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The Feeling of Fear (part 2)

Fear, considered in and of itself, is not something praiseworthy. It is, in fact, an aspect of human frailty. However, it can be praiseworthy if it stays within proper limits because of the work and the increase of knowledge that it can inspire.

There are three grades of fear. This observation was made by al-Ghazâlî in his book Ihyâ’ `Ulûm al-Dîn, wherein he devotes an entire chapter exclusively to the topic of fear. Ibn al-Qayyim makes reference to al-Ghazâlî’s work in Ma`ârij al-Sâlikîn.

The first grade of fear is the grade that inspires productive activity and the acquisition of knowledge. It motivates people to hasten to goodness and to help one another in solving problems and in surmounting obstacles. It makes it possible for people to rise up to meet the challenges that they must face.

The second grade of fear is excessive fear that leads people to inaction and to despair of Allah’s mercy. This grade of fear is reprehensible. Likewise is the fear that makes people sick and weak.

It is surprising that al-Ghazâlî mentions fear in the context of illness, since most of the people of his day did not think of fear in such a way. Psychologists today agree that fear can exist in such a context. Al-Ghazâlî clearly recognizes this fact when he writes: “Fear that brings about illness and weakness and the fear that leads to confusion, befuddlement, and the loss of reason… is reprehensible.”

The third grade of fear is so weak that manifests itself as no more than a passing sense of disquiet or as a small tug on a person’s conscience. This type of fear has no effect whatsoever on a person’s knowledge, actions, and conduct. If a person experiences this feeling when he is just about to commit a sin, it does not prevent him from doing so, and if he experiences it just before performing a good deed, it does not inspire him to perform it better or more sincerely.

In truth, this feeling cannot be considered true fear at all, even though the person who feels it still has the essential quality of fear latent within him. We can safely say that every believer possesses some degree of fear, since Allah says: “Do not fear them but fear Me if you are believers.” [Sûrah Âl `Imrân: 175]

Some scholars have observed that though every believer possesses some degree of fear, the level of this fear increases and decreases.

On the basis of what we mentioned above, we can break fear into three categories:

1. Fear that is appropriate and balanced.
2. Fear that is extreme and exaggerated.
3. Fear that is insufficient and weak.

Fear is one of the many feelings that contribute to a person’s emotional makeup and define his psychological condition. Balanced and appropriate fear is fear that is neither excessive nor deficient, as we have just finished stating. One characteristic of balanced fear is that it does not overpower a person’s other emotions. This is of critical importance, since fear is not the most important feeling that a person experiences. This is why Makhûl said: “Whoever worships Allah out of fear alone is from the Harûrî sect.”

What Makhûl meant was that such a person was like a member of one of the extreme Khârijî sects of Islam, since those sects emphasized fear over everything else and on that basis engaged in excessive and extreme displays of worship and acts of violence against other Muslims. They brought about the first and most dangerous state of crisis in the history of Islam.

This is why no other deviant sect of Islam received as stern a reproach from the Prophet (peace be upon him) as the Khârijîs received. There are authentic hadîth in Sahîh al-Bukhârî, Sahîh Muslim, and other sources where the Prophet (peace be upon him) foretells their existence and speaks out harshly against them.

Their deviance stems from their exaggerated emphasis on fear. However, that is not all that Makhûl said. He went on to say: “Whoever worships Allah out of fear alone is from the Harûrî sect and whoever worships Allah out of love alone is a heretic.”

Many of the Sufis have exaggerated their emphasis on love, going overboard in singing love songs about Allah while totally abandoning any consideration of the fear that is due to Allah and the hope in Him that a believer is supposed to have.

Makhûl continued: “And whoever worships Allah out of hope alone is from the Murji’î sect. And whoever worships Allah out of fear, love, and hope together is a true and monotheistic believer.”

Some scholars of spiritual matters have correctly observed: “The most complete state that a person can be in is a perfect balance between hope and fear.”

Ahmad b. Hanbal used to say: “A person’s hope and fear should be equal.”

Not only should a person’s hope and fear in Allah be precisely balanced, but his love for Allah should be greater than both. Love for Allah should be what carries the believer onward, hope should be what guides him on his way, and fear should be what keeps him on the right course.

Ibn al-Qayyim gives us a beautiful allegory of this concept in his book Madârij al-Sâlikîn when he says: “The heart is like a bird. Love is its head, and its two wings are hope and fear.”

If we ask ourselves which is more important, the head of a bird or its wings, we would have to answer that certainly its head is more important. The bird would die instantly without its head, but it would still be alive if it lost its wings, just completely helpless and defenseless. Love should come first; then hope and fear follow in perfect balance with each other.

This balance between hope and fear should be a general, overall balance. In some situations, hope should predominate over fear and in others fear should predominate over hope. However, love should always take precedence over both.

I must emphasize again that fear is not the most important emotion that a believer should have. It is wrong to let it overpower our other feelings or shape our personalities.

We can compare the development of our internal makeup to how we prepare a meal. If we wish to cook some rice, there is just so much water, so much salt, so much oil, and so much spice that we must use. If we add too much of one ingredient to the rice, the whole dish will be spoiled or possibly completely ruined. It will be too salty, spicy, or soggy. Likewise if we cook the rice too long, it will become charred and if we fail to cook it long enough, it will still be raw when we sit down to eat it.

In the same way, a person’s personality needs to have a correctly proportioned mixture of different feelings and affectations.

People are always asking if certain individuals or societies are tainted with deviance. Sometimes we find that the principles embraced by an individual or group are correct and sound. Because of this, we have to say the individual or group is free from deviance in matters of principle.

However, if we recall the meal that we mentioned earlier, we know that if some of its ingredients were too much or too little, then the dish would not taste right. Likewise, if a person’s personality is predominated by too much fear or too much hope or too little of something else, then this will reflect negatively upon his personality.

When we talk about the recipe of a balance between hope and fear and a greater proportion of love, we are speaking first and foremost about our fear of Allah and our fear of sin. This brings us to another critical question: Which is superior, fear of Allah Himself or fear of sin?

The answer to this is that the fear of Allah is superior, for even a person who is free from sin will feel this fear. Allah says, speaking about the Prophets (peace be upon them):

“They call upon their Lord in fear and hope.” [Sûrah al-Sajdah: 16]

“Verily, they used to hasten to perform good deeds and used to call upon their Lord in hope and dread and they had humility before Us.” [Sûrah al-Anbiyâ’: 90]

Allah tells us that this is the reason for salvation. He says: “This is for him who fears standing before Me and fears my threat.” [Sûrah Ibrâhîm: 14] This verse is talking about the most select and pious of people. Their status in Paradise will be elevated on account of their fear of Allah.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) related to us the following story:

A man was approached by death. When he despaired of living any longer, he instructed his family, saying: “When I die, gather around me a lot of firewood, then stoke up a fire so that when it consumes my flesh and strips my bones bare, you take those bones and grind them up. Then scatter me upon the sea on a hot or windy day.”

After all this was done, Allah gathered him together and asked: “Why did you do that?”

The man replied: “I was frightened of You.”

For this, Allah forgave him.

Clearly, this man’s action demonstrated a denial of Allah’s absolute power. However, he did it out of ignorance, so Allah did not punish him for his ignorance. Instead, he forgave him on account of the intensity of his fear.

If balance is required in our fear of Allah, with both excess and listlessness to be avoided, then it is even more necessary for us to be balanced when it comes to other kinds of fear.

For instance, when I began to prepare the article that you are now reading and gather together the material that I was going to need, I felt a degree of worry regarding how I was going to arrange the material, compose my ideas, and achieve my purposes for writing the article. This degree of worry spurred me on to research my topic, verify my sources, pay attention to the arrangement of my ideas, and to set aside sufficient time to work. Due to this worry, I could produce an article as beneficial as my abilities would allow. This reasonable and moderate level of worry was, therefore, a good thing, since it was just the amount needed to get the job done.

On the other hand, imagine if that worry had gripped me so hard that it altered my disposition. Imagine if I had lost sleep on account of it and my mind was distracted and I mistreated my colleagues and my wife and yelled at my little girl when she approached me at work. This level of worry would have been truly reprehensible.

Worry of this sort makes a person imbalanced. Even if a person working under the pressure of such fear manages to produce good results, he will soon grow to loathe his work, since it is very difficult for a human being to cope with such stress day after day, week after week. We find that many people quit their jobs because they cannot bear the stress that they have to face in carrying out their work. Ultimately, the stress burns them out.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Fulfill what must be fulfilled, engage in devotions in the morning, during the day, and a portion of the night, and in all of this attain balance.”

From IslamToday.com