What is Taqwa? Qualities & How to Attain It

What is Taqwa? Qualities & How to Attain It

Taqwa is something all Muslims should strive to attain.

It is a state of Allah consciousness that will deter you from doing things that will harm your hereafter and push you towards doing good.

Ultimately, it is a powerful state of awareness that will elevate you in your Deen and help you achieve greatly.

This is the second of a two-part series. Here’s the first post – Taqwa: Meaning & Explanation -if you would like to read it.

I refer to sources that I used for research in numbered brackets (e.g. (1) (2) ) – all of them will be listed at the bottom of the post if you’d like to know more!

What is an example of Taqwa? & How To Attain It

There are many things things you can do to attain Taqwa, some of them have been listed below:

Qiyam Ul Layl & Tahajjud

Engaging in Qiyam Ul Layl and Tahajjud is not only an act of piety (as you have to leave the comfort of your bed in the middle of the night for the sake of Allah) but it is therapy for the heart too as this is your time to speak, lament and cry to Allah ﷻ.

This strengthens your connection with Him ﷻ and will inspire a feeling of closeness in your heart to Allah.

Not only does it increase your rewards but it rejuvenates and heals you as you speak to Allah about all your affairs, big or small, ask for forgiveness and make Du’a.

In source (2), Dr Haifaa Younis recommends partaking in Qiyam Ul Layl at a minimum of four days a week.

Please note that there is a difference between Qiyam Ul Layl and Tahajjud with Tahajjud having a bit more reward – if you’d like to know what the difference is, you can find out at about the 32 minute mark in this video. (3)

Avoiding major sins

People with Taqwa don’t commit major sins.

Of course, human beings are bound to make mistakes and slip up and of course, your level of Taqwa will be varied at different times. But the most important thing to do in that case, is to immediately turn back to and repent to Allah.

Find out what all the major sins are and assess if you are engaging in them. Backbiting and listening to music are very common but overlooked ones.

Once you’ve identified which ones you do, set a plan to slowly ease away and eliminate them from your life.

Related:

Taqwa: Meaning & Explanation

A Simple Guide On Making Duas In Islam

How To Be A Better Muslim (+ Centre Your Life Around Islam!)

How To Deal With Overthinking in Islam

How To Be Consistent As A Muslim

Fasting

In Surah Baqarah, verse 183, it says the following: (7)

“يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ”

“O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may attain Taqwa.”

On Quran.com, this also translates to:

“O believers! Fasting is prescribed for you—as it was for those before you—so perhaps you will become mindful ˹of Allah˺.”

Here fasting is directly shown in the Qu’ran as a way of attaining Taqwa.

Fasting goes against your natural urge of wanting to eat when you get hungry. But because of your obedience and love of Allah, when you fast you suppress this urge. This God-consciousness helps you avoid sin and temptation.

Other ways of increasing Taqwa mentioned in source 6 include the following:

Reading the Qu’ran often
Learning more about Allah ﷻ
Learning Allah’s names and understanding the attributes of His names and thinking about the magnanimity of His ﷻ creation
Learning about Judgement Day, Paradise and Hell
Engaging in dhikr habitually
Repenting regularly
Covering your bad deeds with good deeds
Having a good support system that will help you when you go astray

As well as this, giving to charity regularly, even if it is just a little. (7)

How to know if you have Taqwa

The people of Taqwa have certain traits that distinguish them of being those who are Allah-conscious, and whose every action is taken with the knowledge that Allah is watching.

They are humble

They do not compare themselves to others and wonder why others have things they don’t have. Rather they are so appreciative and grateful of their own life that they are gratified and satisfied with what they have and realise that Allah has blessed them with so much in life.

To help you work on this trait you could try the following:

Do daily gratitude pages to help you appreciate all the small but amazing things in life (like having two working lungs and being able to breath comfortably). Jot everything down from the biggest things you can think of to the smallest.
To help you stop comparing yourselves to others, read this for some actionable tips that you can follow right now to eradicate the habit of comparison.
Also, clear out your social media feed or better yet, have a social media detox.

They spend their wealth for the sake of Allah ﷻ and are not miserly

This doesn’t just include material wealth, but wealth in other forms such as youth, time, energy, plans, and priorities.

This includes times when you have abundant wealth as well as little – at all points of your life, you should be willing to spend your wealth for the sake of Allah ﷻ in all its various forms.

A person with Taqwa is generous in every sense, whether that means donating money to charity or helping someone who is struggling in life, and helping them smile and find happiness.

Having free time, freedom of choice, physical and mental energy is a wealth that most people don’t recognise. This is especially the case as the world moves further and further to prioritising material gains over everything else.

Having your parents, family, dreams, goals and ambitions is a wealth that not everyone in the world has.

And, you have a responsibility to use it wisely and effectively.

There are many in this world whose dream it would be to just have three meals a day, let alone think about about getting their dream car or dream house.

Don’t waste your youth, energy and intellect scrolling on social media for hours and hours. If you have any passions, hobbies or goals, work on them!

There is no need to ‘kill time’ or to ‘be bored,’ they are just myths that eventually become beliefs that trick you into scrolling and lose control of your own time, energy and self. There is so much to do out there.

I truly believe that every single person has so much potential. However, it is sadly so easy to get distracted by things that bring temporary relief but ultimately have no long term reward or are just plain harmful for you.

There is a hadith by the Prophet ﷺ to take advantage of five specific points in your life to attain success. If you use these five points of life effectively, you will achieve many things!

If you are also the kind of person who has been wanting to pursue something for a while but keep procrastinating, read the story of Ka’ab ibn Malik رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ to learn how you can limit procrastination in your life from a sahaba who actually had a hard time dealing with his unhealthy habit.

How to Balance Deen and Dunya

Dunya and Deen – How to Balance Both (Part 2)

How To Repent A Sin (As a Muslim)

How To Learn The 99 Names Of Allah

How To Build A Connection With Allah SWT

They swallow their anger

Not only do they control their anger, but they also conceal it. (3)

Shaytan uses anger as a tactic for you to act foolish, talk without thinking and make brash moves without thinking about the repercussions.

If you are a person with hot temper, how many times have you come out of that state of anger and regretted at least one thing you did in those moments?

In the moment, feeling angry and saying whatever you like can feel so powerful. You feel like you can do whatever you want.

But, when all of that adrenaline and energy goes away, the repercussions of your actions can cause great harm to not only your loved ones, but even yourself.

For those who have short tempers, this can be a very difficult thing to overcome. But, the reward of doing so is immeasurable, سُبْحَانَ ٱللَّٰهِ (SubhanAllah)

To help you deal with your anger, you could do wudhu at the time of feeling angry, pray 2 rakats, mention Allah’s name when you are angry for example by saying Bismillah (بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ) or saying أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ and more. (3)

They are merciful and forgiving to those they love

A person with Taqwa doesn’t hold grudges and is forgiving of all mankind (though there some exceptions in the case of evil people, tyrants etc.) (3)

Just like you want Allah’s mercy despite all the wrong things you have done, you need to be sympathetic of others and forgive them too.

When they engage in a harmful/ shameless act, they immediately turn to Allah ﷻ

A person with Taqwa does not need to be perfect. It does not mean that they don’t sin.

And if they do sin, it doesn’t mean they have lost the status of one who has Taqwa.

The person with Taqwa, however, always remembers Allah and asks for forgiveness from Him ﷻ if they ever wrong themselves in some sort of way or do something shameless.

It is important to note though, that this sin that they commit is not a habitual thing where they do it and repent without any serious intention of permanently leaving the sin. They are actively working on overcoming the sin.

Yes, once in a while they fall but the important thing is that they repent straight away.

Even in the case that they do keep doing this sin over and over, they have to genuinely repent for it each time with sincere intention that they will never do it again.

Therefore, to attain Taqwa, be aware of when you make any sin whether they are minor or major, and then turn to Allah immediately, and repent.

As well as this, repenting to Allah and doing a good deed can change your bad deeds to good deeds. (2)

Allah is giving you so many chances to do good or right your wrongs – take advantage of that!

Did you know there are specific steps for repentance that will guarantee your sins being forgiven?

In this post, I cover the step-by-step process of how to repent properly so that your sins are eliminated from your record.

KEY TAKEAWAYS – What is Taqwa? Qualities & How to Attain It

Engaging in Qiyam Ul Layl and Tahajjud is not only an act of piety (as you have to leave the comfort of your bed in the middle of the night for the sake of Allah) but it is therapy for the heart too as this is your time to speak, lament and cry to Allah ﷻ.
Of course, human beings are bound to make mistakes and slip up and of course, your level of Taqwa will be varied at different times. But the most important thing to do in that case, is to immediately turn back to and repent to Allah.
Fasting goes against your natural urge of wanting to eat when you get hungry. But because of your obedience and love of Allah, when you fast you suppress this urge. This God-consciousness helps you avoid sin and temptation.
Other ways of increasing Taqwa mentioned in source 6 include the following:
- Reading the Qu’ran often
- Learning more about Allah ﷻ
- Learning Allah’s names and understanding the attributes of His names and thinking about the magnanimity of His ﷻ creation
- Learning about Judgement Day, Paradise and Hell
- Engaging in dhikr habitually
- Repenting regularly
- Covering your bad deeds with good deeds
- Having a good support system that will help you when you go astray
People with Taqwa are humble
A person with Taqwa is generous in every sense, whether that means donating money to charity or helping someone who is struggling in life, and helping them smile and find happiness.
People with Taqwa conceal and control their anger
A person with Taqwa doesn’t hold grudges and is forgiving of all mankind (though there some exceptions in the case of evil people, tyrants etc.) (3)
The person with Taqwa, however, always remembers Allah and asks for forgiveness from Him ﷻ if they ever wrong themselves in some sort of way or do something shameless.

SOURCES:

What is Taqwa? Qualities & How to Attain It

What is Taqwa? Qualities & How to Attain It