The Only Power That Is To Be Feared

إنما ذلكم الشيطان يخوف أولياءه فلا تخافوهم وخافون إن كنتم مؤمنين – “It is only Shaytan (Satan) that suggests to you the fear of his Auliya’ [supporters and friends (polytheists, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah and in His Messenger, Muhammad)], so fear them not, but fear Me, if you are (true) believers.” – 3:175

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Regarding this verse, Sayyid Qutb said in ‘Fi Dhilal al-Qur’an’:

“Indeed, it is Satan who tries to make his allies a source of fear and terror, and to dress them up with the appearance of power and awe. As a result, the believers should be aware of the plot of Satan and impede his attempts. They should not fear these allies of his. Rather, they should fear Allah alone, as He alone is the Mighty, Overwhelming, and Able who should be feared: “It is only Satan that suggests to you the fear of his allies. So, do not fear them, and fear Me if you are believers.”

Indeed, Satan is the one who inflates the reputation of his allies and dresses them up with the garments of power and ability, and implants in our hearts the idea that they have the ability to do this and that, and that they can bring about benefit and harm. He does all this to fulfill his own interests: to use them to spread evil and corruption on Earth, as well as to cause people to bow down to them and submit their hearts to them so that nobody would say a word of opposition to their faces, and that nobody would even think of criticizing them or preventing them from evil and corruption.

Satan has an interest in falsehood and evil becoming widespread, and that he appear strong, capable, overwhelming, aggressive, and tyrannical so that no opposition stands to his face, nobody repels him, and nobody overpowers him. Satan has an interest in maintaining things this way. So, under the umbrella of fear, terror, and aggression, his allies carry out on Earth that which brings joy to his eyes! They make good appear as evil and evil appear as good. They spread corruption and falsehood and deception. They stifle out the voice of truth, guidance, and justice. They set themselves up as gods on Earth to support evil and kill off good without anyone daring to confront them or stand up to them or expel them from their positions of power – in fact, without anyone pointing out the falsehood that they have beautified or beautifying the truth that they have painted as ugly.

And Satan is a deceptive plotter who hides behind his allies and spreads fear through them into the hearts of those who fail to protect themselves from his whispers. Here, Allah exposes him and stands him naked without any covering for his plots, and makes his reality plain and clear to the believers – the reality of his plots and whispers – so that they are aware of them. So, they do not fear the allies of Satan, as they are too weak to be feared by a believer who relies on his Lord and His Power.

Indeed, the only power that is to be feared is the power that has the ability to bring about benefit and harm. It is the Power of Allah, and it is the Power that the believers in Allah fear. When they fear it alone – the greatest Power of all powers – no force on Earth can stand in front of them – neither the power of Satan nor the power of the allies of Satan…“

See also: https://abdulmaliklive.wordpress.com/2016/07/13/why-do-true-believers-only-fear-god/

Why do true believers only fear God ?

Ibn al-Qayyim said in al-Fawa’id’: 

“There is nothing that exists that can affect something else completely independently and of its own accord. Rather, nothing can affect something without another factor somehow contributing to that effect and an obstacle is removed that prevents that effect from taking place. This applies to matters that can be seen by the eye. It also applies to the invisible and metaphysical, such as the Sun affecting livestock and plants, as this depends on other factors such as the presence of fertile ground, as well as other factors in addition to this factor. Likewise, childbirth depends on many factors besides intercourse, and this rule applies to everything that affects something else. So every creature that is feared or hoped in is at best simply one of many factors that can affect something else, and nothing can affect something in a completely independent fashion except Allah, the Overwhelming One. So, none should be hoped in or feared except He.

This is a concrete proof that attachment, hope, and fear of any but Allah is null. If we were to assume that one can affect something on his own, we would still have to accept that he did not derive this power on his own, and was rather granted it by someone else. So, he has no power of his own, as there is no might nor power except with Allah. He has all might and power in His Hand. So, the might and power for which people are feared are in reality in the Hand of Allah. Then how can we fear and hope in those who have no might or power? In fact, fearing someone and hoping in him is a reason for being afflicted by that very person and being prevented from his mercy, because the more you fear someone other than Allah, the more that person will overpower you, and the higher your hopes are in that person, the more you will be prevented from his mercy.”

Innovators & Hypocrites Are More Harmful

Ibn Taymiyyah said:

“The harm (of the people of innovations, disbelief, or misguidance) is greater that the harm of the enemies who wage war (on the Muslims). For if those people conquer (the Muslim Lands), they do not corrupt the hearts (of the people) and the Religion that lies within them, except afterwards. However those people (the people of Innovation) corrupt the hearts from the very beginning” [Majmoo al-Fatawaa 28/232].

 

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Ibn-ul-Jawzee said:

“The innovators of Islam and the fabricators of Hadith are more harmful than the atheists/outward disbelievers, because the atheists desire to corrupt the religion from the outside, and these (innovators), they desire to corrupt it from within. They are like the people of a town who strive to corrupt it (from inside), but the atheists are like those who have surrounded it from the outside. The ones who are inside open up the fortress, so they are more evil to Islam than those who do not wear the cloak of Islam” [Al-Mawdhoo’aat, 1/51].

 

 

 

Muslim By Name Only

Ibn Taymiyyah said:

“…Most Muslims are born to two Muslim parents, essentially becoming Muslims by name, without there being any actual faith on their part. Then, when they reach puberty, from them are those that are blessed with actual faith, performing their obligations. Likewise, from them are those who perform these acts out of ingrained habit, and just to go along with his relatives, the people of the land in which he lives, etc.

For example, he gives Zakah simply because it is a habitual tradition that the ruler collects tax, and not because he realizes either the generality or specifics of the obligation to pay it. So, in his eyes, there is no difference between the innovated tax and the legislated Zakah. Such is the case with the inhabitant of Makkah who goes out to ‘Arafat every year simply because this is the way it is done, without realizing the generality or specifics of this being an act of worship of Allah.

So, the acts of worship performed by such people is invalid, without a doubt. In fact, the texts of the Qur’an and Sunnah, as well as the consensus of the Ummah, are clear in the ruling that these actions do not fulfill the obligation placed upon their doer…

…So, the Islam of most people is by name only. Rather, it (faith) only enters into their hearts during the course of the matter (i.e., later in their lives), if it enters at all. So, were this intention not to be obligatory upon them, they would not at all attempt to have it, and their hearts would be empty of it, and they would essentially be hypocrites, carrying out their actions out of habit and imitation, as is the case with many people.”

[‘Majmu’ al-Fatawa’; 26/32]

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On the hadith of the questioning in the grave which stated: “…as for the hypocrite or disbeliever, it will be asked of him: ‘What did you say about this man?’ He will say: ‘I do not know! I used to say what I heard the people saying!’” 

Ibn Hajar al-’Asqalani commented on the hadith by saying: “And in it is the blameworthiness of believing in something in order to follow others, due to the punishment that will be meted out to the one who said: ‘I used to hear the people saying something, so, I said it.’”

[‘Fath al-Bari’; 3/284]

Why Are We Being Tested ?

ومن الناس من يعبد الله على حرف فإن أصابه خير اطمأن به وإن أصابته فتنة انقلب على وجهه خسر الدنيا والآخرة ذلك هو الخسران المبين – “And among mankind is he who worships Allah as it were, upon the very edge (i.e. in doubt); if good befalls him, he is content therewith; but if a trial befalls him, he turns back on his face (i.e. reverts back to disbelief after embracing Islam). He loses both this world and the Hereafter. That is the evident loss.” (22:11)

Sayyid Qutb: “So it is a must for the souls to be nurtured by way of tests, and to be severely tested during the course of the battle between truth and falsehood with fear and hardship, and with hunger and decrease in wealth and life and fruits. This testing is a necessity so that the believer can give his share of what his belief requires; so that it becomes dear to him in accordance with that he gives for its sake of sacrifice and burden; so that it becomes dear to him in accordance with what he is willing to give for its sake! The bearers of worthless beliefs that do not require any type of sacrifice will not hesitate to abandon their beliefs at the first sign of hardship. So, the burden here is the personal price that one pays so that this belief becomes dear and valuable in the hearts of its bearers before it becomes dear to the hearts of anyone else. Whenever they experience pain for its sake, and every single time they are forced to give something up for its sake, it becomes even dearer and more valuable to them, and they become even more honored with it. With this, nobody else will realize its value until they see how its bearers are tested because of it and how patient they are upon such tests.” (Fi Dhilal al-Qur’an / In The Shade Of The Qur’an)