A Brief Study of the Koran

Fear of God as Seen in the Koran

The Koran warns those who have no fear of God that they will meet a terrible punishment, and those who fear God have been promised physical and mental rewards.

Fearing God does not mean that God is a terrifying being able to cruelly hurt His subjects. We must first see what "fear of God" means. As the Koran puts it:

انما يخشي الله من عباده العلماء

"Even so only those of His servants fear God who have knowledge…" (The Angels, 35:28)

Here, fearing God refers to the fact that if man ignores God – the greatest truth of all – he will definitely feel depressively incompetent and impotent, and once he does realize how badly he needs God, he will feel terrified for not having submitted himself to God, for having fought against it. 

There is no doubt that man needs to gain, consciously and voluntarily, the three common principles (a) belief in the one God, b) regarding God as only One and truthfully worshipping Him, and c) freedom for all people from slavery) so that he can elevate his own soul and, having reached an objective, targeted state regarding these principles, see himself as united with other similar human beings. The Koran includes some verses regarding such supreme unity:

و اعتصموا بحبل الله جميعا و لا تفرقوا و اذكروا نعمة الله عليكم اذ كنتم اعداء فالف بين قلوبكم فاصبحتم بنعمته اخوانا و كنتم علي شفا حفرة من النار فانقذكم منها  كذلك يبين الله لكم آياته لعلكم تهتدون

"And hold you fast to God's bond, together, and do not scatter; remember God's blessing upon you when you were enemies, and He brought your hearts together, so that by His blessing you became brothers. You were upon the brink of pit of Fire, and He delivered you from it; even so God makes clear to you His signs; so haply you will be guided."(The Angels, 3:103)

There are several aspects that cast light on the immense divine unity the above verse presents.

من اجل ذلك كتبنا علي بني اسرائيل انه من قتل نفسا بغير نفس او فساد في الارض فكانما قتل الناس جميعا و من احياها فكانما احيا الناس جميعا 

"Therefore We prescribed for the Children of Isreal that whoso slays a soul not to retaliate for a slain soul, nor for corruption done in the land, shall be as if he had slain mankind altogether; and whoso gives life to a soul, shall be as if he had given life to mankind altogether."

      (The Table, 5:32)

That the context of this verse is a very simple formula – "One equals all and all equals one" – that actually contains the greatest of truths:

ايـــن ما و من نتيجــه بيگانگـی بودصد دل به يکديگر چو شود آشنا يکيست

(All this 'me and us' was the result of alienation; if a hundred hearts unite, they will see that they are in fact only one.)

         »Sa'eb Tabrizi«

The reason for such unity and equality does not lie in man's physical aspect, but in his mental and physical being, which despite being related to natural levels on one hand, is on the other hand heading for the supernatural, the source of perfection, divine beauty and glory. The part of man that faces the supernatural receives God's light from its original source, then speads it across the world in rays of various magnitudes. Hence, unity, harmony, brotherhood and equality – and above all relationships, the connection of unity – pertains to the divine sun. As Imam Ja'far Sadiq (P.B.U.H.) says:

المؤمن اخو المؤمن كالجسد الواحد ان اشتكي شيئا منه وجد الم ذلك في سائر جسده و ارواحهما من روح واحدة و ان روح المؤمن لاشد اتصالا بروح الله من اتصال شعاع الشمس بها

"Faithful believers are brothers, as close as the parts of one body. If one part moans in pain, the other parts will also feel the pain; the souls of the faithful believers are one, and such a soul is closer to God than sunrays are to the sun."  

Clearly, as soon as the faithful man's soul begins its conscious, voluntary competition against others in doing good, his soul will also start getting closer to reaching God. Such a feeling of unity is, as we have previously emphasized, due to faith in what common sense and pure conscience decree internally and what the prophets of God tell us externally.

The background needed for such a unity to be reached among human beings is the common principles and perceptions from the two abundant domains – man and the universe. As I stated during the talks I had with some great scholars from the East:

"We human beings have enough common principles and perceptions about man and the universe – both in the domain of what there is and in the domain of what there should be to be able to abandon our destructive conflicts and turn instead to positive, competitive forms of perfection."

I brought up the same issue again when I met German scientists at the Society of Philosophy in 1984.

"We have all agreed that Abraham is the father of the three great religions," I told them, "and that everything pertaining to him is correct, and our criterion for distinguishing right from wrong is our wisdom and reason. By agreeing on Abraham's nation, we will see that all the means and ways for unity among the believers of these three great religions are in our control, for they are all proper, approved qualities."  

One issue which is common between religions is Judgment Day, and many of the verses in the Koran concern it. The Koran considers Judgment Day as "The Day of Gathering."

On several occasions, the Koran refers to gathering:

ذلك يوم مجموع له الناس

"… a day on which all mankind will be gathered (to be judged)…" 

       (Hood, 11:103)

قل ان الاولين و الاخرين لمجموعون الي ميقات يوم معلوم

"Say: 'The ancients, and the later folk shall be gathered to the appointed time of a known day."(The Terror, 56:49-50)