What is piety, or to be pious?

To succeed in our ultimate quest on earth we need to know what constitutes piety since this is the only criterion on which our eligibility for Paradise is determined. Furthermore, God judges us according to His definition of piety; we are not at liberty to make up our own. This is so because God is all-knowing and knows what is truly in our heart. True piety produces certain outcomes and no other. We may choose to deceive ourselves, but we cannot deceive God.  What piety is NOT, is the wearing of turbans and robes and blindly following rituals based on cultural practices.

Where then are we to find this information?

When we take the test to acquire our driving learner’s license, we study a booklet. It gives us all the information we need. God, in His infinite mercy, similarly provides us with a guide to help us learn about piety, and this guide is His Prophets (Peace be upon them all). Through them we acquire the knowledge of what God knows is true piety, and hence the criteria on which we will be judged.

But we are left in a quandary, which Prophet (PBUH) do we follow?

This may appear as a very perplexing and philosophically challenging question, when in fact it is one of the simplest to answer. But to arrive at this simple answer, we require some background information.

Because of our short lifespan, all of us will be dead before our universe comes to its end, and this includes the Prophets (PBUT). Also, as we acquire more of the knowledge God has put at our disposal, there will be changes in the way we live and the way we do certain things. Certain guidelines which are appropriate for a particular time may no longer be the best course of action for us at a later time.

For example, our earliest attempts at producing wine resulted in one with very low alcohol content and drinking this was not detrimental to us.

As we mastered the art of distillation, this changed, and we can now produce a liquid that is 100% Alcohol. God guides us that in everything there is some good and some bad. Sometimes the bad far outweighs the good. We are guided to abstain from such things, despite the small benefit they may confer. Alcoholic drinks fall in this category and hence the warning to abstain from consuming alcohol.

We are told that every nation was sent a guide, a prophet of God, and in all over

124 000 (over one hundred and twenty four thousand) prophets (PBUT) graced this planet.

We know them to be Gods Prophets because of two criteria, and it is these criteria that we use to verify their claim to prophethood.

Each of them was given a miracle as proof of their authenticity. For example Moses had the miracle of magic, Jesus was able to bring the dead to life, and Muhammad delivered the Quraan, peace be upon them all.

The second criterion is that they all delivered the same message. This is not difficult to understand. The purpose of the Prophet is to deliver Gods guidance to mankind. With time the message gets distorted or intentionally misrepresented. A time arises when the message needs to be restored. The next Prophet will deliver the message again. For there to be true justice, and for it to be possible for every human to be judged equally, the message that each nation receives would have to be the same.

Also, in the case of communities far apart and with little chance of contact, each of them would require a separate prophet. Once again, for there to be justice, God must ensure that each of them receives the same message.

This consistent message has 4 components; that God is one, an element of worship, the need to practice some form of charity, and to engage in periods of abstinence or fasting. Every prophet delivered the same essential message, though the manner in which one prayed, fasted or gave in charity may have varied.

This is the reason why when a disciple of Moses (PBUH) said we will not go to Paradise unless we followed his prophet, and a disciple of Jesus (PBUH) said the same regarding Jesus, or similarly a disciple of Muhammad (PBUH), there is no contradiction. Many people have been fooled by this apparent contradiction into losing faith in the existence of God.

There is no contradiction because when we follow any of the Prophets, we will be acknowledging and worshipping One God exclusively, and in so doing we are in fact following every prophet, and our practice opens the door to our acceptance in Paradise.

In addition, each Prophet (PBUH) also delivered certain additional guidance that was appropriate to the time in which he lived. The final Prophet (PBUH) was given guidance which would be appropriate till the last day. No further prophets are to come, no further change is required, and God promises that the miracle of this prophet, the Quraan, will be protected by God Himself so that its message will be present for every nation, every individual still to come. The practice of the last Prophet (PBUH) has also been preserved by the will of God so that the promise that every nation will have a messenger to guide them is fulfilled.

We have free will and as a result our destiny has been placed in our own hands. We will be judged, and the criterion is our piety. The Prophets followed all the directives of God and the directives of God alone and in so doing they worshipped God and worshipped God exclusively. When we follow the practice of the prophets, we too worship God and the extent to which we follow their practice is a measure of our piety. When we use our wealth, strength, knowledge power etc in the manner the Prophets did, we are using these to take us further along the road of piety.

By this practice we bring relief to those in pain and suffering, end the subjugation of the slaves, relieve the hunger of the poor, gladden the heart of our parents, ease the fears of the orphan, and protect ourselves and those under our care from the “down the road” consequences of bad decisions. A truly pious person is God’s representative on earth. Such a person earns the right to be invited into Paradise.

Every act of piety is not possible without Gods intervention which makes it possible for us to carry through our intentions. Without the hands, feet, eyes, tongue, ears etc that God grants to us, or the food he provides which sustains us, or the weapons which he supplies to defend ourselves, we may never give effect to our intentions.

Piety is not just about following the practice of the Prophets, it entails recognizing that even giving effect to our intentions is not possible without the help of the Almighty. Our practice of piety is itself a manifestation of God’s blessing to us. This is the reason why when we intend to do a good deed, God judges and rewards us in terms of our intentions. This is because giving effect to the intention rests with God, and he does not deny us the reward of our good intention because He saw fit not to allow us to give effect to that intention. Lastly, when doing the good deed, our intention must be to serve the Almighty; that we are acting under His guidance and for His pleasure alone.

We are warned that many “pious” people will not qualify for paradise since their acts of piety were in fact acts of self glorification as they sought to show others how “pious” they were. This is pride and not piety.

When we do succeed in completing a pious act, we need to remember God and thank Him for making it possible for us to complete that act.

Even the atheist enjoys these blessings from God. How unfortunate must such a person be when he fails to utilize them to earn God’s pleasure?

Through our progress along the path of greater piety, we are fulfilling the primary objective of our existence on Earth, to prove our worthiness of our place in paradise. We are displaying recognition of the absolute power and authority of God and voluntarily submitting ourself to this higher authority and in so doing qualify for Paradise. This conduct is the opposite of satan’s, who was proud and this manifested in a denial of the Supremacy of God. He qualifies for hell because he has not worked on purifying himself so that he could qualify for Paradise. Each of us has a place in Paradise as our birth right, but to claim it, we need to meet its entry requirements.

Learning how the Prophets lived their lives and their reasoning in making decisions is something each of us has to do for ourselves.

Finally, piety can be considered as purity of heart, mind and body coupled with a perpetual awareness of the presence of the Almighty. Such is the purity of Paradise that we do not qualify to enter until we have achieved the required level of purity, and the path to this purity is piety.

Until next time.