I have recently been attending some gatherings of the elders of our community, for academic and sports competitions, it is what we call an Ijtema and the theme was on ‘Taqwa’, which can be translated as ‘the fear of God’ or ‘Righteousness’. As true believers in Allah, the One God, it is vital that we constantly develop Taqwa – Righteousness in ourselves. Of course this is something which everyone should develop in themselves, whether they believe in God or not. Therefore, I thought I would talk about this.
There are many verses of the Holy Qur’an covering this subject, for instance:
“O ye who believe! if you fear Allah, He will grant you a distinction and will remove your evils from you and will forgive you; and Allah is Lord of great bounty” Holy Qur’an chapter 8, verse 30.
But what do we mean by ‘fear Allah’? Should we fear God, is He that terrifying? Taqwa can relate to many things and some people do respond due to the fear of what God may do to them. I remember talking about the hereafter to a good friend of mine, but whenever I spoke about the punishment of hell, he started to shake and couldn’t take it. So some people do respond in this way, and that would be Taqwa for them, but it mainly means the ‘fear of causing God’s displeasure’, just as a child does not want to cause his parents displeasure and so does good things. Other people may respond due to their love for God and want to please Him and others feel that by behaving in a good way, they will help develop a good society. Whatever is the motivation for doing good, it is being righteous. That is Taqwa.
In fact, the Holy Qur’an informs us that:
“Verily, the most honourable person in the sight of Allah is he who is most righteous” Holy Qur’an chapter 49, verse 14
This is what God wants from all of us, to be righteous, in fact we believe that this was the whole purpose of God creating us, as the Holy Qur’an states:
“I have not created the Jinn and the men, but that they may worship Me” Holy Qur’an 51:57
The worship of God in this verse, doesn’t mean that God needs us to worship Him, He is not that vain. It means that through the worshipping of God, we will obey Him and follow His teachings, which in turn will help us develop good moral virtues and become righteous. Through doing good works not only we will then benefit, but the society around us will also benefit.
Of course some people will say that we do not need to worship God to become righteous, we can decide for ourselves what is good or bad. This is true, and it is often the answer I get when I ask them ‘what is your purpose in life? Why have you been created’ and they will respond with ‘to be a good person, live a good life’.
But I will point to three problems with leaving God out of the equation,
- how do we know what is right and wrong? What may be good for one person, is not necessarily good for another. What do we base these values on? Ultimately, it is God who taught us, through His Holy Books and prophets, what is really good for you.
- What becomes the motivation for doing good? Sometimes when something bad happens, we turn to bad thoughts and actions, maybe justifying it to ourselves, that it is needed for that particular time.
- Will it benefit us in the next life? If a person doesn’t believe in God, then they are not worried about the consequences of their actions. But for a believer, then they know that everything they do, they will be answerable for it in the next life, the spiritual life. This is why in the Holy Qur’an, it doesn’t just say ‘do good works’, but says:
“But those who believe and do good works – those are the dwellers of Heaven; therein shall they abide.” Holy Qur’an chapter 2, verse 83
These sort of verses are constant throughout the Holy Qur’an, that a believer should not only do good works, but believe and do those good works, hoping for the reward from Allah. That reward will be in the next life.
This is important to understand and why Muslims always should be doing everything for God, as Allah has created in this life ‘cause and effect’, that ‘every action will have a reaction’. That means that whatever we do or say, will have some sort of effect, whether that effect turns out to be good or bad i.e. sometimes we do something for good, but it doesn’t work out like we wanted and becomes bad for us or others. But when you do it for God, then you will get the reaction in this life, but also get the reward in the next life. Even if it turned out bad, as your intention was pure, you will still get the good reward.
The Holy Prophet Muhammad, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, has explained this as so:
“He who makes up his mind to do a good deed, is rewarded by Allah for one full measure of it, and if he then proceeds to carry it out, Allah rewards him from ten to seven hundred times and even many times more. He who is inclined towards an evil deed, but does not carry it out, is rewarded by Allah for one full measure of good deed. Should he carry it out, he is debited only one evil deed.” (Bukhari)
Therefore for a believer in the One God, they have the motivation to do good, seeking a reward from God. I remember when I first became a Muslim, many people invited me to their homes, but I was suspicious, why? what are they after? But I would go and find that they were not after anything from me, instead they were doing it to get the reward from God. But without doing it for God, yes you may get praise from others and will feel good within yourself, but it will not be helping you in the next life, only this life. Of course, it comes down to whether a person believes in God and thereby in the next life, but for a believer this is why we are motivated to develop that Taqwa – righteousness, and as I often say to my friends, for me it is a win/win situation. As if there is a God, I will hopefully have been doing enough to attain paradise and if it turns out there isn’t a God, then I have still been motivated enough to keep doing good works and being a good person, which has benefited me and others in this life.
In fact the whole purpose of a religion and to creating a community of believers is to help them to develop Taqwa.
Our beloved spiritual leader, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, may Allah always be his Helper, has said:
“It is God’s great favour upon us that He enabled us to accept the Promised Messiah, may peace be upon him. His words are a beacon and a source of guidance for us at every step. The Promised Messiah guided his followers to fulfil their obligations and to become true believers. His sayings are the means of spiritual development, understanding of faith, finding nearness to God, learning the hidden insights of the Holy Qur’an, recognizing the status of the Holy Prophet, correcting our beliefs and improving our practical condition.
It will be unfortunate for us indeed if, in the presence of this treasure, we fail to benefit from it. It is the duty of all members of the community to read and listen to these words and act upon them so as to attain the standards that the Promised Messiah expected of us.”
In fact, this is the great blessing of the Holy Qur’an that it provides a complete code of guidance on all virtues for us to develop them within ourselves.
The Holy Qur’an states:
“This is a perfect Book, there is no doubt in it; it is a guidance for the righteous.” Holy Qur’an chapter 2, verse 3.
For the believer, they will have no doubt in it and know that it is the Word of God and so follow the guidance it gives to become a better person.
As the Holy Qur’an also states:
“Verily he truly prospers who purifies himself” Holy Qur’an chapter 87, verse 15.
We should always bear in mind that virtue is to the soul what health is to the body. People become very concerned about their physical health and are prepared to give careful attention to their diet. When they are unwell, they will quickly call the doctor and seek the most effective remedy; but generally they are less concerned in feeding their souls with spiritual nourishment and similarly they do not seek effective remedies for their spiritual ailments. But through following God’s teachings found in the Holy Qur’an, it will provide a complete code of guidance on all virtues.
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi, may peace be upon him, has said:
“In order to attain the true Taqwa that pleases God, Allah repeatedly commands: ‘O believers, fear Allah.’ And He says that He is with those who adopt Taqwa.
Believers are not those who merely abstain from evil, rather they perform good deeds in a befitting and appropriate way. We can only attain God’s nearness and receive His help when Taqwa is accompanied by good deeds.”
Here the Promised Messiah has explained how we must always be motivated in pleasing Allah. That whatever we do, should always be done striving to please Allah and attain His nearness. This is what Taqwa really is, being constantly aware of Allah and fearing doing anything to cause His displeasure.
The Promised Messiah gave this message to his followers:
“I again strongly remind my community that if you progress in Taqwa, God will be with you. Do not rest content and be arrogant that you have joined my community, for until you have fully entered into it you will not be saved. Mere belief will not help you until you become one in word and deed. The real thing, for which we should strive, are our deeds. It is essential to mould ourselves according to God’s commandments and to become a true believer.”
Whatever is our motivation, it is important that we strive to be righteous.
Sir Walter Scott said to his son-in-law when he was on the verge of dying
“I have but a minute to speak to you. My dear, be a good man; be virtuous, be religious – be a good man. Nothing else will give you any comfort when you come to lie here.”
We should all be constantly striving to become righteous, hence why we must keep developing Taqwa in ourselves.
Finally, the Promised Messiah, may peace be upon him, has said:
“The Holy Qur’an says: ‘he who purifies himself attains to salvation’. Purification of self demands that one should keep the company of the righteous people and come close to the virtuous ones; that helps a great deal. One should get rid of lies and bad manners and he who is walking on the straight path should be asked the way. One should also continue removing one’s shortcomings gradually, just as the writing cannot be perfected without correcting it all the time, the moral also cannot be perfect unless one continues removing the short-comings.” (Malfoozat Vol. I, p443)