The World Of Soul

The Holy Qur’an, 23:60

Question: Who is more pious: the one who does not regularly observe religious rites, but who performs plenty of good deeds and actions, or the one who regularly keeps in with religious practice, but is rude and hard-hearted?

Answer: Overt actions play a great role in human life both in this world and in the hereafter. The Holy Qur’an often warns people that on the Day of Judgement “Allah will declare to them all that they have done".[1] Whereas piety belongs to our inner world, to our heart and soul and Allah knows it; its sincerity and true value are concealed from other people.

 What is piety? Man is pious if he observes the injunctions of the Lord, abides by the laws of his religion and keeps away from the prohibited. But it is difficult, even impossible to measure it.

 “Piety is here",- said Prophet Mohammed (let peace and Allah’s blessing be upon him), pointing three times at his chest.[2] That is why it is extremely difficult[3], and even sinful[4] to judge man by certain deeds or qualities, or to make a final conclusion about him, let alone his piety.

I think the following ayah can serve as a main criterion for determining personal spiritual state, personal qualities before Allah, and by no means for the sake of searching for negative features in other people (!). We cannot manage with one version of the translation of this ayah, for its meaning “is transformed" and can be applied to totally different situations. We shall adduce two versions of its translation with due regard for the explanations given in tafsirs[5].

1. “Those who give what they give with their hearts filled with awe, knowing that they will return to their Lord".[6]

That is man gives alms, treats his neighbours in a friendly manner, sympathizes with them (in the name of God, in the name of Allah), for example, with a good word, advice, good deeds, providing people with help and various opportunities and so on. At the same time man does not expect gratitude. His heart is filled with love and awe of God (“their hearts are filled with awe". 

A true believer is an altruist[7]; he performs good deeds without expecting any reward (although he himself always tries to express his deep gratitude towards those people who have supported him). When performing noble deeds, sharing his welfare with others, a pious man thinks only about the sincerity of his action in the name of the Most High[8], about whether this deed will be accepted by the Lord of the world or not, whether it will be taken into account and will become an additional, and may be even, a saving makeweight[9] on the scale of good deeds on the Day of Judgement. Thus, man does not associate a noble deed with those who have benefited from it, but with the blessing of Allah, His forgiveness, that can be bestowed on him by the Lord. His deed may be insignificant from the point of view of eternal values, but it can be quite useful and precious according to the worldly standards. But His mercy is infinite, and even an atom’s weight[10] of good will be taken into consideration on the Day of Judgement. It may also be that the generosity of a righteous man, who is materially and intellectually rich, will contribute to the manifestation of infinite blessing from the Creator, the Lord of the world, Allah is Holy and Great, both in this world and in the hereafter. But a believer constantly bears in mind that what he spends was given to him only for a certain period of time. And this [gift] would leave him in any case either in the form of good, or in the form of worldly spending.

2. “Who do what they do with their hearts filled with awe, knowing that they will return to their Lord".[11]

 In all times, just as in today’s world, there have always been extremely many believers who (for this or that purpose) performed sinful deeds and indulged in vices. But they have appeased their conscience saying: "We do believe, we are aware of the fact that we commit sins, but we rely on His mercy; our hearts are filled with awe of Allah, fear and trepidation of the Lord of the world". ‘Aisha, the wife of the Messenger of Allah, was aware of the possible understanding of this ayah. And it was from this point of view that she asked the Prophet: "This ayah writes about those who are thieves, commit adultery, drink alcohol and at the same time fear Allah – Holy He is and great?" Prophet Mohammed (let peace and Allah’s blessing be upon him) answered: "No, daughter of Abu Baqr, daughter of the most honest and sincere man! This ayah applies only to those who pray, fast, give alms and (performing this just as any other good deed) fear Allah (feel awe of Allah)".[12]

 A great theologian from the generation of at-tabi’in (the first generation after the Prophet) al-Hassana   al-Basri used to say: "Verily, a devout believer accumulates (in grains) generosity (good deeds and actions) and sympathy (kindness, indulgence to people, fear, awe of Allah); a hypocrite accumulates (dwelling in a temporal world) sins, misdeeds, as well as unruffled calm and imperturbability (expecting the Day of the Supreme Court)".[13] The first one seeks to perform noble deeds, does not rest on his laurels and feels great awe of Allah and realizes that his deeds are insignificant (although this trepidation by no means damps his ardour). A hypocrite (he who is a ‘formal’ believer, but his heart and intellect are lifeless) is sometimes forced to perform noble deeds, seeking general acknowledgement. He shows calm confidence about his future, for he regards his actions as so much significant and great that they can eclipse his sins and outweigh his misdeeds.

“With their hearts filled with awe": we shall adduce some additional utterances revealing the meaning of these words:

 “Pious and repentant is he whose fear and awe of the Most High originate in his awareness (or assumption as a result of the analysis of the past years and the perception of the admonitions of his “inner voice") of what is in store for him after death. He focuses on the final result".[14] That is a true believer, who does not wear a mask of piety, but carries the grains of faith in his heart, always tries to be a man of foresight and prudence; he analyzes his behaviour, tries to foresee the results of his deeds both in this world and in the hereafter. He proceeds from a rational approach, realizing what his life may end in. He is not guided by his emotions.

 “The trepidation of the man who has cognized the Creator, is shown in his intention to do noble deeds, rather than in accusing oneself of mistakes and sins towards Allah, that eventually may result in apathy, depression, and sometimes even in pseudopious idleness". Thus, a pious man cannot perform (on the mercy of Allah) bad or sinful actions as such, but he can commit certain mistakes, as any other man. He does not focus on them, he repents of his mistakes and tries never to repeat them again. What he really concerns himself with are good and noble deeds, their rightness, his own sincerity when performing them, whether they will be accepted by the Lord or not and so on.

A man who has known Allah does not so much fear to commit a sin. It is rather fear and awe of the Lord of the world that inspire him for good. In this connection we shall adduce an ayah that immediately follows the one that has been quoted above:

 “These vie with each other for salvation [there is fair competition between them which urges them to achieve great results, trying to outstrip those running in front; this is actually what accelerates progress – healthy competition in the name of the Lord of the world, for the welfare of mankind][15] and are the first to attain it".[16]

 “...and are the first to attain it"... The Lord has fixed a specific period of time for every deed, however insignificant it may be. These people, who vie with each other for making good things, are the first to attain it. Life necessities, obligations, commitments, needs do not hinder them on their path; on the contrary, these people deal with them consecutively and successfully. Every deed, every affair has its own place on the clock-face of the clock of life that will stop at an appointed moment: no sooner, no later.

 Those who waste their time (watching TV, idling away their days in talks, senseless disputes; drinking alcohol, using drugs and so on) do not have enough time and die, without having achieved any impressive results.

 At the same time one should not hurry, trying to “rule the time". An undue haste does not lead to any good. A believer feels the rhythm of life with his heart and follows it on the blessing of the Lord. Moreover, a believer is well aware of the fact that Allah “charges no soul with more than it can bear".[17]

 Life must be led with the joy of making efforts, joy of reaching success, joy of overcoming obstacles, joy of contemplating infinite welfare...

 Returning to the question of who is more pious we must say that only the Creator, Allah, He is sacred and great, knows it. And only He knows the truth.

 Prophet Mohammed (let peace and Allah’s blessing be upon him) said: "Verily, Allah gives temporal wealth and welfare both to those whom He loves and whom He doesn’t. Whereas He bestows piety and faith only on those whom He loves".[18] Man who aspires to God with his efforts in everyday life matters, observing all rites in his religion, achieving success and performing noble deeds (however insignificant they may be) deserves love of the Lord of the world.

 Prophet Mohammed has communicated the following revelation of the Creator: "The most beloved thing among that which my servant[19] does in order to be closer to Me, is that what I have charged him with. And My servant will try hard to be closer to Me, through performing the additional, until I love him. When I love him I will become his ears with which he will hear; his eyes with which he will see; I will become his hands with which he will work and his legs with which he will walk. And if he prays to Me for something, I will give it to him; and if he asks Me to protect him, I will help him. And none of My deeds bothers me besides the necessity to deprive a believer of life, if he doesn’t want it. For I do not wish to hurt him".[20]