Islams Reformers

exalted in Islam deem it the greatest honour to humiliate
themselves before Allâhu ta’âlâ. This very difference is the subtle
point which make fear valuable. As man becomes mature and
spiritual, he will still be interested in material needs and material
dangers since he cannot escape being material. Therefore, the
attachment through fear is the strongest and most valuable. The
reformer says that this is not strong, for he sees that the person
who attaches himself to Allâhu ta’âlâ through fear changes
whenever he finds an opportunity. However, not even for a
moment can man find an opportunity against Allâhu ta’âlâ, who
sees and knows all his secret and public behaviour and who is
never mistaken. The hadîth, “What a good human being Suhaib
ar-Rûmî is. He wouldn’t commit any sin even if he didn’t fear
Allâhu ta’âlâ,” provides for unity and indicates that fear is a strong
means. Reformers suppose that the fear of Allâhu ta’âlâ and love
of Allâhu ta’âlâ are different, and they like the latter and are
against the former only because they are foreign to the religious
knowledge and sources of Islamic religion.
Men are advised to fear Allâhu ta’âlâ in the âyats, “Those who
have much knowledge fear Allâhu ta’âlâ much” (sûrat al-Fâtir,
28); “There are two heavens for the person who fears the
greatness of his Allâhu ta’âlâ” (sûrat ar-Rahmân, 46); “They
alone are the believers whose hearts feel fear when Allâhu ta’âlâ
is mentioned,” (sûrat al-Anfâl, 2; sûrat al-Hajj, 35) and “Those
who obey Allâhu ta’âlâ and His Prophet and those who fear
Allâhu ta’âlâ and who are cautious of Him are the ones that will
be saved on the Day of Judgement.” (sûrat an-Nûr, 52) It is easy
to understand now why the reformers who know nothing about
these âyats do not have any right to attempt to reform Islam or to
criticize the religious scholars who have placed the fear of Allâhu
ta’âlâ into Muslims’s hearts. If it were bad to place the fear of
Allâhu ta’âlâ in Muslims, it would be necessary (Allah forbid!) to
criticize the Qur’ân on account of this. Almost every page of the
Qur’ân invites Muslims to the fear of Allâhu ta’âlâ with the
command, “O ye who believe! Fear Allâhu ta’âlâ!” It is declared
in the thirteenth âyat of the sûrat al-Hujurât, “To Allâhu ta’âlâ
the most valuable of you is he who fears and is cautious of Him.”
‘Ittiqâ’ in these âyats means ‘to fear’. It originates from their
imitating European Christians that reformers want to eradicate
the fear of Allâhu ta’âlâ in Muslims and to replace it with the
thought that Allâhu ta’âlâ is only benevolent, merciful and
protective over His human creatures, as Christians believe. To
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