attaining the fear of Allah is to recite the Quran, listen to it and reflect on it as Allah said:
Al Maedah (5) 83: And when they hear what has been revealed to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears because of what they have recognized of the truth. They say, “Our Lord, we have believed, so register us among the witnesses.

And Allah said:
Al Israa (17) 107-109: (107) Indeed, those who were given knowledge before it – when it is recited to them, they fall upon their faces in prostration, (108) And they say, “Exalted is our Lord! Indeed, the promise of our Lord has been fulfilled.” (109) And they fall upon their faces weeping, and it [i.e., the Qur’ān] increases them in humble submission.

If the only fruits of the fear of Allah was that the person who cries while alone out of the fear of Allah will not have the fire touch him and will be among those whom Allah shades with His shade on the day that there is no shade but His shade this would have been sufficient. And this would be enough for people to compete for. The Prophet ﷺ said:
“There are seven whom Allah will shade with His shade on the Day when there will be no shade but His” and he mentioned “a man who remembers Allah when he is alone and his eyes flow (with tears)” [al-Bukhari 660, Muslim 1031]

And the Prophet ﷺ said:
There are two eyes that shall never be touched by the Fire: An eye that spent the night standing on guard in the cause of Allah and an eye that wept from the fear of Allah [At Tabarani 5779]

Oh Allah make us among those who fear You and are conscious of You and seek your pleasure in all their affairs. O Allah, grant us fear of You such that it acts as a barrier between us and acts of disobedience. And facilitate for us acts of obedience that will take us to Your Paradise.

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