Hope & Fear

Hope

Hope is the heart's comfort when it anticipates something it loves. If most of the criteria for the realisation of that longing are put in place, then that waiting can rightly be called hope - like when someone plants seeds in fertile, well-irrigated soil and then hopes for a good harvest. If, however, the necessary conditions are missing, then waiting is but self-delusion and idiocy - as with someone who plants seeds in barren soil and does not water them. If, however, the person doubts whether the seeds will sprout or not, then that is called wish - as when the soil is fertile but water scarce.

This world is the planting ground for the Hereafter. The heart is like the soil, and faith is like the seeds that are planted in it. Good deeds plough, dredge, and irrigate the soil. The heart becomes negligent, however, and immerses itself in worldly pleasures, which are like a salt marsh on which nothing will grow. On the Day of Resurrection - the harvest day - each person will only reap what he sowed, and the harvest of faith will only come to fruition from the seeds of faith. Rarely does faith flourish in a corrupt heart with bad morals, just as seeds cannot flourish in a salt marsh.

Man must compare his hope of forgiveness, therefore, to the hope of a farmer when he plants his crop. A farmer seeks out good, fertile land, plants good seeds therein, ploughs the soil, and weeds it from everything that would hamper or spoil the growth of his seeds. He waters it regularly, then sits and waits for the grace of Allah to avert destructive disasters from it until the crop is ready to be harvested - that is called hope. If he scatters the seeds in a salt marsh or on uneven, raised ground that the rain could not water, and he does not prepare the ground to receive the seeds; and then he sits and waits for a good harvest, then that kind of anticipation would be called stupidity and self-delusion, not hope. And if he scatters the seeds in fertile soil in a place where there is neither drought nor deluge, but no rain falls - although he eagerly awaited it - his waiting would be called 'wishing', not hope.

The word 'hope', therefore, can be applied correctly to the anticipation of something positive and beloved, where all the necessary preliminary steps that are under one's own control have been put in place, and the only thing left is that which is not under one's control, which is the Grace of Allah in averting calamities and disasters. When the servant scatters the seeds of faith, waters them with acts of obedience, purifies the heart of the thorns and weeds of vice, and waits for Allah's grace to stabilise his faith for him until his death and to give him a good end, encompassed in His forgiveness, that waiting is true, commendable hope, for it incites him to work hard and understand everything necessary for his faith to flourish by fulfilling the prerequisites of being forgiven until the end.

If he neglects to water his seeds with acts of obedience, leaves his heart full of the thorns and weeds of vice, plunges into the pursuit of worldly pleasures, and then sits and waits for forgiveness, his wait will be idiotic and self-deluded.

Therefore, the servant [of Allah] who is diligent in performing good deeds and keeping away from sins deserves to anticipate Allah's Grace to complete His blessing on him by admitting him into Paradise. And if the sinner repents and acknowledges all his excesses and shortcomings, he can rightfully hope for his repentance to be accepted - if he is now averse to sins, upset by misdeeds and pleased with good deeds, and is self-critical and self-reproaching. A person who desperately wants to repent and longs to do so can rightfully hope for divine succour to enable him to repent, for his hatred of sins and his eagerness to obey is a preliminary step to actualise repentance, and hope only comes after the fulfilment of these first steps.

Fear

Fear is an expression of the pain and burning that the heart feels when it anticipates something unpleasant in the future. The intensity of the fear and pain in the heart is in direct proportion to the perception of the causes leading up to the unpleasant or frightful situation. The weaker one's perception of these causes, the weaker the fear is.

Fear of Allah can be due to the true knowledge of Allah and of His Attributes, or it can be due to the servant's excessive treachery and perpetration of sins. It may also come about as a result of both of these causes combined, so that his fear is proportionate to his knowledge of Allah's might, supremacy, and independence, as well as to his own faults and misdeeds. So the person who fears his Lord the most is the one who knows Him - and the state of his own soul - the most.

This complete knowledge should inflame his heart with a fear that spreads to his body, his limbs, and character. Bodily fear is expressed through paleness, trembling and weeping. It should keep the limbs from perpetrating more sins and confine them to acts of obedience in a bid to remedy past excesses and to prepare for the future. It is said, 'The fearful one is not the one who cries and wipes his tears, but rather the one who abandons that which he fears he will be punished for.' A sage once said, 'He who fears something flees from it, but he who fears Allah flees to Him.' Regarding character, fear should drive a person to hold his vain desires and lusts in contempt.

Sins once beloved now become despicable in his eyes, just like a person despises the honey he once craved when he realises it is poisonous to him. The desires are burned away through fear, and the heart is subdued and humbled, awed and yielding. Pride, malice, and jealousy vacate it and it becomes a repository for concern and consideration for the danger of his Hereafter. He does not leave it at the disposal of others and he is preoccupied in monitoring himself, evaluating himself, striving and taking account of his every breath and every moment. He takes his soul to task for every step and every word that it utters, such that both outwardly and inwardly he is busy with what he fears will happen to him.This is the state of one who is overcome and ruled by fear. The lowest level of fear is the fear whose effects can be seen in one's deeds where it prevents a person from prohibited things. Holding back from prohibited acts out of fear of Allah is called self-restraint. And if someone attains more daily provision than he needs, for example, and he restrains himself from what might border on the unlawful, that is called piety or God-consciousness, for it drives him to abandon that which is unobjectionable for fear that it might be objectionable; and this is veracity in God-consciousness.

Additionally, if he devotes himself exclusively to service (khidmah), he will not build [a house] which he does not live in. He will not hoard what he does not consume, nor focus on this world when he knows it will leave him. Nor will he spend even a single breath on something which is not for the sake of Allah. This is veracity (sidq); such a person deserves to be called veracious (siddiq). Veracity encompasses God- consciousness, which in turn encompasses piety, which encompasses self-restraint, which is an expression of keeping away from all that is driven by desires, especially since the effect of fear permeates into the hands and feet.

Hope versus fear

Know that action fuelled by hope is more elevated than action fuelled by fear because the closest of Allah's servants to Him are those who love Him most, and love is attained through hope. This is why there are many expressions of desire in the Qur'an and hadith based on hope and entertaining a good opinion of Allah.

The way to cultivate hope is to remember all previous instances of Allah's grace in one's life without the need for a mediator, and all that He has promised in terms of rewards without having deserved them, and all the blessings that He bestows in this life and the next without being asked, and the vastness of His mercy in situations which merit His wrath. 

The narrations that we have about the vastness of Allah's mercy are innumerable, and there is no need to list them all here, for the ones who need to cultivate that kind of hope are those who are completely overcome by fear or despair, and there are very few such people out there. As for those who are persistent in their wrongdoing, rebellious and intent on sinning, self-deluded about their corruption and error, like the majority of people these days, then hearing these narrations will only incite their rebellion further, and add to their corruption.

Balancing hope and fear

Know that hope is only praiseworthy to a certain extent, but when it goes beyond that to a feeling of security or immunity, then it is a loss. The best way, therefore, is to be balanced.

Among most people, hope is predominant, and this is due to self-delusion or a lack of true understanding. The best thing for them is to allow awe or fear of displeasing Allah to prevail before death, and at the time of death to let hope and a good opinion of Allah prevail. This is because fear acts as a whip that drives one to act, and at the time of death, the time for action has passed and he can no longer bear the whips of fear, and it may cause his heart to give way and hasten his death. The spirit of hope, however, strengthens the heart at the time of death, endearing to it its Lord, to whom it looks forward to returning.

No one should leave this world without being in a state of loving Allah and looking forward to meeting Him, for whoever longs to meet Allah, Allah also longs to meet him. And whoever is forthcoming in meeting his Beloved, his joy is heightened in proportion to his love, whereas the trial intensifies for the one who rejects his Beloved. Therefore, at the time of death, the more man is attached to his love of his family, his children, his wealth, his house, his friends, and his associates, then all of his love is in this world. The world is his Paradise, and death is expulsion from that Paradise, walling him from what he loves. However, if his only beloved was Allah, and there was nothing he loved more than to remember Him, to know Him and to ponder about Him, then this world and its attachments would be mere distractions for him away from his Beloved. The world would be a prison for him, and death would take him to his Beloved, where he could be free from this prison. The peak of salvation and bliss, therefore, is to die while loving Allah, the Exalted.

The two levels of fear of Allah

Know that fear of Allah has two different levels. The first is the fear of His punishment, and this is the fear that the majority of people have. It comes from basic faith in Paradise and Hellfire, and their being the recompense for either obedience or rebellion. Lack of fear or a weakness thereof results from negligence or weak faith, and can be remedied by reminders, exhortations, and reflecting on the terrors of the Day of Resurrection and the various punishments in the Hereafter. It can also be increased by looking at God-fearing people, associating with them, and taking note of their states; and if that is not possible, then listening to accounts of such people will not go to waste.

The second level, which is higher, is where Allah is feared, or rather the servant fears being distant and veiled from Him. He longs for nearness to Allah, and this is the fear possessed by those who have knowledge ('ulama') - those whose hearts truly know Allah and His Attributes that command awe, respect, and fear, and of those who understand the purport of His words As for the fear or the awe possessed by the angels, the prophets, the saints and the Imams of guidance, such as the fear of Mika'il, Gabriel, our Prophet, Abraham, David, John the Baptist, Imam al-Sajjad, and other such personalities - the narrators of hadith have written accounts of it in their books, and whoever wishes to read further about it should refer to them.

The fearful ones

Know that fear only arises from anticipation of an unpleasant situation. This unpleasant situation can either be unpleasant in and of itself, such as fire. Or it can be unpleasant because it consequently exposes one to something unpleasant, such as when sins are abhorred because they lead to an unpleasant predicament in the Hereafter. Every single person should conceive of an unpleasant situation in his own self, from either one of these categories, to strengthen his sense of anticipation in his heart, until his heart burns as a result of the possible experience of that unpleasant thing. The states of the fearful ones vary according to the nature of the unpleasant situations that they may anticipate in their hearts.

First are those whose hearts are overcome by the fear of something that consequently leads to an unpleasant predicament. Some are overcome by fear of dying before they can repent. Or fear that their repentance may be rejected. Or fear that their resolve to fulfil Allah's rights upon them will weaken. Or fear that their hearts will lose their softness and become hard. Or fear of losing steadfastness. Or fear of becoming habituated to following permissible desires. Or fear of being rejected by Allah because of those good deeds that he felt proud of in front of others. Or fear of recklessness with the abundant blessings that Allah has bestowed on him. Or fear of becoming preoccupied with something other than Allah. Or fear of gradually being tested with His blessings. Or fear of discovering obstacles to the acceptance of his worship and finding out later that his worship was not counted. Or fear of the consequences of what he has done to people in the form of backbiting, treachery, deception, evil intentions. Or fear of what will happen to him the rest of his life. Or fear of his punishment being hastened in his lifetime and being disgraced before death. Or fear of being deluded by the vanities of this world. Or fear of Allah looking deep into his core at the moment of his weakness. Or fear of death ending his life with an evil end. Or fear of his past sins that he cannot remember anymore.

These are all fears harboured by the gnostics or those who truly know Allah, and each one of them has a special benefit in that it leads one to exercise caution with respect to anything that will expose him to that fear. So for example, one who fears that he will become habituated to a specific pleasure will be careful and wean himself from it before it becomes a habit, and the one who fears that Allah will see his inner core will strive to purify his heart of all negativity.

The fear that overcomes most God-wary people is the fear of an evil end. Since that is restricted, then the best way to proceed towards acquiring inner knowledge is to fear one's past, for indeed one's end branches out from one's past with many paths in between. So the end will reflect that which has already passed and been decreed in the Divine Record.

Some are overcome with fear of something that is unpleasant in and of itself. There are those who are overcome by fear of the pangs of death and their severity. Or fear of the questioning in the grave. Or the punishment in the grave. Or the terrors that they may witness. Or the fear of standing before Allah and feeling ashamed of being exposed, and being asked to account for every little thing. Or fear of the Bridge [outstretched between Heaven and Hell] and its sharpness and how he will cross it. Or fear of the Fire, its chains and fetters and torments. Or fear of being deprived entrance into Paradise or being demoted in its levels. Or fear of being veiled from Allah - and this is the worst of these fears held by the gnostics. That is preceded by the fears held by the worshippers, the ascetics, and the rest of the good-doers. It is no small fact that the virtue of a thing increases in proportion to how helpful it is in securing eternal felicity and bliss.

There is no greater bliss than meeting Allah, and there is no way to attain that except by first cultivating love for Him and intimacy with Him in this world. Love can only be cultivated through inner knowledge, and inner knowledge can only be attained through perpetually thinking about Him. Intimacy can only be had by loving Him and constantly remembering Him. Diligence in the remembrance of Allah, and pondering about Him only comes when the love of this world has first been uprooted from the heart; and that is only uprooted when the vain pleasures and caprices of this world are abandoned. It is not possible to abandon pleasures without first uprooting the desires that lead to them, and there is nothing that can kill one's desire for something faster than the fire of fear. 

Fear is, therefore, the fire that burns away desires, and hence, its virtue is in direct proportion to the desire that it burns up, to the extent that it prevents a person from sins and drives him towards good. 

Fayd Kashani - Spiritual Mysteries and Ethical Secrets - Book 3

(This is the full chapter of Hope & Fear minus the excerpts/quotes from the Quran, Prophet Mohammed and other muslim scholars. Wanted to keep it as short as possible while still providing the information. If you want to read the excerpts/quotes, please refer to the book. Free pdf versions are available online.)