Fear and Hope

7:18:40

2023-12-31

473

We can emphasize that there are two opposite lines in man’s soul. The Islamic ideology takes to both lines scattering every false fear and every deviated hope instead it grows the fear of Allah from one side and the hope of his reward from the other side Allah has said: “Fearing of the hereafter and hopes for the mercy of his Lord” 202. Its view is not one –sided such as concentrating on the side of fear, and consequently man becomes despaired of Allah’s mercy, or concentrates- on the opposite- on hope so it weakens in man’s soul the fear of Allah.

The prophet (PBUH) says: “If you know the vastness of Allah’s mercy you will depend on it and you will not do but little, and if you know the extent of Allah’s anger you assume that you will not be saved” 203

Imam Ali (PBUH) says: If you can have a grave bear of Allah and a good assumption of Allah, so you do comprise between them, as the servant’s good assumption of his creator is to be the amount of his fear of Him, best person in his good assumption of Allah is him whose fear from Allah is greater” 20 205 It worthies mentioning that people in their natures and behavior differ very much, so it is wise to take into consideration the best way in guiding and ushering them using hope and frightening. For some of them can be reformed by hope they are the regretted disobedient who have exceed in committing sins, and they are trying to return to Allah through penitence yet they have become disappointed of Allah’s pardon because of the enormity of their crimes and the plentiness of their sins, so, in this state, their despair is treated with the hope in Allah’s generosity and the wideness of his mercy and forgiveness.

“As to those who are reformed by frightening: they are the mutinous disobedient who are engrossed in committing sins, conceited with hope, so their treatment is by frightening and violent checking, by threatening them of the painful chastisement and the disgraceful torture that waits them.” 206

The followers of the School of “Ahl albait” whose souls were inhabited by Allah’s fear and reflected on their organs, and that His hope grew up in their hearts, had the most excellent examples. “It is narrated that Abbi-Zaar had cried due to fear of Allah till he suffered of his eyes. Then it is said to him: would you appeal to Allah to heal your eyes?! He replied: I am busy from that and it is not my major concern. They said: what busied you from it? He said the two great things, Paradise and Hell” 207

From another side the heralds of his divine School strengthen the feeling of hope in the souls. It is stated in some of Ali’s recommendations (A.S.) his son Al-Hassan (A.S.): “O my son, do not drive a sinful person to despair, so many a sin committer had a good end and so many people were practicing a good deed at the end of their age, would go to Hell may Allah save us from it”.