Page 66 - Fear of Allah

FEAR OF ALLAH
If Allah were to take mankind to task for what they have
earned, He would not leave a single creature crawling on it,
but He is deferring them until a specified time. Then, when
their time comes, Allah sees His servants! (Surah Fatir: 45)
These people imagine that when they do something which Allah
does not consent to they will instantly be punished with "raining
brimstone," when this turns out not to be the case they ignorantly
see it as a licence to continue with their excesses. This illogical think-
ing can be seen in people of the disbelieving communities who have
lived at every period throughout history, and whose reasoning is
described by Allah in the Qur'an in the following way:
… And [they] say to themselves "Why does Allah not punish
us for what we say?" Hell will be enough for them! They will
roast in it. What an evil destination! (Surat al-Mujadala: 8)
This distorted point of view is held by the majority of people
who do not believe and people whose belief is only superficial.
These people who think they will not be punished for their actions,
and who therefore think they are allegedly extremely clever, are in
fact being gradually pulled towards their punishment from a direc-
tion unknown to them:
But as for those who deny Our Signs, We will lead them,
step by step, into destruction from where they do not know.
(Surat al-A'raf: 182)
In similitude to those open and obvious punishments which
Allah has mentioned in the Qur'an, subtle and hidden punishments
can overtake a person at any time, even whilst still on Earth. An ex-
ample of such a case is when someone who is in the habit of dis-
playing attitudes or moral conduct which are offensive to Allah, is
suddenly struck by a debilitating illness. Needless to say, these af-
flictions are not confined to the physical senses; the fear which Allah

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