Jim Corbett (1875-1955) was a legendary British hunter. He authored a famous book Man-Eaters of Kumaon. It details the experiences that Corbett had in the Kumaon region of India from the 1900s to the 1930s, while hunting man-eating tigers and leopards. In one instance he observes the dreadfulness of the tiger thus: “The near proximity of a tiger in daylight, even when it has not seen you, causes a disturbance in the blood stream. When the tiger is not an ordinary one, however, but a man-eater and the time is ten o’clock on a dark night, and you know the man-eater is watching you, the disturbance in the blood stream becomes a storm.” (The Mukhtesar Man-eater)

This storm in the bloodstream is due to fear of the tiger. Fear of the same kind is also an attribute of a true believer for God. There is a verse in chapter Al-Anfal (The Spoils of War) of the Quran in this regard:

True believers are those whose hearts tremble with awe at the mention of God. (8:2)

Both the fear of the tiger and the fear of God appear to be the same. But there is a qualitative difference between the two. The fear of the tiger is negative fear, while the fear of God is totally positive fear. The fear of tiger has no positive aspect, while the fear of God is positive fear in the greatest sense of the word. Fear of the tiger is fear of an animal that can only harm you, while fear of God is fear of a Being that can bestow on you all kinds of favour. Tiger’s fear is fear for the sake of fear, while the fear of God is for the sake of salvation, for the sake of Paradise, and for the sake of the eternal blessings of God Almighty.

The fear of God is fear, only in form; but in spirit, it is a high kind of love and high kind of strong affection. Fear of God is full of hope. Fear of God gives you high motivation for doing good works, so that you may be selected for being settled in Paradise.

God Almighty is the treasure-house of all kinds of blessings. He is the only giver. At the same time He is Arham ur-rahimin (7:151), that is, the Most Merciful of the merciful.

When you discover God Almighty and realize that He has all these high attributes, you will be filled with feelings of love for Him. At the same time, you know that God is the greatest, God is all-powerful, and God is the Lord of everything. The combination of these two sentiments, your love for God and your realization of God’s greatness, manifests in a unique form. All the words of the dictionary fall short of expressing this sentiment. This sentiment is full of affection, at the same time, it is full of awe.

In human language, it is impossible to find a word that can express this noble spirit. This spirit is fear in its appearance, but love in its inner content. This is the highest stage of faith in God.

God-consciousness is the highest form of man’s sentimental expression. When a person reaches this level of consciousness, he is so overwhelmed by his feelings that he forgets all words from his memory. If he tries to express this in the word “love”, he finds that the feeling is also full of fear; and when he tries to express it in the word “fear”, he finds that it is also full of love. In the dictionary of inner feelings, it is a completely known experience, but as far as words are concerned, there is no word in any dictionary that can fully express this sublime sentiment.

Source: Quranic Wisdom