Page 46 - The importance of conscience in the Qur'an

44 The Importance of Conscience in the Qur'an

forward willingly in every service and every act of goodness,
without waiting for anyone else to do it. When there are
better things that they can do, their conscience does not allow
them to continue with the lesser, without striving for
improvement.
As seen, conscience requires not only knowing Allah and
accepting His existence, but also performing acts that will
please Him and paying great attention to this. The majority of
people assume that believing in Allah's existence alone is
sufficient. In some verses of the Qur'an, these people are
addressed thus:

Say: 'Who provides for you out of heaven and
earth? Who controls hearing and sight? Who
brings forth the living from the dead and the
dead from the living? Who directs the whole
affair?' They will say, 'Allah.' Say, 'So will you
not have taqwa?' That is Allah, your Lord, the
Truth, and what is there after truth except
misguidance? So how have you been
distracted? (Surah Yunus: 31-32)
As seen in the above verses, such people believe in the
existence of Allah, and even accept that Allah provides for
them, that He gives life and death, and that He is the Creator
and Owner of everything. They employ their conscience only
so much as to have such an awareness, and see this sufficient
for their faith. Someone who makes full use of his conscience,
however, feels a fear full of respect towards Allah since he can
grasp the sublimity of Allah. This fear is different from other
fears experienced; this is the fear of losing Allah's approval. The
whole life of a person who feels this fear passes solely by
seeking to gain his Lord's pleasure. He does not set a limit to