The Uncertainty of the End and Fear (Hawf)
The greatest unknown in human life is “the future,” particularly death. True believers, just as they repent for their past sins, also deeply worry about what their future will be like and how their final breath (hüsn-ü hatime) will unfold. Abdülkadir Geylânî (q.s.) explains this sensitive situation as follows: “The possibility of a bad end frightens them.” Because they do not know what Allah has decreed for them eternally (“They are unaware of what the Knowledge of God requires”), they never relax their worship, nor succumb to arrogance and complacency.
Piercing the Darkness with Light
The only lantern a servant has against that unknown, pitch-black darkness of the future is obedience to Allah. “Allah’s travelers enter the darkness with light. Their light is servitude to God.” Perfect believers, instead of being paralyzed by fear and anxiety, walk over that uncertainty with piety, prayer, fasting, and tears. Until death knocks at their door, they live every moment with a consciousness of worship, illuminating that dark passage with Divine light. Their fears (hawf) are not despair but an impetus driving them to constant righteous deeds.
The Eternal Dawn at the End of Darkness
The end of this worldly life spent with fear and the light of worship leads to indescribable illumination and peace. Those who feared Allah’s punishment in this world and clung to the lantern of servitude, “then go to paradise, the most beautiful place in the next realm.” There, they witness that all sorrows have ended, fears have turned into safety, and they attain the secret of the verse “Allah removed sorrow from us” (Fâtir, 34). Those who challenge the darkness with the torch of servitude in the transient world are rewarded in the eternal realm with the light of Allah’s Beauty.