The Islam Compass

How Does a Muslim Relate to Allah?

Not terror. Not presumption. Love, hope and awe — held together.

Questions7 min

People who look at Islam from outside sometimes assume the relationship must be one of dread — rules, judgement, punishment. People who look at some modern religion assume the opposite: God as an affirming presence who never says no. Islam is neither.

The Qur'an describes the believer's heart as holding three things at once. Scholars of the Sunni tradition have compared it to a bird: love is its head, and hope and fear are its two wings. Remove any one and it cannot fly.

  • ScholarshipIbn al-Qayyim, Madarij al-SalikinThe heart on its journey to Allah is like a bird: love its head, fear and hope its two wings.

Love

This comes first, and the Qur'an says so. The believer's defining trait is not fear of God but intensity of love for Him — a love that comes from knowing who He is: the One who made you, sustains you every second, forgives you when you turn back, and wants good for you.

…But those who believe are stronger in love for Allah.…
Qur'an — Surah Al-Baqarah 2:165Translation: Saheeh International
…Allah will bring forth [in place of them] a people He will love and who will love Him…
Qur'an — Surah Al-Ma'idah 5:54Translation: Saheeh International

Hope

A Muslim is forbidden to despair. However far a person has gone, the door back is open, and the Qur'an says so in words that Muslims have leaned on for fourteen centuries.

Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful."
Qur'an — Surah Az-Zumar 39:53Translation: Saheeh International

The Prophet ﷺ once watched a woman searching frantically for her child among captives; when she found him she clutched him to her chest and nursed him. He said:

“Do you think this woman would throw her child into the fire? … Allah is more merciful to His servants than this woman is to her child.”

Sahih al-Bukhari · 5999 · also Sahih Muslim 2754Quoted in part.

“Allah the Exalted says: I am as My servant expects Me to be…”

Sahih al-Bukhari · 7405 · also Sahih Muslim 2675Quoted in part.

Fear — or rather, awe

The Arabic words are khawf and khashyah, and neither means the cringing fear of a tyrant. It is closer to what you feel before something immense and just: the awareness that Allah sees everything, that His justice is real, and that no one is guaranteed anything on the strength of their own record. This is not opposed to love. It is what love looks like when the beloved is also the Judge.

The Qur'an places hope and fear side by side, again and again, as the natural posture of prayer.

…They hope for His mercy and fear His punishment. Indeed, the punishment of your Lord is ever feared.
Qur'an — Surah Al-Isra 17:57Translation: Saheeh International

Two consecutive verses hold the balance exactly:

[O Muhammad], inform My servants that it is I who am the Forgiving, the Merciful. And that it is My punishment which is the painful punishment.
Qur'an — Surah Al-Hijr 15:49-50Translation: Saheeh International

“If the believer knew what punishment Allah has, no one would hope for Paradise; and if the disbeliever knew what mercy Allah has, no one would despair of Paradise.”

Sahih Muslim · 2755

Why all three

Fear without hope becomes despair, and despair stops a person from turning back. Hope without fear becomes presumption, and presumption stops a person from changing. Love without either becomes sentiment. Together they produce something else: a person who runs toward Allah and away from what displeases Him, in the same movement, for the same reason.

That is the emotional centre of Islam. Not a ledger. A relationship with the Most Merciful, who is also the Just — sought in love, hoped in, and held in awe.

…And invoke Him in fear and aspiration. Indeed, the mercy of Allah is near to the doers of good.
Qur'an — Surah Al-A'raf 7:56Translation: Saheeh International

Related

Sources & References

12 cited

Religious content here follows the Qur'an, the authentic Sunnah, and the established scholarship of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah. Qur'an citations link to the verse; hadith carry collection and number; Tafsir and historical claims name the work. Where something could not be verified, it is not published.

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