Those who are pious and offer their complete allegiance to the Commandments and Injunctions of Allah, are called muttaqi. Their surrender to the Will of Allah is ‘Taqwa’. They are guided by the principle of self-denial to live above worldly quest. They deny evil temptations, conduct life avoiding all prohibited deeds, abide by the Injunctions and rituals according to
the Holy Quran and Sunnah. This is what the Islamic life in the true sense of the term teaches.
The Holy Quran reveals: “O ye who believe! /Fasting is prescribed to you/ As it was prescribed/ To those before you, /That ye may (learn)/ Self-restraint (ye may be muttaqi/ righteous)”. (Sura Baqara 2: 183)
The verse throws light on the purpose of Allah’s Commandment on fasting. The observance of fasting enables one to learn self-restraint and one becomes a muttaqi. So, the Rozadar is fortunate to become righteous, as Allah Rabbul Alameen desires.
Now, what are the rewards of muttaqi ? The Holy Quran says, “But God will deliver/ The righteous to their place /Of salvation : no evil/ Shall touch them, /Nor shall they grieve”. (Sura Zumar 39 : 61) “As to the Righteous,/ They will be in the midst /Of Gardens and Rivers.” /”In an Assembly of Truth, /In Presence of/ A Sovereign Omnipotent”. (Sura Qamar 54: 54, 55)
Allama Yusuf Ali in the ‘Holy Quran : Translation and Commentary’ explains the rewards: ” The record, in the case of those who dishonoured and violated Truth, will lead to their undoing ; but in the case of those who honoured the Truth and adopted it so as to shine in their righteous lives, the result is expressed by four metaphors, in an ascending degree of sublimity: (1) they will be in the midst of Gardens where rivers flow, (2) they will be in an Assembly of Truth ; (3) in the Presence of God ; (4) Whose sovereignty is Omnipotent.”
He says ” The Garden suggests all the Bliss we can imagine through our senses….”
He adds: ” But there is a higher conception still, something so intensely spiritual that it can only be expressed by reference to the Presence of God. God is present everywhere and at all times, but when His Presence becomes an actual realised experience to its fullest extent, then we have reached Heaven.”
