On the Concept of Taqwa in the Qur'an

Abstract

The term taqwa is usually taken to mean “fear of God, ” or “piety.” The pre-Islamic meaning of taqwa was “self-defense against some destructive force coming outside.” Prof. Izutsu analyzes that this original meaning of taqwa, brought into the Qur'anic world, changes into “fear of God.” By contrast, Prof. Rahman emphasizes the ethical meaning of the concept of taqwa, which he translates as “conscience.” He insists that “self-defense, ” the original meaning, is the basic meaning of the Qur'anic concept of taqwa.
In order to elucidate the concept of taqwa, the Qur'anic usages of taqwa and other forms of the same Arabic root W-Q-Y are analyzed on the one hand. On the other hand, some of the basic themes in the Qur'an are briefly explained: “the personal relation between God and man, ” “the Day of Judgment, ” and “the crucial importance of man's deed based on the idea of the Islamic community.”
The terms tagwd, iman (faith) and islam (surrender) mean one and the same total response of man to the One God, but each term shows a different modality of the whole. In the modality of taqwa, man confronts God as mysterium tremendum, which implies more than “fear of God.” While the modality of faith is related to the inner peaceful, static self, that of taqwa is related to the active self who acts in historical situations. This is due to the preservation of the original meaning of taqwa “self-defense.” The direct self-defense is impossible against God. Within the modality of tagwd, man is already surrendered. A new meaning is given to “self-defense, ” that is, “to follow the divine guidance and not to follow man's selfish desires.”