Book of Healing - Qur'anic Healing - Cure of False Fear
Cure of False Fear
Tags: False Fear, Fear, Animal Fear, Taqwa, Fear of God
1. Fear of God, the Exalted, as He ought to be feared is the real taqwa and the spirit of all worship, as has already been mentioned. It is not only appropriate and important, but also extremely necessary for every Muslim to have this wisdom-filled fear. Contrary to this, to fear His creatures is called "false fear". This fear is inappropriate, futile and untrue. It gives birth to numerous mental, psychological and spiritual diseases and disables the one who has it from accomplishing heroic deeds as a mujahid. Thus the wise Qur'an, in its wisdom-filled teachings, has enjoined the fear of God only and nobody else (33:39), so that when the fear of God dominates and controls the hearts of the people of faith, the fear of anybody else will not be able to affect them.
2. Regarding this subject, it is extremely necessary to know that, false fear in man is due to nafsi ammarah (carnal or animal soul) and the devil. But, to be more precise, it is the animal soul which is the basis of false fear. It becomes evident if we see in the light of the Qur'an that, although apparently it is Satan who is the means of all bad deeds, but in reality since all means are at the disposal of man, therefore it is he himself who is responsible for all his deeds. Thus, it is extremely necessary for every true mu'min, in addition to firm faith, trust in God, high ambition and dhikr-u ibadat, to devote himself always to the service of country and nation. The reward of this is extremely great.
3. Reflect in the light of this holy verse again and again: "Behold! surely for the friends of God there is no fear, nor do they grieve" (10:62). The wisdom of this noble verse can, to a great extent, help in understanding the subject under discussion. This is in the sense that friends of God are none other than human beings, but despite this, the holy Qur'an considering them the models of human progress, openly declares that they do not suffer from the disease of false fear. The reason for this is that there is always the fear of God in their hearts in the form of knowledge. For the fear of God or taqwa, in reality, is in the state of knowledge (35:28). From this, on the one hand, in addition to taqwa, the importance of knowledge becomes evident, and on the other, it also appears possible that gradually mu'mins can get rid of false fear through knowledge and good deeds. For, even though all of them are not special friends (awliya') of God (5:55), but certainly they are His common friends (5:55).
4. All people are not alike in facing common physical diseases. Some of them are so clean, cautious in eating and drinking, healthy and strong with the best immunity that mostly they are not touched by sickness. They act upon every principle of sanitary science. Some others even if they once fall sick, succeed in recovering from the sickness through medical treatment. There is a third group, who easily fall sick and cannot regain health for a long time. The same is the case with the disease of false fear. That is, there are three groups of people in confronting false fear:
- awliya' of God
- mu'mins with high ambition and
- weak mu'mins
5. Generally, physical diseases are treated through two methods: one is called allopathy and the other homeopathy. The distinctive difference between the two is that, in the former a disease is treated by inducing an opposite condition, and in the latter a disease is cured by producing symptoms similar to those of the disease. An easily understandable example of the former (kind of treatment) is that, someone working in the sun, drinks cold water again and again or takes a bath in it so that the heat is alleviated. In the latter case, the same person alleviates the heat by having something hot such as, hot tea or wearing coarse clothes or walking, so that the heat of the sun may leave the body through sweating. Similarly, false fear is cured, either by the remembrance of God or by His fear. The former is allopathy and the latter is homeopathy.
6. If you want to know about fear from its roots and in depth, then see that among the three kingdoms of nature (minerals, vegetative and animal), it is found only in the animal. Animal is of two kinds: The mute animal, which is living but cannot speak, such as beasts and birds etc. and speaking animal, which is living and can speak, that is human beings. It is necessary for the mute animal to have fear, for it is a means of its protection. But when it comes to humans, it should be dissolved and transformed into human and angelic fear. For, in the former there is no knowledge and wisdom, whereas in the latter there is knowledge and wisdom.
7. Both animals and men fear. But man possesses the partial intellect, which the animal does not, therefore there is a great difference between their fears. Now the more the intellect will develop through religious knowledge, the more the nature of fear will change, until the human fear will dissolve in the angelic fear, as the wise Qur'an alludes that people should fear God, but in the light of knowledge. For the real place of fear of God is at the height of the recognition of God (ma`rifat). That is, fear of God is among the matters of spirituality and recognition of God. This concept, however, does not negate the subsidiary levels of fear of God, but it shows clearly that along with knowledge, step by step, the fear of God becomes more apparent and more elevated, as it is clear from the verse (35:28): "And among the servants it is the `ulama' who truly fear God". It is known to the people of the Qur'an that there are many levels of knowledge (12:76).
8. Animal fear, which is devoid of intellect, understanding, knowledge and wisdom, comes to man along with the animal soul. But in man it becomes false fear, for here there is the possibility of the fear of God, which is in the form of knowledge and is of an angelic nature. That is, the fear which is in the angels (16:50), in the hearts of the Prophets (33:39) and the awliya' (10:62) and which the people of knowledge can recognise. It is this kind of fear which is called taqwa and which is meant by the Qur'an. And it is this medicine which removes the disease of false fear.
9. Where it is permissible to fear God, the fear of others is not permissible. If we fear others, then it implies that (God forbid) a calamity can befall us without His permission (idhn), while this is contrary to Qur'anic teachings. See for instance the subject of "permission of God (idhnu'llah)" in this verse: "No calamity befalls save by God's permission. And whosoever believes in God, He guides his heart" (64:11). It is evident from this that to fear other than God, is to associate someone with Him (shirk). Thus in order to receive the guidance of the heart (or inner guidance) and to observe the spirituality of the fear of God, it is necessary to progress in the levels of faith.
10. There is no doubt that there are many levels of fear of God, and on the highest level, i.e. the place of spirituality, astonishing miracles of the fear of God appear. These miracles are briefly mentioned in the holy Qur'an, such as cellular quakes (2:214), awakening of half-dead or dormant cells (39:23), remembering God with the body (cells) along with the heart (39:23), word of taqwa (kalimah-yi taqwa) and the function of Izra'il (amal-i-Izra'ili) (48:26; 3:143), vision of the spirit of the Qur'an (59:21), i.e. fearing God by seeing the Spirit and spirituality of the Qur'an, the hearts reaching the throats due to the onslaught of the spiritual army (33:10, this is also the miracle of the spiritual death), fearing of the heart according to the standard of spirituality (8:2), etc. All these are miracles of the fear of God.
11. After studying this article carefully, you may be perfectly sure that false fear is a trial as well as a spiritual disease, which can be completely cured by three things: remembrance of God, fear of God and spiritual knowledge. Remembrance of God cures it in the sense that, in it (remembrance) the hearts find satisfaction miraculously (13:28), whereas false fear snatches it from the heart. Through the blessing of the fear of God, the false fear vanishes in such a way that, the heart which truly fears God does not fear any creature nor is there any place left for the fear of anybody else. It is cured through spiritual knowledge in the sense that, in its light it clearly becomes evident that false fear is nothing but ignorance. Thus, the darkness of ignorance vanishes through the effulgence of the light of knowledge.
12. In this regard, this verse also invites greater attention: "It is only the devil who makes (men) fear his friends. Fear them not; fear Me, if you are true believers" (3:175). Both the disease of false fear and its medicine are mentioned in this Divine teaching. Further, it is said that this disease comes from the devil, the devil who sits near the ear of the heart. Now the cause of the disease of ignorance is no longer hidden. It is now apparent. Not only that, but the successful method of cure too, has become known. Now it is your responsibility to act upon it and gain success.
13. The venerated Prophets and great awliya', both in wakefulness and dreams do not fear as the common people fear (10:62), for the miracle of the fear of God, which is very different from worldly fear and is unique, is always working in them. The states of the mu'mins however, are different with respect to it. That is, they have many ranks and in every rank, there is a different state of fear. The second reason why Prophets and awliya' do not have worldly fear, is the remembrance of God, and the third reason is knowledge.
27 Jumada II, 1406/9th March, 1986.
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