HOW TO DEVELOP TAQWA?

Sometimes people ask the question, how to obtain Taqwa (fear of Allah SWT), how to turn our Duniya (material world) into Deen (eternal rewards)? These questions have been answered in the following verse of the Quran:

یا ایھا الذین آمنو اتقو الّٰلہ و کونو مع الصادقین

"O those who believe! Fear from Allah and be with those who are righteous." Allah SWT is so kind to us that he just doesn't order us to do something, but also takes into consideration our human weaknesses, our limitations, and our needs, and then shows us the easy way of doing it. So Allah SWT has told us that the easy way of obtaining Taqwa is to seek the Suhbat (company) of those who already have Taqwa, and who are righteous. It is human nature that we absorb the influence of people we spend most time with.

Allah SWT has not sent a single Holy Book without a Prophet. There are many Prophets who came without any books, but there is not a single Holy Book which came without a Prophet. The reason is that for bringing about a significant and consistent change in a human being a book alone is never enough. If a person starts believing that as all the medical science books are freely available in bookshops now, he can become a doctor and start treating people once he has read and understood those books by himself, all he will end up doing is killing people. To become a doctor it is absolutely essential that a person, besides reading books, also goes through systematic training under the supervision of an (in fact many) expert doctor. Similarly, these days cooking books are easily available. But if a person who has never learnt to cook at all tries to prepare Biryani in his first attempt at cooking, just by following instructions given in a book, and without taking any input from an expert cook, goodness knows what kind of end product he would end up with. 

The situation with religion is exactly the same that to guide a human being on the right path a book alone is not enough. What is the meaning of the word Sahaba (the Holy Companions of Rasool Allah SAW)? They are known as Sahaba because they learnt Islam not through books but spending time in the Suhbat (company) of Rasool Allah SAW. And they taught it to people (تابعین) who sat in their Suhbat, who then taught it to the next generation of Muslims (تبع تابعین). This is how the true spirit of Islam has reached us. So Allah SWT has taught us that the easy way of developing Taqwa is to spend time in the company of someone who has already developed Taqwa. We will then InshaAllah (God willing) develop Taqwa as a result of their Suhbat (companionship). 

Adapted from the talk "Doing trade is both Deen and Duniya" by Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani DB.