Bismillahi ‘r-Rahmaani ‘r-Raheem,

With the name of Allah, the most loving & caring, the always loving and caring,

Taqwa is a high standard, something people spend lifetime’s trying to attain. And if one is able to attain it, they must spend their life protecting and nurturing that taqwa. It is defined as follows:

‘Umar ibn Al-Khattab once asked Ubay ibn Ka’ab: “How would you describe Taqwa?” In reply Ubay asked, “Have you ever had to traverse a thorny path?” ‘Umar replied in the affirmative and Ubay then continued, “How do you do so?” ‘Umar said that he would carefully walk through after first having collected all loose and flowing clothing in his hands so nothing gets caught in the thorn. Ubay said: “This is the definition of Taqwa.”

It is plain that taqwa is a cautiousness with regard to obeyig Allah most high, coming from piety and a fear of Him. It is being cautious and wary of all things one encounters through any of his senses; to tread carefully through life so that no boundaries set by Allah most high are ever transgressed. A tall order indeed.

And we all chase that standard — but how can we do so when we fail at something half as difficult as it?

Taqwa is being cautious to prevent falling into any traps set by Shaytaan — but how can we aim to do that when we so often fall into the same errors repeatedly?

How can we attempt or even think of aiming for that when we repeat our sins and mistakes? Taqwa is prevention — but are we capable of prevention when we cannot cure what is already in plain sight?

We must reflect. When we make a mistake for the first time we must seek forgiveness. But it is a characteristic of someone who seeks taqwa to be determined to never repeat that mistake ever again, to wipe it out of the list of possible things to happen next time.

For example, if one ate immensely for dinner, much more than usual — and then the following morning failed to get up for Fajr, which he usually is able to alhamduliLlah; then is it not plain that the problem was the unusually large dinner?

That person would be right to be cautious with regard to his dinner from now on, so that his Fajr is not at risk. Taqwa would have been to not eat that large dinner in the first place, out of fear of missing Fajr — but once a mistake is made we must hustle to find the underlying cause of the sin and address it just like we would address an injury.

A one-time mistake is one thing, but blindly repeating mistakes and never learning from them is blameworthy. Taqwa is the highest standard, but it is foolish to think we can prevent mistakes from happening if we cannot even learn from the ones that we do commit. Let’s strive to prevent mistakes we have already made from happening again, before trying to prevent what we have never faced.

As salamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullahi, wa barakaatuh

May peace of every aspect be upon you, along with the mercy of God and also His blessing.