Understanding 3:175

[Mahmood Qasmi]

اِنَّمَا ذَلِكُمْ الشَّيْطَنُ يُخَوِّفُ اوْلِيَاءَهُ فَلَا تَخَافُوهُمْ وَخَافُونِ اِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ
Usually translated as:
It is only the Satan, that would instill into you fear of his protectors. So, fear them not, but fear Me if you are indeed believers!

I having a bit of difficulty understanding the above... how can God ask us to fear Him, and in the preceding part of the verse implying that it is Satan that instills fear of what is its means of propagation.

Islam is for my benefit, and is a system of life that is ordained by my Creater and Protector, so why fear Him Who is giving me something I can benefit from?

Quoting 96:19
كَلَّا لَا تُطِعْهُ وَاسْجُدْ وَاقْتَرِبْ
Nay, never be intimidated by a man like this! But submit completely in adoration to Divine Commands, and let every step of yours bring you nearer to your noble Goal.

And 33:37
وَإِذْ تَقُولُ لِلَّذِي أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَأَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَمْسِكْ عَلَيْكَ زَوْجَكَ وَاتَّقِ اللَّهَ وَتُخْفِي فِي نَفْسِكَ مَا اللَّهُ مُبْدِيهِ وَتَخْشَى النَّاسَ وَاللَّهُ أَحَقُّ أَنْ تَخْشَهُ فَلَمَّا قَضَى زَيْدٌ مِنْهَا وَطَرًا زَوَّجْنَكَهَا لِكَيْ لَا يَكُونَ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ حَرَجٌ فِي أَزْوَجِ أَدْعِيَائِهِمْ إِذَا قَضَوْا مِنْهُنَّ وَطَرًا وَكَانَ أَمْرُ اللَّهِ مَفْعُولًا
[In personal matters you may respectfully disagree with Muhammad in the capacity of a human being (3]: Behold, (one of) you did tell the one to whom Allah had shown Favor and to whom (that one of) you had shown favor, “Hold on to your wife and be mindful of Allah. You seek to conceal in your heart what Allah intends to reveal. You are afraid of people whereas it is more appropriate to fear Allah.” But when he had observed all the rules and divorced her, We gave her to (the one of) you in marriage. So that henceforth there may be no blame on the believers in respect of spouses of their adopted children when they have come to the dissolution of their union. And the Commandment of Allah must be fulfilled. (Contrary to many erroneous translations, the entire quote in this verse is addressed to a believer since Messengers fear none but Allah 33:39. Zayd here cannot be one of the companions, or the Prophet's adopted son since, as a rule, no companion has been mentioned in the Qur'an by name. The name has been used as an abstract like John Doe in English).

takhshannaasa is not the same as takhfaannaasa ...

antakhshahuu does not mean antakhfahuu...

Kh-Sh-Y: to "fear" with reverence/veneration/honour/awe

Kh-F(-F): to be agitated or excited by reason of fear and anger

So indeed the fear of "satan's pals" is quite different than the Fear of God (I think I will use it with a capital F to distinguish it from now on) and has to be taken in its proper scope. I think this has more to do with being overwhelmed with humility, respect and reverence, and perhaps at that point, there is a fuzzy boundary between this feeling and Fear itself. I could be wrong, but from what I think, some of the poets of the IndoPak may have captured this concept in their understanding of Tasawwuf.

And as such, the translation of 3:175 would be:
It is only "that which is farthest from truth/righteousness", that would instill into you fear of its protectors. So, fear not "its protectors", but Fear Me (by virtue of utter awe, reverence and humility /AND/ by virtue of what will befall you, should you succomb to their tactics by not keeping yourself in check) if you are indeed believers!

I would like to have an opinion from you in this regard. Please share your opinion.

[Ahmed Mateen]

Salam,

3:175 It is only the Satan, that would instill into you fear of his allies. (Satan's allies = Selfish desire in different guises). So, fear them not, but fear Me, if you are indeed believers!

This translation is not wrong but the Message is not clear. This is why I believe that it is almost impossible to translate Quran with its true spirit. This is why I think Allama Parwez avoided translating Quran. If you read his Exposition of Quran in Urdu, you will see he has given the right meaning of that verses. Here is a simple explanation how I understand the Fear of Allah:

FEAR OF GOD-MADE LAWS AND MAN-MADE LAWS.

You might have seen, when two motor vehicles collide against each other, the driver at fault tries to run away in order to escape punishment. If he is arrested by police he tries to offer bribe and bring some "Sifarish" for the police officer in order to escape punishment. It is too bad to try to escape punishment after committing a crime, by means of bribery or "Sifarish" and to get the case decided in your favour. Why? In order to understand this point, pay attention to the case of the boy who had burnt his hand. Had he put his hand into the fire, while sitting in a closed room, with no body to watch him, even then he could not saved himself from pain and punishment. No bribery or "Sifiarish" could help him. That is the fundamental difference between the non-observance of God-made laws and the man-made laws. The man who disobeys man-made laws, sometimes gets a chance to escape after disobedience.

Sometimes it so happens that one who commits a crime escapes and somebody else gets punished in his place. But this can not occur when a God-made law is disobeyed. It is impossible that one man puts his finger inside the fire but another one feels pain instead of him. This is the second basic difference between a God-made law and a man-made law. It is also impossible in the case of God-made laws that one person commits a crime and another gets punished instead.
Islamic way of living

Fear of Allah is fear of voilating His laws. Why fear of voilating His laws because Allah never changes His laws for anyone, even for Himself. What happened when people voilate these Laws? See few example and this is why we should fear of Allah’s Laws:

16:112 Allah gives you an example. Think of a township that used to be secure and prosperous, with provision coming to it in plenty from all directions. But, they practically denied Allah's blessings by not sharing them with the needy. So Allah’s Law made it experience the garb of hunger and fear for their wrong system. (6:44).

65:8 And how many a community has rebelled against the Command of its Lord and His Messengers! Hence, We called each to account with a stern accounting and punished it with an exemplary punishment.

7:3-4 O People! Follow what has been sent to you from your Lord and follow no masters other than Him. How seldom do you keep this in mind! (You will find ample documentation in history that when communities ignored Our Permanent Value System they met with destruction.) How many a community Our Law of Requital has annihilated! Our Requital visited them by night, or while they slept at noon.

22:48 (“As you sow, so shall you reap”, is a rock-solid Law, as evidenced by the history of the rise and fall of nations.) How many communities have gone before whom I gave respite although they were transgressors, but then My Law of Requital seized them. For with Me is the end of all journeys.

[Mahmood Qasmi]

This translation is not wrong but the Message is not clear...Fear of Allah is fear of voilating His laws. Why fear of voilating His laws because Allah never changes His laws for anyone, even for Himself.

Yes, if taken as stand-alone, it for sure will be taken out of context, and hence Tasreef is mandatory.

[Arnold Yasin Mol]

Salaam Aleikum,

I believe Fear of Allah is explained throught he word Taqwa. I will quote Toshihiko Izutsu in his remarkable work 'God and Man in the Quran'.

Page 235:

"Al-Tibrizi in his commentary on Diwan Al-Hamasah which runs:

Ittaqa means you place between yourself (A) and something you are afraid of (B), something (C) which might protect you by preventing it (B) from reaching you."In short, it means self-defence by means of something. The general situation is this: A man (A) perceives something (B) coming towrds him, which looks dangerous, destructive, or atleast harmful. He does not like it to reach him, he must stop it before it reaches him and does harm to him. So he puts between himself and the thing (B) something (C) which is strong enough to stop its uncoming."

B-----------> C <---A

Allah calls Himself Ghafoor, meaning Helmet/Harnas, He protects us by giving us the Revelation that guides us to the right behaviour. Also He says He is Maliki-YauwmeDeen, the Supreme Lawmaker and Implyer of these Laws of judging Cause and Effect in our existence.

Thus the Fear of Allah refers to that we must seriously fear the consequences of our deeds which will come back to us. So fearing Allah is taking the Law of Requital very serious. Most people don't believe in YauwmeDeen, the Constant Law of Requital. They don't fear it, and thus they don't fear He who has made this Divine Law.

We must protect ourselves (A) from the consequences of our wrong deeds (B) through the will of protecting ourselves, which thus means following the Quran (C), which teaches us how to act correctly in Reality.

So fearing Allah is taking His Law of Requital seriously, and thus study His Revelation closely, and follow His Divine Laws of Nature and Revelation closely (salat) so we are protected against any consequence of wrong deeds we learn how to avoid.

[Mahmood Qasmi]

Once again, beautifully articulated!!! :) Yes that is what seems to be my understanding is too. But for some reason when put in the sentence "It is not God Who should be feared; fear what your actions would do to you if you fail to keep yourself in check", suddenly it starts sounding awkward to people, as it has on another forum where I posted my question.

I would like to know whether the way I have rendered 3:175 is correct or not:
It is only "that which is farthest from truth/righteousness", that would instill into you fear of its protectors. So, fear not "its protectors", but Fear Me (by virtue of utter awe, reverence and humility /AND/ by virtue of My Law that will catch you by the forelock, should you succomb to their tactics by not keeping yourself in check) if you are indeed believers!

[Arnold Yasin Mol]

Yes, that is perfect. But I would also include (Because I'm Maliki-YauwmeDeen, the Supreme Lawmaker and Implyer of these Laws of judging Cause and Effect in our existence).