Taqwa: A Discussion

Zeusophobia is the medical term meaning 'phobia of God'. The word is obviously split to two parts; Zeus: The 'God of all Gods' in Ancient Greek religion and 'phobia' meaning an intense fear of something that does not cause fear to most normal people. The term kind of tickles your brain...Since it rings a bell about a form of Islamic worship known as 'Taqwa'. Taqwa, as many concieve it, is the fear of Allah, who is the Almighty God according to Islamic doctrine. I think the former needs a little bit of inside, logical discussion.

Taqwa is not a fear of Allah is in a fear of ghosts or the fear of the supernatural. And it's well away from being zeusophobia. But rather, as I see it, it is the sense that Allah is always there...In other words, your actions should all be guided by the fact that you are being watched by the All-Knowing, the All-Seeing and that (sometime between a second and a century) you will die and He will decide whether you shall go to Paradise or Hell. The idea is that God is always there, when you need Him or when you forget about Him completely or when you remember Him. Taqwa, imo, is the extent to which your actions are guided by that feeling that God is always there.

Now there are a great number of Hadeeths and Suras on Taqwa. Off the top of my head is the famous hadeeth of the prophet PBUH in his Final Sermon:

All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. You know that every Muslim is the brother of another Muslim. Remember, one day you will appear before Allah and answer for your deeds. So beware, do not astray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.

The word 'taqwa' here has been translated as 'piety'. If we look up piety we find out it's a direct synonum of devoutness and from here we can obviously conclude that the belief in God is consequently followed by a sense that God is always there to watch you and that, I believe, is the heart of being a devout Muslim, or the start of being labelled as 'religious'. Once that belief takes over your daily life, you become a good human and (consequently) you become a good Muslim. The Chain Reaction of Well-being as I like to call it.

I personally find nothing more satisifying or psychologically comforting than the belief in the existence of God. A bedwin was once asked, 'How do you know there's a God?'. The bedwin thought and replied, 'If I find the excreta of a camel, I will know a camel had trodden a certain place. So how about a starry sky, an uneven earth and a raging sea, wouldn't that tell me of the existence of God?'

Until we meet again...Take care.