"No fear upon them, nor shall they grieve"

One of the most repeated verse endings of the Qur’an, and one of my favorites too.

It’s mentioned in over 10 verses, as a consequence of following the Path of God, seeking His Guidance, doing good (specifically comes in Ayahs about giving charity), and it’s just beautiful how the reward has to do with easing two of the harshest emotions that human beings can experience in their lifetime. Fear and sadness.

Many scholars and speakers have delved into the linguistic interpretation of it, and they’re all extremely mind-blowing. My favorite was Dr. Fadel Saleh Alsamerai’s talk – look it up if you have the time! I’ll try to document a tiny part of it here, but his passion while laying it out is just something else.

Fear and sadness are undoubtedly universal emotions; no human being can exist without experiencing them – even babies! Fear is related to the future; from the most intense fear of losing loved ones or fear of potential failures, to the day-to-day fear of maybe being late to work or making a bad decision. It’s always a fear of something that’s yet to happen. In contrast, sadness is about what happens in the past. You can’t possibly be sad about something that’s meant to happen in the future; you can be afraid it would. And so both emotions are interrelated in a sense.

When God mentions fear, He doesn’t say believers will no longer “experience” it. He just explains that there will be no fear “upon” them. As in, there won’t be an actual danger imposed on the person, even if they feel it. As in, there won’t be an actual danger imposed on the person, even if they feel it. A child can be afraid of a toy for instance, while their parent knows it brings no harm. They would otherwise take action if there is a reason to be scared. So God doesn’t aim to eliminate the fear as an experience. In fact, believers are in constant fear of the day of judgment. Yet feeling it does not necessarily mean there is a potential threat, and vice versa. They can feel it, and still be safe.

Fear can be a helpful emotion, unlike sadness. If someone feels sad for you, it doesn’t change much about the pain you already personally feel inside. It’s much worse to have to feel it yourself. And that’s when you need Him to really help you heal. It doesn’t mean that believers never experience sadness. As a matter of fact, the Prophet (PBUH) himself grieved the loss of his wife and his uncle during the “Year of Sorrow” (عام الحزن), and we know Yacoub (AS) cried until he went blind when he thought he lost his son, Yusuf. There will always be those incidents that’ll undeniably bring us to our knees. Grief will constantly be part of the equation. Even if it’s not about death. Life is already full of hardships, especially the life of believers. And yet, imagine feeling that extreme sadness without having God in your heart. Without having a belief at the back of your mind, that He’s doing what’s best for you. That He will grant you something much better if you hang in there, and be patient. It’s truly hard to navigate through life with all it’s meant to bring along, without believing in the existence of a God that would take care of you. And that’s His promise, always.

Because He even implies that, in His linguistic choice; He gives a noun for fear (the more permanent, since it relates to the future) and a verb for sadness (it’s temporary; in life, it comes and goes). God is most certainly around in both. Because His negation of the temporary sadness, also negates the temporary fear. And His negation of the permanent fear, accordingly negates the permanent sadness too. For you get sad over what you were once fearful of, and you fear what might bring you sorrow later on. And in any case, He’s the only One who can help you through both.

That’s His promise. If we just believe. If we’re just mindful of Him in all that we do. Because when we make it to Jannah, all this will FOREVER fade away. Every unpleasant emotion you’ve ever felt inside, it will be gone. Just.like.that. Dunya is much shorter than we think, we’ll all be there soon. inshaAllah! 🙂