What does “Fear of God” mean in Quran?

   There are three words “Tagva”, Khashyah” , and “Khouf” from Quran which have been equally translated to fear in most translation of Quran as far as I have seen.  While it appears that in most cases they could mean the same thing at the first glance, I believe, they are meant to convey delicate nuances which may lead to significant differences in the way we know God.   After all, the extraordinary choice of words throughout Quran never ceases to amaze me.  That is for sure one of the clear signs testifying that this text can only be the words of God.

    As I have already mentioned my understanding of “Tagva” in a previous post, I will be focusing on the other two words “Khashyah” and “khouf” in this one.   The following verses are a few samples where “khashyah” is used:

2:45

Sahih International

"And seek help through patience and prayer, and indeed, it is difficult except for the humbly submissive "[to Allah ]

79:19 

Sahih International

"And let me guide you to your Lord so you would fear [Him]?'"

79:26

Sahih International

"Indeed in that is a warning for whoever would fear [ Allah ].

17:31

Sahih International

"And do not kill your children for fear of poverty. We provide for them and for you. Indeed, their killing is ever a great sin."

    What is in common in the way the word "khasiah" خشیه has been used in the above verses, is in fact its connotation of a current concern for a future event.   Just like "tagva" تقوا,  khasiah is also a state of heart in which fear of doing something that God may not like is present.   That is not to say, doing something out of a blind fear but it is doing or avoiding an action of the fear of losing God's satisfaction.  That means asking ourselves continuously what if God does not like it and then you avoid doing that.  In contrast "tagva" is doing something that God likes, you know that he likes you to do this or he likes you avoid something.   Perhaps, we can see "Tagva" and "khashia" as the two sides of one coin which is the love of God. 

And blew are a few verses including "khouf" or fear:

13:12

Sahih International
"It is He who shows you lightening, [causing] fear and aspiration, and generates the heavy clouds."

79:40

 Sahih International

"But as for he who feared the position of his Lord and prevented the soul from [unlawful] inclination,"

3:175

Sahih International

"That is only Satan who frightens [you] of his supporters. So fear them not, but fear Me, if you are [indeed] believers."

I believe, what the word "khouf" خوف, commonly represents in the above verses is the fear that results from feeling powerless, feeling tiny, and feeling humble in encountering God's manifestations of his greatness.   This is the kind of fear we feel when we see and hear a lightening or we look into the universe and it is not the fear of a punishing God that forces his servants to blind obedience.

One may argue that there are many warning verses in which dire consequences such as hellfire is notified. Don't they cause any fear ?  Yes, of course the detailed descriptions of hell are truly dreadful.  Yet, amazingly enough, God has repeatedly clarified that these are the consequence of our actions. In other words, we, ourselves, are choosing the severe hardships that we may have to go through on our path of eternal spiritual evolution.   God is frequently emphasizing and warning us to avoid or to keep away from that path which is the hard way of learning and evolving.

Therefore, keeping in heart the greatness of God is a strong deterrent against giving in to our ego.  In the meantime, God's greatness can empower  us with a hope that even in the darkest situations of life God's will can prevail and there is no reason to become hopeless ever.  There is vidoe on youtube in which a man is free jumping from space interestingly just before he jumps (around minute 2:05) he says, "sometimes you have to be really high to see how small you are" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKojXTWJIhg. 

Finally, we may have heard that Quran is a live book and may have wondered what it means. So in case we were seeking God's help to distinguish between these three words (as I were) we may accidently find this verse (as I did) which miraculously presents "Tagva", "khashia" and "khaouf" all in one verse.

4:9

Sahih International

"And let those [executors and guardians] fear [injustice] as if they [themselves] had left weak offspring behind and feared for them. So let them fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice."

                                                              صدق الله العلي العظيم