Piety and What It Requires

The Exalted says: “O you who believe, fear God, and let every soul consider what it has sent ahead for tomorrow. Fear God; God is fully aware of what you do” [al-Hashr: 18].

In this noble verse, as in many others, God commands His believing servants to fear Him. This meaning appears in several places in God’s Book, indicating that the believer is commanded to be God-fearing just as others are.

Other verses address the command to humankind as a whole: “O humankind, fear your Lord, who created you from a single soul” [al-Nisa’: 1]; “O humankind, fear your Lord; the earthquake of the Hour is a tremendous thing” [al-Hajj: 1]; “O humankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, so that you may become God-fearing” [al-Baqarah: 21]. Worship and piety are commanded of both accountable kinds of beings, jinn and humankind. Both are commanded to fear God and worship Him. For this they were created. The Exalted says: “I did not create jinn and humankind except that they should worship Me” [al-Dhariyat: 56].

Every rational being among jinn and humankind must therefore attend to the purpose for which he was created and adhere to what he has been commanded and obliged to do: fear God, exalted is He, and worship Him alone to the exclusion of everything else.

Being God-fearing means affirming His oneness, being sincere toward Him, remaining conscious of Him by honoring His commands and abandoning His prohibitions, and observing His limits in every time and place. It is also the worship commanded of us in His saying: “O humankind, worship your Lord” [al-Baqarah: 21]. Worshipping God means affirming His oneness, sincerity toward Him, submission to Him, and humility before His greatness in every affair and circumstance. This occurs only by carrying out commands and avoiding prohibitions. Whoever does not obey God’s commands and prohibitions has neither worshipped nor feared Him.

The reason people are commanded to piety and worship is clear: they were created for it, and therein lie their happiness and salvation. They must therefore fear God, worship Him, and magnify Him.

Religion is so named because it protects those who adhere to it from God’s punishment and wrath. Hence Islam, faith, and guidance are called taqwa, piety or God-consciousness, because whoever adheres to Islam and remains upright upon it is protected by God from punishment in this world and the Hereafter and granted a good outcome.

It is called Islam because it contains humility before God and submission to Him through doing what is commanded and avoiding what is forbidden. One says that someone “submitted” to another when he yielded to him. Islam means submission. Thus God’s religion is called Islam because its people must submit to God, yield to His greatness, magnify and revere Him, and adhere to His commands and prohibitions.

It is called faith because the servant’s adherence to what God commanded His Messenger, and his affirmation of God and His Messenger, constitute faith. The word iman, faith, is the verbal noun of believing or affirming. The religious person affiliated with Islam has affirmed God and His Messenger, adhered to God’s religion, honored His commands and prohibitions, and believed His reports. He is therefore a believer, and his religion is called faith. Our religion is also called guidance because its adherent is guided and because it guides whoever adheres to it to the path of goodness and right direction.

It is called excellence, ihsan, because it includes doing good to yourself and to God’s servants. By worshipping God alone, being sincere toward Him, and worshipping Him as though you see Him, you do good to yourself. You do good to God’s servants by carrying out what is commanded, avoiding what is forbidden, requiring them to uphold truth, commanding them to do right, forbidding them to do wrong, and other such things.

Thus God, exalted is He, says: “O you who believe, fear God” [al-Hashr: 18]. The reason they are commanded to piety although they are already God-fearing is that faith has branches in speech and action, outward and inward. They are commanded to adhere to them, honor them, and continue upon them. This is the meaning of “fear God”: adhere to His piety and follow its path. Likewise His saying, majestic and exalted is He, “O Prophet, fear God” [al-Ahzab: 1]. The Prophet is the foremost of the God-fearing, peace and blessings be upon him. Commanding him to piety therefore means commanding adherence, perseverance, patience, and steadfastness upon it. Likewise believers are commanded to remain steadfast in piety, adhere to it, follow its path, and examine all its branches and subdivisions so that they embrace and observe them.

You are commanded to adhere to piety and also to examine your condition and hold yourself accountable so that you do not abandon or neglect any part of it. Likewise, He commands you to faith so that you adhere to it and remain upright upon it, as in His saying, exalted is He: “O you who believe, believe in God and His Messenger” [al-Nisa’: 136]. The meaning is: adhere to faith, remain upright and steadfast upon it, and follow its path.

“Let every soul consider what it has sent ahead for tomorrow” means: examine what you have prepared for the Hereafter. Let every soul consider what it has sent ahead for its Hereafter. Heedlessness may lead to neglecting some commands or committing some prohibitions. If a person holds himself accountable, examines, and reflects, he may recognize where he has fallen short and what forbidden acts he has committed, and hasten to repent and reform.

This examination has benefits: it involves self-accountability, tracing one’s deeds and words, and considering which of God’s commands one has neglected or treated lightly and which of His prohibitions one has committed. Everyone must examine, reflect, and hold himself accountable, avoiding recklessness and heedlessness. A person may be committing a sin while heedless, or neglecting an obligation while heedless. You must therefore examine your condition, hold yourself accountable, and consider what you have sent ahead for your Hereafter.

The Hereafter is called “tomorrow” to bring it near, because it follows this day. Worldly life is like a day, and after it comes tomorrow, the Day of Resurrection. The whole of worldly life, from beginning to end, is like one day: a passing, finite affair with a limit. What comes after it is the Hereafter. A pure soul, a person who values his soul, and one concerned for its deliverance and salvation should therefore make preparations and look toward the Hereafter.

“Fear God; God is fully aware of what you do.” When a person fears his Lord and holds himself accountable, he recognizes what is in his favor and what is against him. It is like taking stock of one’s merchandise or settling accounts with one’s partners and learning the result. This, however, is greater and more important. Holding oneself accountable concerning God’s command and the Hereafter is among the most important and greatest matters, because you were created to worship and fear your Lord, and to hold this soul accountable for its errors and strive against it to fulfill its obligations.

The outcome of self-accountability is that the believer recognizes what is in his favor and what is against him. If it becomes apparent that he is upright and his progress upon guidance is steady, he praises God, asks Him for steadfastness, recognizes the value of this blessing, thanks God for it, and continues in fear and apprehension lest it or part of it disappear. If, after taking account, he finds negligence, many mistakes, errors, and faults, which is more common and usual, he hastens to repent and correct the mistakes he has made, the places where his foot has slipped, and the commands of God he has neglected. Let him strive against himself for God, repent to God for his shortcomings, and renew his relationship with God through abandoning His prohibitions, adhering to His commands, and observing His limits.

Shaykh Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Baz (d. 1420 AH), may God have mercy on him, Scholarly Benefits from the Lessons of Ibn Baz, 4/402–408, al-Risalah al-Alamiyyah edition.