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ADMONITIONS FROM THE QURAN |  |
Faith is a strong emotion based on love and acceptance of the existence of God, and on confidence that the entire universe has been created by him. The mystery of faith in God innate in man connotes loving the Almighty Creator with thankfulness and gratitude. Faith as a mystery may only be perceived by the heart which is beyond the mind. Hujurat 49/7: "..... God has endeared to you the Faith, and has made it pleasing in your hearts...." A man's faith is first kindled innately in his heart enabling him to know His Creator. Once this faith is made firm, the process of salvation begins. It is made manifest by the kindling in one's heart of that fire within one's heart and made whole by a reciprocal action inspired by God. Belief in the Supreme being emanates from the kindling of the fire of love in the heart of the human being. Yunus 10/100: "It is not possible for anyone to believe except by the permission of God… " Taghabun 64/11: "…Whoever believes in God (truly and sincerely), He guides his heart…"
Yusuf 12/103: And most men will not believe though you desire it eagerly. Those who are affected by bad attributes and evil can not ignite the light of faith in their hearts. As a consequence of this, they can not believe. Zukhruf 43 / 36 - 37 : : " Whoever wilfully ignores the remembrance of the All-Merciful, We assign to him a devil, who becomes his closest comrade. Such devils certainly bar them from the way (of truth). Yet they think that they are rightly guided. …" So these people can't pass the tests presented in everyday life, indeed, they can't elevate themselves from a miserable life. Baqarah 2/264: "…and God does not guide those who deny the truth..."
Quran warns the nations who don't believe sincerely with the verses of Hujurat 49/14: "The Bedouin say, 'We believe.' Say, You do not believe. Rather, say, 'We have submitted our wills to God,' for belief has not yet entered your hearts. Yet if you obey God and His Messenger, He will not diminish for you aught of your deeds. Truly God is Forgiving, Merciful. .."
The majority of the people of some Islamic nations don't have belief in their heart because they could not light the faith. For the reason that lacking God's guidance they fall behind in their development.
Almighty Creator explains about his true believers in the verses of Anfal 8/2: " The true believers are only those who, when God is mentioned, their hearts tremble with awe, and when His Revelations are recited to them, it strengthens them in faith, and they put their trust in their Lord. "
CHARACTERISTICS OF ONE WHO HAS TAQWA
Our Lord wants His servants to have faith in their heart and live based on the characteristics of taqwa. Baqarah 2/177 explains taqwa's attributes:
... those with true righteousness are those who have faith in God and the Last Day, the Angels, the Book and the Prophets, and who, despite their love for it, give away their wealth to their relatives and to orphans and the very poor, and to travellers and beggars and to set slaves free, and who establish salat and pay zakat; those who honour their contracts when they make them, and are steadfast in poverty and illness and in battle. Those are the people who are true. They are the people who have TAQWA.
Almighty God orders us to believe in him as well as the Last Day, the Angels, the Holy Books, the Prophets. For our salvation, he expects us to give away our wealth voluntarily, perform salat, pay zakat, keep our word when we promise and be patient in misfortune. Zumar 39/61: " God will save those who were mindful of Him by the virtue of their successful choices " In that case, we will be able to obtain this spiritual triumph only making our effort and actions.
While the servant of God is improving the skills of having taqwa he starts to get rid of the ego's bad attributes including Shirk (is the sin of practicing idolatry or polytheism, the worship of anyone or anything besides the singular God ), cruelty, impiety, lying, prurience, idolatry to the ego, mocking, gossiping etc. Evil qualities never leave one before moral qualities are developed. As the spiritual attributes are achieved one by one, the evil traits abandon the person. After all, the taqwa's qualities, based on positive power, can't live together with the ego's bad attributes. The dominant one destroys the rest.
Every Muslim has to learn taqwa's characteristics and has to perform with effort and exertion. If one can't perform it suitably then one has to resign himself to God's mercy and grace. The Quran Taghabun 64/16 says: "So be mindful of God as much as you can". "Loving God requires loving all that He has created." Attaining increased merit in the sight of God is possible so long as we provide service to the others who are the issue of the Mighty Creator.
In order to obtain taqwa's attributes, approximately ten primary worship conditions from the Holy Quran must be observed. 1) Infaq and love, 2) Salat (Prayer), 3) Zakat, 4) Forgiveness and appeal for mercy 5) Patience, 6) Fasting, 7) Beneficence, 8) Keep one's word, 9) Justice and Honesty, 10) Knowledge
TEN FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF TAQWA