What does it mean to be between fear (Khawf) and hope (Raja)”?

A Brief Description of the Question: 

What does it mean to be between fear (Khawf) and hope (Raja)”?

The Answer: 

Khawf means “fear, to frighten” and raja means “wish, hope, to beg and to wish”. A calm sea cannot be as beautiful as a wavy sea. Branches waving forth and back with the blowing wind displays a more pleasant scene than still trees. We cannot see the wind; if we could, we could watch it like a wavy sea too.

Harmonic swinging of trees is result of the blowing wind. Human soul resembles that wavy sea and that swinging tree. Angels resemble that calm water and still plants. Human soul is exposed to the wind of testing. And his heart is ruled by inconsistency and changeability.

That consistent change, those unceasing waves in human soul gives it a different beauty. That state elevates humans to a position higher than angels. In the human heart, only one fabric is woven from diverse colors. The manifestations of Allah’s grace and wrath together lead that heart to maturity. Grief and kindness come together in that heart in the form of consent.

These two diverse phenomena result in two diverse feelings in heart: Khawf and raja.

Khawf is a sweet fearing of Allah’s wrath, greatness and magnificence… And raja is an everlasting and joyful hope for His kindness, goodness and generosity…

People who pass the earthly testing successfully are the ones who believe in all of Allah’s  attributions, acts and names together. Wrathful names of His evoke fear and awe in their hearts, while graceful names of His fill their hearts with hope, bliss and delight.

They are given a couple of tests called orders and prohibitions. They encounter halals (permissible things) and harams (forbidden things) and most of the time they are stuck between what is wrong and what is right. Doing the right things is called good deeds and avoiding wrong things is called taqwa (God-Consciousness). When one does good deeds, the door of Hope opens and when one advances in taqwa the door of Fear opens. Both doors lead to the same destination: Heaven.

A true believer must both fear and hope, because Allah is both Ghaffar (forgiver) and Qahhar (punisher). He can both forgive and punish or destroy.

Here is a scene of creation which teaches us a lesson of fear and hope:

Magma burns consistently like an oven in the core of the Earth. The Sun above throws its flames kilometers away. Eventually, human beings, animals, seas and forests continue to live between these two fires.

Human’s spiritual development continues between two fires too: Desire and Satan. Seeing such a scene, one must think in this way: As my body continues to live between the Sun and Magma, my soul is still a true believer in spite of my excessive desires and Satan. In this sense, there is no reason to be hopeless of Allah’s mercy. And as I cannot get away from these two fires even for a single moment, it is also impossible for me to be sure that punishment will not come to me…

Fear and hope are the attributions of a true believer. For this reason, whichever of them leaves the soul, the danger of infidelity emerges. A person who does not fear follows the way of disobedience, which may lead to infidelity. Decrease of hope may lead to hopelessness, which may also lead to infidelity.

While some verses in the Quran give the good news of Heaven to true believers, some verses threaten rebels with Hell. They make a pleasant harmony in human soul giving it both hope and fear, like our hearts beating, stopping and beating again continuously.

The chapter al-Fatiha is like the table of contents and summary of the Quran. Fear and hope are taught together in it.

“Hamd” means praise and glory.
“Maliki yawmiddin (the owner of punishment day)” teaches fear.
“Ibadah” points out to hope and “istiane” points out to fear.
“Sirat-al Mustaqim” is a wish and hope for the right way.
Being one of “Maghdub” and “dallin” is fear.

The soul of a true believer who recites al-Fatiha travels between the waves of fear and hope, even though he/she may not feel.

Alaaddin Başar (Ph.D)

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