An-Nazi'at · Makki · ayah 19 of 46

An-Nazi'at 79:19

وَأَهْدِيَكَ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ فَتَخْشَىٰ

“And let me guide you to your Lord so you would fear [Him]?'"”

Saheeh International

Essence

Musa offers to walk ahead of Pharaoh as a guide to the Lord who raised him, because true awe only grows from knowing Him.

A reflection

Fear that grows from knowing

A young climber and an experienced mountaineer stand at the foot of the same peak. The young man is excited and a little reckless. The older one is quiet, checks every strap twice, and watches the sky. He is not a coward; he has climbed the hardest routes in the range. He is careful precisely because he knows this mountain. His caution is a form of respect.

The word at the end of this ayah, takhshā, carries that kind of fear. The lexicons give the root kh-sh-y no older physical picture. From the start it means fear. But they explain what sets it apart: khashya is fear mixed with reverence, and it grows from knowing the one you fear. The more you know, the more you feel it.

One classical commentator draws exactly that out of the ayah's order. Musa says: I will guide you to your Lord, so that you will fear. Guidance comes first, then fear. Awe, he says, only comes through knowledge. He quotes: 'Only those of His servants who have knowledge truly fear Allah' (35:28). Another scholar puts it simply: whoever knows Allah fears Him, and whoever does not know Him does not fear Him. The fear is in proportion to the knowing.

That overturns a common picture. Many people imagine religious fear as a kind of ignorant terror, the fear of someone who does not understand. The Quran's khashya is the opposite. It is the fear of the expert: the mountaineer's respect, not the child's panic.

The Quran even gives khashya to rocks. Some split open and water pours out, and some tumble down 'from awe of Allah' (2:74). If stone can know enough to tremble, the lack of awe in a human heart is a sign of not yet knowing.

So if you feel little awe of Allah, the answer is not to manufacture fear. It is to come to know Him: His names, His works, His words. Awe will follow as surely as caution follows knowledge of a mountain.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.