Trembling Before God
In “Divine Governance of the Human Kingdom” Ibn Arabi said,
Fear Allah both in your actions and deep in your heart and thoughts. Fear of Allah is the fear of Allah’s punishment. Whoever truly fears the warnings of torment of the absolute judge cannot but act in accordance with the pleasure of the creator and seek the right over the wrong. The Owner of the Final Word Himself said,
”...and Allah cautions you against His retribution” 3:27
“...and know that Allah knows what is in your minds, so beware of Him...” 2:235
The fear of Allah is a protection, the thing that guards you from harm. Allah’s protection is the strongest of all armor, of all fortifications; no harm can penetrate it. That is what divine fear secures for you. The Prophet of Allah, whom He sent as His mercy upon the universe, himself took refuge in his lord. Praying to Him, he said, ‘I take refuge in Your pleasure, in Your beauty, in Your gentleness, from Your wrath and Your strength. I take refuge in Your divine mercy and compassion, from Your punishment. I take refuge in You from You.’
Seek, learn about, and imitate the beneficent acts of your Creator that manifest all around you. Protect yourself against divine wrath with acts and deeds in accordance with Allah’s pleasure. Whatever act, whatever thing, whatever path is under the shadow of doubt and fear, do not come close to it. Leave it.
Know that knowing your Creator and obeying Him is the only path that will lead your to peace and felicity. Revolt and selfishness are a dead end. Only by gaining the divine consent can you save yourself from your Lord’s wrath. Only by entering the straight path can you get out of the abyss of that dead end; only by actions proper to paradise can you keep away from the fire. Allah says,
“Fear Allah...and fear the Fire.” 3:130-131
With the fear of Allah, rise away from fire and towards felicity.
Words such wrath/fear/anger when ascribed to our Lord often create averse responses, usually this is instinctual, as we have begun to develop for a variety of reasons/purposes a hesitancy to acknowledge these particular aspects to God’s reality. To deny them outright would be genuinely heretical, and to rationalize them as being merely symbolic with cold metaphysical implications is equally dangerous.
The causation of existence is the recurrent pattern of God’s non/nature. We are subject to the principles of both His love and His wrath, and because Allah is qualified only by His own non/nature, the reality of His love and His wrath are known only to Him; as we understand them through physical/mental/spiritual phenomena and in our own separate existential languages. The believer, and especially the wayfarer who has devoted themselves to the spiritual life, will learn it to be absolutely necessary to accept this, to embrace it in fealty to our Lord’s wisdom and in awe of His mystery. The fear of God’s wrath causes us to hesitate at sin and to be weary of temptation. We acknowledge His wrath because it is evident, in both nature and within ourselves. We accept His wrath because to deny it would be to deny what is fundamental to our existence, and this will inevitably sow doubt/confusion/disbelief until we finally negotiate with a God we no longer truly believe in, accepting only those explanations of His non/nature that permit self destruction through selfishness and delusion.
This is not the fear that causes one to cower, but of trembling before God.
