Fearing Allah KS4

A session on khawf and khashyah for learners covering the fear of Allah, its positive outcomes, and how to build it in the heart.

• Khawf and khashyah distinguished: The session explains the difference between general fear and khashyah the awe-filled fear rooted in knowledge of Allah, drawing on Qur’an 35:28 and the principle that the more a person knows Allah, the greater their awe of Him will be.
• What a believer fears: Learners work through the specific objects of a believer’s fear: punishment in this world, a bad ending, the punishment of the grave, standing before Allah, the horrors of the Day of Judgement, the torment of Hell-fire, and deeds not being accepted.
• Fear as a deterrent from sin: Qur’an 55:46 is quoted with the commentary of Mujāhid رحمه الله, who describes it as referring to a person who, on the verge of sinning, remembers the standing before his Lord and stops. Abū Sulaymān al-Dārānī is quoted on fear burning away the sources of lust and worldly attachments.
• The positive outcomes of fearing Allah: The session lists what fear produces shade on the Day of Judgement, freedom from Hell-fire, the ability to benefit from reminders, and Allah’s pleasure anchored by the Hadith Qudsi in Ibn Ḥibbān on Allah not combining two fears for His servant.
• How to build the fear of Allah: Five means are offered: reflecting on Allah’s greatness, engaging in tadabbur of the Qur’an, reflecting on the hereafter, reflecting on one’s sins and their consequences, and asking Allah directly as our beloved Prophet ﷺ did in the duʿa recorded in Nasāʾī.