Page 44 - Fear of Allah

FEAR OF ALLAH
against a powerful woman who desired him. Despite all her threats
and intrigues, he preferred to go to prison rather than overstep
Allah's boundaries. Allah informs us of Yusuf's (as) superior strength
of character in the Qur'an:
She [the governor's wife] said, "You see! It's him you blamed
me for. I tried seducing him but he refused. If he does not do
what I order him, he will be put in prison and brought low."
He [Yusuf] said, "My Lord, the prison is preferable to me than
what they call on me to do. Unless You turn their guile away
from me, it may well be that I will fall for them and so become
a man of ignorance." (Surah Yusuf: 32-33)

They always act conscientiously

A person who is a servant of Allah will not put his own needs and
desires above the expectations of his Lord. He knows that if he does
so despite knowing the truth, he may incur Allah's punishment on
Earth and in the Hereafter. As long as he remains fearfully aware of
this danger, he will be safe from displaying the kind of attitude that
would bring him within the range of the verses cited below:
However, those who do wrong pursue their whims and de-
sires without any knowledge. Who can guide those whom
Allah has led astray? They will have no helpers. (Surat ar-
Rum: 29)
Have you seen him who takes his whims and desires to be his
god—whom Allah has misguided knowingly, sealing up his
hearing and his heart and placing a blindfold over his eyes?
Who then will guide him after Allah? So will you not then be
mindful? (Surat al-Jathiyya: 23)

42