Lately, I feel like the word taqwa is being used more often. Huzur (may Allah strengthen his hands) continuously stated in his Friday Sermon on July 4, 2014, that we should all aim to adopt taqwa.

Piety, God-Fearing, Righteous...these are all words that mean taqwa. However, I would say that the best word to describe taqwa is being God-concscious. This is an essential quality of a believer, and one of the central concepts in the Qur'an. Some of you may have heard the following example of taqwa: If you were to walk through a path of thorns, what would you do? You would be extremely cautious to avoid the thorns. You would protect your clothes and self from being harmed. And you would be completely aware of your surroundings while walking. This is taqwa. While walking through this dangerous journey of life, we must protect ourselves from sin so that we can complete this journey untouched by sin. In order to do this, we must understand that God is everywhere, and aware of our every action. We must also understand our relationship with Him. He is our Creator and we are His servants. As servants, we must always try to please our Creator and avoid doing anything that displeases Him. However, what makes this challenging yet rewarding is expressing such a level of alertness, when He is not actually visible. We know that Allah is not physically present or visible by our eyes. But, He is always Present and Unseen.


HOW DO YOU LOSE TAQWA?
Love of this world goes hand in hand with greed, pride, hatred and enmity towards fellow human beings. All of these traits can cause you to feel like you have power, and don't need Allah. Not being aware of Allah is what leads to these traits. This is because if you were aware that Allah dislikes such characteristics in His servants, you wouldn't adopt them.

This isn't a concept that's only seen in Islam, it's also seen in other religions such as Christianity. The fear of God in order to fear displeasing Him, is a central theme in the Bible as well. And the reason for this is that if we aren't aware of God and His presence, then we won't be able to refrain from displeasing Him altogether. Think of it in this way, when a child knows that their mother is watching, they are less likely to do something that will displease her. In the same way, when a believer is aware that Allah is present and watching, they will be less likely to displease Him.