Page 84 - Fear of Allah

FEAR OF ALLAH
incident which transpired between the Prophet Adam's (as) two
sons:
Recite to them the true report of Adam's two sons when they
offered a sacrifice and it was accepted from one of them but
not accepted from the other. The one said, "I shall kill you."
The other said, "Allah only accepts from the righteous [who
fear Him]. Even if you do raise your hand against me to kill
me, I am not going to raise my hand against you to kill you.
Truly I fear Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. I want you to
take on both my wrongdoing and your wrongdoing and so
become one of the Companions of the Fire. That is the re-
payment of the wrongdoers." So his lower self persuaded
him to kill his brother, and he killed him and became one of
the lost. (Surat al-Ma'ida: 27-30)
A person who fears Allah would be cautious and guard himself
against his own inner passions. Apart from this, there is no other
fear which requires the profound alteration of one's own character
in a positive way. The brother who did not fear Allah succumbed to
the unbridled passions of the self. As a result of the jealousy and
anger over the fact that his sacrifice was not accepted, and the sense
of rivalry he felt towards his brother, he ended up threatening to kill
him and subsequently carried out the threat. This case serves as a
warning of how dangerous it can be to turn away from fear of Allah,
and to abandon oneself to the urges of the lower self.
Someone who does not fear Allah will, when feeling personally
affronted, not hesitate to cause both physical and spiritual harm to
those who have offended him. At the same time jealousy is a funda-
mental characteristic of satan. When satan was expelled from the
presence of Allah, he displayed all the hatred and jealousy he felt to-
wards the Prophet Adam (as) and promised with all his might that

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