What Are Muttaqee, Taqwa And Its Grades?
By Kaniz Fatma, New Age
Islam
8 Jun 2021
The Quran and Sunnah
guide the Muslims to the Seven Grades of Taqwa
Main Points
Meaning of Taqwa and
Muttaqee
Physical and spiritual
forms of Taqwa
Virtues of Taqwa
Seven Grades of Taqwa and
Muttaqeen
…………….
The Arabic word Taqwa
literally means to fear, safeguard, protect and abstinence etc. Taqwa
often mentioned in the Quran, Sunnah and other Islamic sources refers to
‘God-consciousness’, ‘piousness’, ‘virtue’, God-fearing and ‘performance of
righteous deeds and avoidance of forbidden activities’. The word Muttaqee
literally denotes one who fears or one who abstains. Hence, a Muttaqee
is a person who fears Allah and refrains from all erroneous beliefs and impious
deeds.
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Also Read: What Does Taqwa Mean?
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Taqwa is of
two types, physical and spiritual. The physical form of Taqwa is
abstaining from sins and doing good deeds, while the spiritual Taqwa is
the veneration of those who are dear to Allah as Allah says in the Quran, “And
whosoever respects the signs of Allah then it is from the piety of hearts”
(27:32).
The Quran and Sunnah
have encouraged Muslims to perform Taqwa and become Muttaqeen.
The Quran and Sunnah mention several virtues that denote Taqwa,
such as “the keeping of trusts (amana) (2:283), ‘patience’ 3:186, and
‘faithfulness’ (3:76) and ‘the fear of God in terms of protecting oneself from
displeasing God Almighty’. The imperative form of taqwa is found in the
phrase Ittaqullah (fear God or be aware of Allah) which is in a number
of verses.
Allah says in the Quran,
“O People who Believe! Fear Allah (ittaqullah) in the manner He should
rightfully be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.” (3:102)
“O People who Believe!
Fear Allah (ittaqullah), and speak rightly. He will rectify your deeds
for you and forgive you your sins; and whoever obeys Allah and His Noble
Messenger, has indeed achieved a great success.” (33:70-71)
According to a Hadith,
the Prophet said, “There is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab and
neither for a non-Arab over an Arab; also there is no superiority of a white
man over a black man, neither for a black man over a white man except by piety
(Taqwa)”.
Taqwa can be
classified into seven grades. The Quran and Sunnah guide Muslims to all
these seven degrees of Taqwa.
1.
Protecting oneself from the acts of Kufr and Shirk
is the first grade of Taqwa
2.
Protecting oneself from the misguided acts (badmazhabi)
3.
Avoiding major sins (Kabeera Gunah) including Haram
(forbidden acts) and Makrooh Tahrimi (condemned acts) etc.
4.
Avoiding minor sins (Sagheera Gunah)
5.
Avoiding doubts (Shubhaat), that is, one should
avoid the thing about which there is doubt in terms of being lawful or unlawful
6.
Avoiding the evil desires (Nafsani khawahishat)
7.
Avoid paying attention to anything that takes you away
from Allah Almighty, that is, avoid everything that takes you away from the
remembrance of Allah.
All the good deeds
including the ones related to Huququl Ibad (Human rights) please Allah
and the evil deeds including the ones that violate human rights displease Allah
Almighty. So performing the good deeds and avoid doing evil deeds are also
included in the forms of Taqwa.
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