 There were in fact angels who had appeared in human form When Prophet Ibrahim peace be upon him saw that he had guests He immediately went and prepared a roasted calf When he presented that roasted calf to his guests, they refused to eat it. When he saw that their hands did not touch the meal Then he felt fear according to the Quran he felt hope and The books of interpretation Tafsir tell us that in those days if someone refused to break bread with you or refuse to eat at your place then they had evil intentions the intentions to hurt you or Robbed you or hurt your family members. So Prophet Ibrahim peace be upon him felt fear from those Angels who had appeared in human form And the story continues, but I'm going to stop it here We have heard that if you fear God then you do not fear anyone Those who truly fear God feel no fear from anyone or anything Well, what about Prophet Ibrahim peace be upon him according to the Quran? He did feel fear and There are other examples in the Quran where prophets did feel fear fear good or it is bad and What about fearing God? Apparently when we fear something or someone We are afraid of that being or that thing and we find that thing scary So when we fear God, do we find God? Scary, are we scared of God? Are we afraid of a scary God? Is God scary? That is the topic of this short e-sermon on this Friday So what you are going to learn in the next 20-22 minutes or so is the following first of all what is the definition of fear and And what kind of fear the prophets felt and after that, what is the difference between fearing the creatures of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and Fearing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala are the same kind of fears or there are different types of fears and what does it entail? What does it mean to fear Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and And after this I will wrap up this short sermon with a quick summary But before I proceed wherever you are from the bottom of your heart Please recite a full of love salawat ala Muhammad wa ali Muhammad Fear What is the definition of fear? Fear is a human emotion that is caused by the threat of danger or pain or harm When we feel fear When we are fearful of something or someone some being that we are afraid of that being That that being that that someone might hurt us might harm us Might create pain inflict pain That is a common definition of fear And in fact fear is a good thing It's a very basic very common human emotion if we do not have fear then we cannot protect ourselves Every sane person everyone who has intellect and aql feels fear from different things we feel fear from fire from Poisonous snakes scorpions and so on and then we want to protect ourselves if If you come across robbers god forbid terrorists or any Dangerous sort of people you would feel fear and you would like to you would want to protect yourself So fear is necessary for human species to survive So fear in that sense is good fear in fact Makes us aware and as a result of fear we want to protect ourselves and get out of dangerous situations We want to avoid the situation That is dangerous or harmful or hurtful for us as a result of the emotion called fear And we see that in the story that I told in the beginning of the sermon Prophet Abraham peace be upon him felt fear Oh jassa minhum Kheefa are the words in the Quran He felt fear from them that if they have evil intentions then I should protect myself I should protect my family and In this way, it is very good to have fear hope this is the kind of fear that is called hope in Arabic and Kheefa is a related word that appears in the Quran Several times another time where the word Kheefa appears is in the context of the story of Prophet Musa peace be upon him When Prophet Musa peace be upon him Invited the Pharaoh to believe in one god and told him that he was Prophet Musa was a prophet a messenger of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala What did the Pharaoh say? He said that you are just a mess just a magician You're not a messenger, but a magician and then he Invited the best magicians of Egypt to have a contest with Prophet Musa peace be upon him And on the day when the contest took place Prophet Musa peace be upon him came in front of those group of magicians and the magic magicians asked him Shall we cast first or are you willing to cast first your spell cast your spell? Prophet Musa peace be upon him said to them according to the Quran you cast first and what did the magicians do? They cast their ropes they had ropes in their hands and then they threw them and created an illusion as a result of that Those ropes appeared to be living snakes Now we all know that that Prophet Musa peace be upon him had a miracle and Prophet Musa peace be upon him would Succeed would win over those magicians But according to the Quran at that moment Prophet Musa peace be upon him felt fair Fa au jassafi nafsihi khweefah Again khweefah hoef Prophet Musa peace be upon him felt hoef What kind of a hoef what kind of fear was he afraid of those snakes? No According to the hadith Musa peace be upon him was afraid that these magicians would Mislead the people people are superficial people are simple They wouldn't be able to see the depth of the matter They might think that either Musa and I paraphrase that either Musa is also a magician or magicians are also prophets because both have same kind because Prophet Musa peace be upon him had this big Snake that would that would eat up all their snakes Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said to Prophet Musa peace be upon him La ta'haf illaka anta al a'la do not fear You will be victorious So what kind of fear Prophet Musa peace be upon him felt at that moment He felt that kind of fear that that the magicians might mislead people and what should I do? What what should be my response to avoid that danger that threat that was also a good sort of fear Good fear hope So prophets did feel Hope did feel fear from Different creatures of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They did feel and it's natural They did not feel that fear in their hearts though. They were never impressed with those creatures They never believed that those creatures could Independently hurt them and they did not feel their fear in their heart. They did not let those creatures Overwhelm them their fear was rooted only in the preparation to protect themselves and getting themselves out of those Unfavorable situations that was the kind of fear the prophets felt but the prophets also Fade God and what kind of fear was that? That was not a hope That kind of fear is called Hoshija Hoshija which so casually is Often translated into English as also fair Hope fair Hoshija fair having Tahuwa a fearing God often which was the word fair For different Arabic words, but in fact these different words have different meanings Hoshija is not exactly the kind of fear that hope is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says about all his prophets La yakhshuna Ahadan illa Allah they do not have Hoshija for anyone other than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala La yakhshuna they do not fear. What kind of fear? Hoshija kind of fear, and I want you to pay attention Hoshija, I'm going to explain to you now. What is a Hoshija? We are supposed to fear God, but we're not we're not supposed to have that Kind of fear which is hope what we are supposed to have Hoshija, and what is Hoshija? Hoshija is a kind of feeling you feel in your heart when you ponder over and reflect over God's names and attributes and his creation and you realize how great the greatness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is Magnanimity his majesty is grand here when you realize that then you feel a sort of Fear in your heart, which is a feeling that you are just an insignificant being absolutely and totally Dependent on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that is Hoshija That is the kind of fear That we are supposed to have from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is not a scary being How can he be scary the one who introduces himself as ar-Rahman and ar-Raheem who has given Existence to every being who has given us so many blessings who gives us sustenance How can he be the most beneficent the most merciful being be scary? He is not scary So don't fear him have Hoshija for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and Hoshija is to feel oneself insignificant Before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and when that feeling appears in heart One does not want to run away from that being when you have hope from some being you want to run away from that being But when you have Hoshija for some being and for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala You want to get closer to God Get closer and nearer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Those who are the people of deeper understanding the people who are not superficial The ulul albab who are concerned with the matters that matter Who are concerned with the core and not the shell Who are concerned with the inner deeper layer of matters not the outer superfluous superficial layers of matters Those people have Hoshija for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala About whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says Yaxshawna Rabbahum wa Yaxhaafuna Sua Al-Hisaab They have Hoshija that kind of fear for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala feeling insignificant before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala And but they have hope fear of a bad reckoning of their deeds on the day of judgment So the fear we are supposed to have is not from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala We are not supposed to be afraid of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala But we have to be afraid of our own deeds And at this point I'm going to explain to you You see the punishments, the chastisements and all those things that we hear about We read in the Quran and in the Hadith that people will face in the hereafter They are nothing but a reality of our own deeds We are going to see our own deeds, the reality of our own deeds in the hereafter Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the holy book And those, everyone will see even an iota of good deed in the hereafter And even an iota of bad deed in the hereafter Jarah will see it, will see the actions, all the things that we do Our actions are deeds in this world We are going to see them in the hereafter For example, those people who usurp the wealth of orphans unjustly consume the wealth of orphans Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says about them That they yakuluna fi butoonihim naraam They just eat fire, they fill their bellies with fire You see that people usurp and consume unjustly the wealth, the possessions of orphans But do you see any fire in this world? No, they are having fun and they are using that wealth and those possessions just like that But in the hereafter, that possession, that wealth that they had unjustly consumed Will appear in the form of fire, the bellies will be filled with fire So who is to be blamed for that? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala scary or is that deed scary? That fire scary, when you lie, when you kill someone, when you cheat someone, when you commit Crimes, fraud, hypocrisy and all those things Those things are ugly and scary Their reality is ugly and scary in the hereafter So we should be scared of our own deeds Not from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Not from the all-merciful, the most beneficent God The most knowledgeable, the most powerful God The most wise, the all-wise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala No, he is not a scary being Therefore the Amir al-Mu'minin And the 12 Imams, the 14 infallibles, peace be upon them all Are the perfect example of al-ulama The knowledgeable ones, and they have the most khashija The best form of khashija in their hearts Because they have the most marifa, the most understanding They know God, they know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Like no one else can So if we increase our knowledge through reflection and thinking and pondering Then we will create that sort of fear in our hearts Which will make us long for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala In the Holy Quran, there is another verse In which the word khawf appears In which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says Man khawfa maqamah rabbihi Wa nahan nafsah anil hawab The one who is fearful of the maqam of his Lord The maqam of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala And does not follow the desires of his nafs For him, jannah, paradise is the reward Here, having fear is not from fear Not being afraid of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala But from his maqam What is his maqam? His maqam is that he is a qa'iman bilqwista That he manages his affairs with justice So we see that in the different works of exegesis That when one is supposed to be fearful of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala When he is supposed to face the maqam of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Which is justice One should be afraid of the justice of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Which again means the reality of our deeds The reality of our deeds we should be Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Is going to deal everyone justly And there are further details That inshallah in the future sermons I will explain about the concept of justice And qa'iman bilqwista And other concepts that are related to That have appeared That I have discussed and mentioned in this short sermon So wrapping up We have to long for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Because he is not scary He is merciful And those who are his true slaves They say to him How can I be patient upon being separated from you? In Dua Qumail we read Imam Peace be upon him says What? That even if I am patient upon the punishment And chastisement that you give me How can I be patient upon separation from you? And that kind of love for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala We have to create in our hearts And that kind of love can only come from reflection Pondering Thinking And not being superficial We have to move away from superficiality And that is why I have started this series of sermons In which insha'Allah I am going to discuss different Quranic concepts And this was the first of the series In which I have tried to give a brief discussion on Khawf and Khashija And in a nutshell We do not have to be afraid of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala We have to be afraid of our own deeds And I pray to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala That he makes us love him through reflecting And through pondering over his signs And over the greatness His greatness that is manifested in his creation And I pray to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala That we long for him And I also pray that insha'Allah What I want to do convey I have conveyed to you And wherever you are I wish you health and safety Take very good care of yourself And if you like this session Please share this video with family and friends