Chapter: On Taqwa (God-consciousness)

باب فی التقوی — تقوے کے بارے میں

On the exposition of taqwā [God-fearing piety and guarding oneself against what displeases Allah].

قَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى : اِنَّ اَكْرَمَكُمْ عِنْدَ اللّٰهِ اَتْقٰىكُمْ اِنَّ اللّٰهَ عَلِيْمٌ خَبِيْرٌ ۔

(al-Ḥujurāt 49:13)

Vocabulary: inna akramakum ʿinda'llāh — certainly, with Allah the greatest in honour among you, the most noble and most generous, the most honourable; atqākum — is the one among you who is most God-fearing and most in awe of God; inna'llāha ʿalīmun khabīr — Allah has knowledge of all, and is aware of all.

Translation: Allah Most High says: Certainly the greatest in honour among you with Allah is the one among you who most fears God. Certainly Allah knows everything and is aware of all.

Gentlemen! In the world, partisan loyalties (ʿaṣabiyyāt) arise from various affiliations. Some attach themselves to their homeland: one who lives in India is an Indian, one who lives in Arabia is an Arab. For some, the bond with language is stronger — for example, the Americans and the English are counted as one because of the English language. In some, partisanship arises on account of colour — as in America there are blacks and there are whites, but the blacks will be counted as separate and the whites as separate. In Islam, nationhood and solidarity are on the basis of religion. All Muslims are one nation, whether they be black or white, Arabs or Indians. In Islam, too, the standard of greatness is piety: whoever does good works is good. Here it is not a matter of the Brahmin being good and all the rest bad; nor is it a matter of the English being good and other nations bad. One who lives in Morocco is the brother of a Chinese. A Muslim living in England is the brother of one living in India. Among them, whoever is most God-fearing and pious is the best. Sayyid, Shaykh, Mughal, Pathan — all these are for recognition and identification. The Sādāt (descendants of the Prophet ﷺ) ought to understand: if I do good works I will remain a Sayyid; if I do bad works, then what Sayyid-hood? And who will acknowledge my leadership? The Shaykhs, too, ought to understand that we do not become great merely by being the descendants of the noble Companions. Greatness comes from knowledge and practice. If there is no knowledge and merit, there is no greatness either. People of the past had knowledge and did good works. They had knowledge of religion and acted according to knowledge; they were also regarded as great. In Islam caste and lineage are nothing. All these are matters of the ego (nafsāniyyat). Just reflect — Rām Chandar Jī and Krishn Jī: these were of the Kshatriya caste, yet they are regarded as avatārs. We cannot understand how every Brahmin, whose caste is considered very high — Rām Chandar Jī and Krishn Jī, who are non-Brahmins: compared with them, every wicked Brahmin

will be superior to them. Islam makes this very point clear: that greatness comes from knowledge and practice, and not from caste and lineage.

Gentlemen! Muslims ought always to keep this verse before them: inna akramakum ʿinda'llāhi atqākum ["Certainly the most honoured of you with Allah is the most God-fearing of you"]. This is a foundational principle of Islam. It is from not keeping this before them that the whole ruin of the Muslims is taking place.

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى : اِنْ اَوْلِيَآؤُهٗٓ اِلَّا الْمُتَّقُوْنَ ۔

(al-Anfāl 8:34)

Vocabulary: in awliyāʾuhu illa'l-muttaqūn — His friends are only the God-fearing (muttaqī) people; they are God-fearing people.

Translation: Allah Most High says: His friends (awliyāʾ) are only the God-fearing.

قَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى : يٰٓاَيُّهَا الَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللّٰهَ حَقَّ تُقٰتِهٖ وَلَا تَمُوْتُنَّ اِلَّا وَاَنْتُمْ مُّسْلِمُوْنَ ۔

(Āl ʿImrān 3:102)

Vocabulary: yā ayyuha'lladhīna āmanū — O you who believe; ittaqu'llāh — fear Allah, guard yourselves against the Divine wrath; ḥaqqa tuqātihi — tuqāt was originally wuqya [reading uncertain], just as tujāh was originally wujāh; that is, fear God as much as one ought to fear, and adopt as much taqwā as is the due of adopting taqwā. The degrees of taqwā are: avoiding the forbidden things, and fulfilling the obligations (farāʾiḍ). Some elders have said that one should carry out the command of God considering it one's own duty, not for the sake of reward and recompense. And some have said that the perfection of taqwā is turning away from everything other than Allah — to the point of not paying attention even to oneself; rather, that no attention of any kind should remain towards anything at all; wa lā tamūtunna — and by no means die; illā wa antum muslimūn — except while you are Muslims.

Translation: Allah Most High says: O you who believe! Fear God as He ought to be feared, and if you die, die only as Muslims.

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى : فَاتَّقُوا اللّٰهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ وَاسْمَعُوْا وَاَطِيْعُوْا وَاَنْفِقُوْا خَيْرًا لِّاَنْفُسِكُمْ ۔

(al-Taghābun 64:16)

Vocabulary: fa'ttaqu'llāh — so fear Allah and guard yourselves against His wrath; ma'staṭaʿtum — as much as you are able, as far as lies within your capacity; wa'smaʿū wa aṭīʿū — hear the commands of God and obey them; accept them, be obedient; wa anfiqū khayran — and spend wealth; li-anfusikum — its benefit is for you yourselves; spend, it is better for you.

Translation: Allah Most High says: (So, O people!) Fear Allah as much as you can, and listen to Him and obey Him, and spend something too; this is better for you.

وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى : اِنْ تَتَّقُوا اللّٰهَ يَجْعَلْ لَّكُمْ فُرْقَانًا وَّيُكَفِّرْ عَنْكُمْ سَيِّاٰتِكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ وَاللّٰهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظِيْمِ ۔

(al-Anfāl 8:29)

Vocabulary: in tattaqu'llāh — if you fear God, if you adopt taqwā; yajʿal lakum furqānan — then He will grant you distinction: your faces will be radiant, your character will be pure, you will have the upper hand over your enemies; wa yukaffir ʿankum sayyiʾātikum —

and He will make expiation for your evils, for your sins, for your evil deeds; outwardly and inwardly your evil deeds will be hidden and removed; wa yaghfir lakum — and Allah will grant you forgiveness; He will hide you in the skirt of His mercy; wa'llāh — and Allah; dhu'l-faḍli'l-ʿaẓīm — is the Possessor of great bounty; His mercy and generosity are of tremendous majesty.

Translation: Allah Most High says: If you adopt taqwā, Allah will grant you distinction, and will hide (remove) your evil deeds and sins, and (will give you yourselves a place in the skirt of His mercy) will forgive you; and Allah is the One of very great bounty.

قَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى : وَمَنْ يَّتَّقِ اللّٰهَ يَجْعَلْ لَّهٗ مَخْرَجًا وَّيَرْزُقْهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَحْتَسِبُ ۔

(al-Ṭalāq 65:2) [reading uncertain]

Vocabulary: wa man yattaqi'llāh — and whoever fears God; yajʿal lahu makhrajan — then He will surely bring out for him some way, some means of escaping from quarrel and strife.

Translation: Allah Most High says: And whoever fears God (and adopts taqwā), He will certainly create some way out for him.

اَلْمُسْلِمُوْنَ اِخْوَةٌ لَا فَضْلَ لِاَحَدٍ اِلَّا بِالتَّقْوٰى ۔

(al-Ṭabarānī, from Ḥabīb ibn Khirāsh — Kanz [al-ʿUmmāl], vol. 1, p. 28.) [reading uncertain]

Translation: It is narrated from Ḥabīb ibn Khirāsh (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet ﷺ said: All Muslims are brothers; none has any excellence (superiority) over another except the God-fearing. (Kanz al-ʿUmmāl.)

عَنْ عَطِيَّةَ السَّعْدِيِّ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ لَا يَبْلُغُ الْعَبْدُ حَقِيْقَةَ التَّقْوٰى حَتّٰى يَدَعَ مَالَا بَاْسَ بِهٖ حَذَرًا مِّمَّا بِهٖ بَاْسٌ ۔

(Compiled by al-Tirmidhī.)

Vocabulary: lā yablughu — does not reach, cannot attain; ḥaqīqatu't-taqwā — the reality of piety; ḥattā yadaʿa — until he leaves; ḥadharan — out of fear; baʾs — harm.

Translation: It is narrated from ʿAṭiyya al-Saʿdī (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet ﷺ said: The servant does not reach the reality of piety until he leaves those things in which there is no harm, out of fear of those things in which there is some harm. (al-Tirmidhī.)

عَنْ اَبِيْ سَعِيْدِ الْخُدْرِيِّ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ اِنَّ الدُّنْيَا حُلْوَةٌ خَضِرَةٌ وَاِنَّ اللّٰهَ مُسْتَخْلِفُكُمْ فِيْهَا فَيَنْظُرُ كَيْفَ تَعْمَلُوْنَ فَاتَّقُوا الدُّنْيَا وَاتَّقُوا النِّسَاءَ فَاِنَّ اَوَّلَ فِتْنَةِ بَنِيْٓ اِسْرَآئِيْلَ كَانَتْ فِي النِّسَاءِ ۔

(Reported by Muslim.)

Vocabulary: mustakhlifukum — is going to make you vicegerents (khalīfa); fa-yanẓuru — then He is going to see; fa'ttaqū — so beware.

Translation: Ḥaḍrat Abū Saʿīd (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet ﷺ said: The world is sweet and full of splendour, and surely Allah is going to make you vicegerents in it,

and He will see how you act. So guard yourselves against the world, and keep away from women, because the first trial (fitna) among the Children of Israel was connected with women. (Reported by Muslim.)

عَنِ ابْنِ مَسْعُوْدٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ اَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ كَانَ يَقُوْلُ : اَللّٰهُمَّ اِنِّيْٓ اَسْاَلُكَ الْهُدٰى وَالتُّقٰى وَالْعَفَافَ وَالْغِنٰى ۔

(Reported by Muslim.)

Vocabulary: al-hudā — guidance, direction; wa't-tuqā — and piety; wa'l-ʿafāf — and chastity; wa'l-ghinā — and independence [of need].

Translation: Ḥaḍrat Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say that the Prophet ﷺ would supplicate: "O Allah, I ask You for guidance, and piety, and chastity, and independence [from need of others]." (Muslim.)