LOVE, FEAR
AND HOPE
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 Allaah. Understanding
how to combine these three qualities into the worship (ibaadah)
of Allaah 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. The deviation of the other religions in this
regard is clear for all to see: “God is love! Jesus is
love!” say the Christians, denying the fact that Allaah
should be feared too. As for the Jews, their hearts were
filled only with hope; hope that the Fire will never
touch them, since they were the “Promised People”.
In Islaam however, no worship is complete without the
presence of all three qualities: love of Allaah, 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 Allaah, Rabb of all the worlds.”
In this opening aayah (verse) of the Qur'aan, we have
LOVE of Allaah and every time we recite this aayah we are
testifying to our love for Allaah. How is that you ask?
It is because in the aayah, we are acknowledging that
Allaah 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 Allaah and all
the meanings this name carries. In reality, Rabb means
that Allaah 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 Allaah 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
Allaah (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
Allaah, Rabbil-‘aalameen.”
Aayah 2: The Rahmaan (Merciful) and
the Raheem (Mercy-Giving).”
In the first aayah of Soorah al-Faatihah, Allaah
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 Allaah, 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 Allaah says in the
Qur'aan, “O My slaves, who have
transgressed against themselves! Despair not of the Mercy
of Allaah, Verily Allaah 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: “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 Allaah … naked, uncircumcised and
barefooted. People will appear drunk though they are not.
On that Day, every person will stand before Allaah and
account for his sins, knowing that not even the smallest
action which he did is hidden from Allaah:
“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 Allaah protect us from such a
fate. Then the next verse goes on to say: “You alone we
worship.” i.e. we single out Allaah for our worship. And
how do we worship Him? With LOVE, HOPE and FEAR. And in
order to achieve these qualities, we need Allaah’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 Allaah, I am in between
hoping in Allaah 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 Allaah 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 Allaah, 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 Allaah
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 Allaah 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 Allaah with hope only is a murji’ee. He
who worships Him in fear only is a Harooree [Khaarijee].
And He who worships Allaah in love only is a Zindeeq [eg.
the Soofis, the Christians, etc]. But he who worships
Allaah 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 Allaah 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 advise someone to turn to the
Deen and abandon sin, they just point to their hearts and
say, “Allaah knows what is in my heart”, or “Allaah
forgives”, or something else like that.
As for the Khawaarij, they worshipped Allaah 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 Allaah, Allaah will not
forgive you, nor will Allaah admit you to Paradise”. Then
their souls were taken and they came together before the
Lord of the Worlds. So Allaah 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 Allaah
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 Allaah grant us what we hope for and protect us from
what we fear. And may the Blessings of Allaah 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 Allaah’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 Allaah knows best.
