Fear Allah: what does it really mean?

[UntoldTruth]

A brother on this forum told me to fear Allah because I disagreed with some scholars. Didn't they truly mean to fear men, fear being labeled a zindiq by men or being labeled a kafir by men. What does it truly mean to fear Allah???



UntoldTruth

[not known]

A brother on this forum told me to fear Allah because I disagreed with some scholars. Didn't they truly mean to fear men, fear being labeled a zindiq by men or being labeled a kafir by men. What does it truly mean to fear Allah???



UntoldTruth

since ur not a scholor and doesnt hold any authority to disagree with a scholor, you should fear Allah in your verdicts against a scholor, if u were a scholor none would have bothered

i am talking in general sense, i dont know who said that and where they said it to you

[UmmeGibrel]

Telling someone'Fear Allah' means 'Be aware of what you say'.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/5572856/Pu...li-Ahmad-Farid

You can find what fear of Allah means in general on page 127.

[Abdullah Ibn Adam]

A brother on this forum told me to fear Allah because I disagreed with some scholars. Didn't they truly mean to fear men, fear being labeled a zindiq by men or being labeled a kafir by men. What does it truly mean to fear Allah???



UntoldTruth

It means to fear Allah because of your actions. Allah is All-Knowing, so He sees when you're sinning. That's why people say "Fear Allah" or "Ittaqillah" (Which is the arabic meaning). It's a warning that says: Beware of your actions!

[UntoldTruth]

since ur not a scholor and doesnt hold any authority to disagree with a scholor, you should fear Allah in your verdicts against a scholor, if u were a scholor none would have bothered

i am talking in general sense, i dont know who said that and where they said it to you

I thought about this for a couple of day. I don't think we are commanded to follow the scholars unconditionally. Scholars make mistakes.
How can we be forced to follow the mistakes of a scholar, when he makes a mistake? We have a right to disagree with a scholar when they are in error.



UntoldTruth

[UntoldTruth]

It means to fear Allah because of your actions. Allah is All-Knowing, so He sees when you're sinning. That's why people say "Fear Allah" or "Ittaqillah" (Which is the arabic meaning). It's a warning that says: Beware of your actions!

To you and all the brothers and sisters who posted a definition of fearing Allah. I am aware of the definition of it, I am talking about a more practical use of it, especially with the subject of following scholars.

There could be cases where taqwa might mean disagreeing with a scholar, but it seems that most people here of the opinion that taqwa means to follow the scholars unconditionally. I don't think so.



UntoldTruth

[marco100]

To you and all the brothers and sisters who posted a definition of fearing Allah. I am aware of the definition of it, I am talking about a more practical use of it, especially with the subject of following scholars.

There could be cases where taqwa might mean disagreeing with a scholar, but it seems that most people here of the opinion that taqwa means to follow the scholars unconditionally. I don't think so.



UntoldTruth

salams

You'll find scholars are in fact a bit more humble than you seem to give them credit for. They themselves dont ask people to take what they say unconditionally. Have you got proofs for this?

In most cases we do follow unconditionally. Why? Because they are scholars who have spent their entire life in study of Deen as well as having a chain of scholars who can be traced back to our beloved prophet pbuh. If Mufti Saheb here says something I will take it unconditionally. Not because I'm naive, but because his credentials are there. If I want advice on a condition, I won't bypass a surgeon and decide myself will I? I'll ask his opinion FIRST and in vast majority of cases I'll take the advice unconditionally. People do this every day. Are they stupid? That depends on majority consensus and the answer is no. It's common sense brother.

Fear of Allah is mentioned because unsupervised study of Deen when one has little or no grasp of the inner workings of Islamic Sciences means one is in danger of free fall with regards to Imaan itself. The examples are there of people who have done just that. If you fear for your Imaan then that is fear of Allah and one will do whatever it takes to safe guard that. If it means attaching onself to a scholar who has the credentials traceable right back to our prophet pbuh then what's wrong in that?

Just because you "think" something does or doesn't make sense, isn't always the case.

[MightySouthside]

Salaam walaikum wa rahmatullah Brother Truth, when it comes to following scholars, no one is required to blindly follow them because they are men and are fallible. But we still must respect them and not argue with them. And we must have a proof and source for why we disagree. Now of course, I said that we should disagree but shouldnt argue, so is that a contradiction? Well no, because disagreeing and arguing with someone are two different matters. Therefore, there s a certain way we have to treat the issue of disagreement because it can be dangerous if the disagreement turns into argument. It is key that we have proof because in the case that both people end up being right, then the point of arguing becomes pointless. For example, there is a Hadith narratted by Abdullah bin Masud where he heard a man reciting Quran differently from. So out of concern, Abdullah grabbed the man and took him to the Prophet (saws), the Prophet (saws) responded and said to Abdullah bin Masud, "Both of you are right." "Do not differ, for the nations before you differed and perished (because of their differences)." Because I do not know your specific situation I cant comment fully, and it doesnt always come down to disagreement, most of the time it comes down to the tone and intent. Could you drop a link?

[UntoldTruth]

In most cases we do follow unconditionally. Why? Because they are scholars who have spent their entire life in study of Deen as well as having a chain of scholars who can be traced back to our beloved prophet pbuh. If Mufti Saheb here says something I will take it unconditionally. Not because I'm naive, but because his credentials are there. If I want advice on a condition, I won't bypass a surgeon and decide myself will I? I'll ask his opinion FIRST and in vast majority of cases I'll take the advice unconditionally. People do this every day. Are they stupid? That depends on majority consensus and the answer is no. It's common sense brother.

Fear of Allah is mentioned because unsupervised study of Deen when one has little or no grasp of the inner workings of Islamic Sciences means one is in danger of free fall with regards to Imaan itself. The examples are there of people who have done just that. If you fear for your Imaan then that is fear of Allah and one will do whatever it takes to safe guard that. If it means attaching onself to a scholar who has the credentials traceable right back to our prophet pbuh then what's wrong in that?

You know you used this analogy last time. The problem with using medical doctors and religious scholars is that, what medical doctors say can be verified. But what religious scholars say cannot be verified, meaning, we are not 100% sure Allah approves of their verdicts, but with medical doctors, we know from experience that they work and will work.

For example, when laser surgurgy for improving eyes appeared on the scene, and you didn't see me running to the doctors back then to get it done. But now, after many have tried it with successful results, I have confidence in doctors that do laser surgury.

But in terms of Islamic scholars, we don't know if Allah truly approves of all these verdicts.

If a doctor recommends something that appears to be logical or an unsafe practice, I won't be doing it. And similarily with Islam, is an Islamic recommends something to me that appears to be illogical, incorrect, I won't be following it. With some of these rulings it doesn't take a genius to realize it is not correct.

Like obvious contradiction in a hadith, it is obvious that the Prophet, did not say both of them, even if they are Sahih. It is obivous that you cannot be in wudu and out of wudu at the same time. One is true and the other is false.

There is a margin of error.



UntoldTruth

[maneatinglizard]

You know you used this analogy last time. The problem with using medical doctors and religious scholars is that, what medical doctors say can be verified. But what religious scholars say cannot be verified, meaning, we are not 100% sure Allah approves of their verdicts, but with medical doctors, we know from experience that they work and will work.

For example, when laser surgurgy for improving eyes appeared on the scene, and you didn't see me running to the doctors back then to get it done. But now, after many have tried it with successful results, I have confidence in doctors that do laser surgury.

But in terms of Islamic scholars, we don't know if Allah truly approves of all these verdicts.

If a doctor recommends something that appears to be logical or an unsafe practice, I won't be doing it. And similarily with Islam, is an Islamic recommends something to me that appears to be illogical, incorrect, I won't be following it. With some of these rulings it doesn't take a genius to realize it is not correct.

Like obvious contradiction in a hadith, it is obvious that the Prophet, did not say both of them, even if they are Sahih. It is obivous that you cannot be in wudu and out of wudu at the same time. One is true and the other is false.

There is a margin of error.



UntoldTruth

I know of someone who is almost completely blind because of eye surgery. Does that mean I should stop trusting eye doctors?

Besides that point, you have failed to illustrate a true contradiction in hadith.

Finally, you keep talking about the fact that scholars can be wrong. This is certainly true. But, the fact remains that you can be wrong as well, and are more likely to be wrong since you lack specialization in Islamic sciences. As a small example, and because you seem to partially reject hadith, I ask you what the difference between a Mawqoof and a Marfu hadith is. You most likely know very little about the sciences of Hadith, and yet you choose to take your flawed understanding over those that spent their whole lives researching hadiths. You probably don't even know classical Arabic, so your understanding of any issue will automatically be dependent on the opinions of translators and commentators.

And even though individual scholars can be wrong, do you really think that thousands of scholars, and in some cases, all of them, can be wrong? Or, is it that you think that your understanding is better?

As another example, I ask how you pray, and why you do it. Unless you can provide evidence for every single thing you do in prayer, and can prove the validity of every single evidence you have, you are relying on the works of scholars for the most important action in your life. Why then, can you not trust them on lesser issues?