Page 90 - Fear of Allah
P. 90

FEAR OF ALLAH
               Their unscrupulousness and ingratitude

               There are many examples in the Qur'an of the ungratefulness of
            those who do not fear Allah. However, perhaps the most telling of
            them concerns some of the Children of Israel and their unscrupu-
            lousness and ingratitude towards Allah and His messengers.
               The Children of Israel were bestowed with blessings never be-
            fore granted to any other people. They were shown innumerable
            miracles and despite having prophets emerge from amongst them,
            there remained rebellious elements who were unmoved by any of
            this. The Prophet Musa (Moses) (as) patiently attempted to educate
            them, but they did not arrive at true obedience to Allah and true be-
            lief. When they witnessed Allah's wrath, they sought His forgive-
            ness, and when His wrath abated, they reverted to their
            wrongdoing, even adopting other gods apart from Him. Whilst
            their prophets were engaged in difficult struggles with the disbe-
            lievers, the hypocrites amongst the Children of Israel were more in-
            terested in securing their own advantages and personal gains, and
            were never really sincere in the fulfillment of their obligations to
            Allah and His religion.
               In a gross display of ingratitude, they abandoned their prophet,
            Musa (as), leaving him alone at the most critical stage of his strug-
            gle, concentrating instead on their own wellbeing and livelihoods.
            Then, as if this was not enough, they also displayed the most inso-
            lent and ungrateful attitude towards him.
               They said, "We will never enter it, Musa, as long as they are
               there. So you and your Lord go and fight. We will stay sit-
               ting here." (Surat al-Ma'ida: 24)
               It can be seen clearly from this that people such as these do not
            possess fear of Allah, therefore, when they are faced with anything


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