Madeenah Jumu'ah Khutbah Extract Sheikh Khalid Al-Muhanna: 29th Shawwal 1444H | 19th May 2023.
BISMILLAH
Falsehood cannot approach it from any angle, for it is a revelation from the All - Wise and Praiseworthy. Our Lord has informed us about a noble attribute among the most exclusive attributes of the righteous. The people who He loves, are His awliyaah, and are honored by Allah. This honor belongs to the people of faith, indeed, it is the essence of knowledge and faith, and the evidence and proof of it, and the way to achieve to higher ranks.
O Muslims, The fear of Allah, the Most High, is the fear accompanied by reverence and knowledge of His exalted names, attributes and actions. It is the fear of those who possess knowledge of His beautiful names and attributes, and who are aware of His encompassing wisdom for which He is praised. The fear of Allah in secret is the fear that a servant feels towards their Lord when they are hidden from the eyes of people, knowing that only the Lord of all people sees them.
As a servant increases their knowledge of their Lord, their fear of Him also increases until they reach a level of ihsan ( excellence in worship ) where they worship Allah as though they see Him. This state brings one closer to Paradise and gives the glad tidings of the forgiveness of Allah, as promised by Him.
Servants of Allah, The people who fear Allah are the ones who benefit from His warnings, for their fear is sincere and not for show. Allah, the Most High, says : " Indeed, you can only warn those who fear their Lord unseen and have established prayer. " The people of this fear are promised a generous reward on the Day when all people will stand before the Lord of the worlds. And that will be in the shade of the Hereafter, before their entry into Paradise.
The Imam of the righteous gave them the glad tidings, saying: "Seven ( types of people ) will be shaded by Allah in His shade on the Day when there will be no shade except His shade," and among them is" a man who is called by a woman of noble position and beauty but says, 'I fear Allah' and a man who remembers Allah in solitude and his eyes well up with tears."
O Muslims, The evidences from both the Quran and Sunnah indicate that the fear of Allah manifests in two interconnected forms: Firstly, the fear of the servant has of their Lord, fearing His punishment for committing a sin or neglecting an obligatory action. The fruit of this fear is preserving the boundaries set by Allah and avoiding sins and what leads to them.
The noble Tabi'i, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, may Allah have mercy on him, said, "Fear is when you fear Allah to the extent that fear comes between you and disobedience. "Thus, whoever restrains themselves from sin out of fear of Allah's punishment and in anticipation of His retribution has truly feared Allah in the unseen. Similarly, those who commit a sin and then turn back to their Lord in repentance and submission are among the people of this fear.
To acquire this fear, highly successful believers dedicate themselves to achieving this by various means. One of the most effective means for a servant to achieve it, is to remember Allah and ponder Him in their thoughts, striving against one's self in doing so. This involves recognizing Allah's knowledge of the innermost thoughts and hidden secrets.
Struggling against the self in this manner becomes a means to safeguard one's actions in public. Whoever is conscious of Allah in their secret moments will have their limbs protected, and Allah will guard their actions in secret and in public. Allah will grant them success in upholding His boundaries. One of the ways to achieve the fear of Allah is to worship Him, glorified be He, by contemplating the meanings of His beautiful names and His attributes related to His knowledge.