ভূমিকা

(Al-Aaraf 7:201) Taqwa or Piety is Achieved With Practice When we admit a child for the first time in a school, on the first day he is neither able to read nor write. He gets motivated to do any schoolwork in the beginning with difficulty. But when he is slowly initiated into reading and writing, he makes rapid progress. In time he will not have any difficulty in coping with his lessons. Same is the case of taqwa or piety. Man has to strive to abstain from committing sins.

Whenever he finds a situation to commit a sin, he should control himself and avoid committing it. The way a child gets used to reading and writing and becomes comfortable at these skills after some time, similarly when one tries with full determination to shun sinning, in good time he will be able to totally stop these undesirable acts. At this stage Allah (S.w.T.) will put a light in his heart that makes avoiding sins easier for him.

He will have so much control on his tongue that even for the kingdom of the entire world, he would not tell a lie. The same sins, the avoidance of which was next to impossible for him, now become very difficult to commit! Man should make efforts to inculcate such will power that he is able to avoid commitment of sins with ease. With this faculty in his heart, he will draw pleasure from the success of his efforts. No doubt Allah (S.w.T.) doesn’t like infidelity in his creatures.

“He has made faith ( Imān ) dear to them. He has made it the adornment for their hearts. And has created abhorrence in him for Infidelity and disobedience.” * * At last a sinner starts disliking sins. He achieves the state of Taqwa where sin appears bitter than the bitterest thing and every small evil act seems the most evil. He thinks that every sin, howsoever minor, worth reproaching to the maximum extent. The highest level of piety is cultivated after much practice and constant effort.

There are a few stages and ranks of this piety.