💯 Miscellaneous Benefits from Yemen

BENEFIT 15: Do we worship Allāh upon love, hope, fear or a combination of all three? Allāh ﷻ is worshipped with a combination of love, hope for His reward, and fear of His punishment. These are the three pillars of worship of the heart – love, fear and hope. Ibnul Qayyim raḥimahullāh speaks about these aspects in great lengths in his book 'Madārij As-Sālikīn'. He portrays the three in a very imaginative way. He says raḥimahullāh (paraphrasing): “Love is like the head of the bird, and hope and fear are like its two wings with which it flies in the sky. So just as it is necessary for the bird to achieve a balance between its two wings in order to stay afloat, it is necessary for the believer to achieve a balance between fear and hope for his affairs to remain straight; that is because predominance of fear without hope leads to despair, just as predominance of hope without fear leads to a false sense of security which results in negligence.” And just as the bird changes direction by leaning on either wing, the believer likewise averts the worldly trials by inclining to one side more than the other as and when required. For example: When a person is about to commit a sin and feels secure, he needs the side of fear to prevail over the side of hope. But if a person has already committed a sin and is worried that Allāh may not forgive him, in this case he needs hope to prevail over fear. The are many evidences to prove this matter, i.e. that we must worship Allah out of love for Him and with a balance of fear and hope. Allāh ﷻ said: {إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا يُسَارِعُونَ فِي الْخَيْرَاتِ وَيَدْعُونَنَا رَغَبًا وَرَهَبًا} “They (the Prophets & Messengers) used to race in doing good, and call upon Us with hope and fear.” [Surah Al-Anbiyâ’: 90] As-Si’di rahimahullah explained: “They used to call upon Allāh with Hope and Fear – asking Allāh for those good things that are desired in the worldly life and afterlife. And they used to seek Allāh’s Refuge from those frightening things which bring about harm in this life and the Next. So they had fear and hope, and they were not heedless, inattentive and arrogant. [see his tafseer] Likewise Allāh ﷻ said: {ٱعۡلَمُوۤا۟ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ شَدِیدُ ٱلۡعِقَابِ وَأَنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَفُورࣱ رَّحِیمࣱ} “Know that Allāh is severe in punishment and that He is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” [Sūrah Al-Mā'idah: 98] So a believer must combine between these three pillars [love, fear and hope] in his acts of worship. It is not permissible to worship Allāh with only one of them without the others. And for this reason, the scholars mention that: 1⃣. Whoever worships Allah upon fear only then he is a Khārijī 2⃣. Whoever worships Allah upon hope only then he is from the Murji’ah 3⃣. Whoever worships Allah upon love only then he is a Ṣūfī 4⃣. And whoever worships Allāh upon love, hope and fear then he is a believer upon Tawheed.