'Tis too much proved - that with devotion's visage/ And pious action we do sugar o'er/ The devil himself.
'Hamlet' by Shakespeare (Polonius to Ophelia in Act III, Scene 1)
"It [taqwa] mostly comes to someone who does his duty to Allah with loving obedience. Most people if they try to do this neglect their duties to others or only fulfill them partially. These people do not leave time or energy for their duties to their families and the community. To be able to give what is due to Allah, and what is due to people is something which can only be achieved by a few special people; they are the true people of taqwa." --- Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī [d. 795H/1393CE] (In Mohsen Shaker al-Bayoumi, Slaves of the All-Merciful, Ta-Ha Publishers, London, 2005.)
Ramadan - Food for Thought
"Taqwā means godliness, devoutness or piety. Crucially, […] fasting is not merely about physical abstinence or exertion. […] The Prophet Muhammad (s) said, “All that some people get from their fasting is hunger and thirst.” (Ibn Mājah) […] Taqwā is not an automatic by-product of fasting. In understanding this, it is worth considering that Imam Al-Ghazzāli wrote that there are three degrees of fasting. Firstly, the fast of ‘the ordinary person’ – consisting of abstinence of the appetite, sexual intercourse, noise, arguing, etc. Next, there is the fast of ‘the select few’, who keep the ears, eyes, tongue, hands and feet together with all the other senses free from sin. Finally, there is the fast of ‘the elite’, which is the fast of the heart from bad thoughts, worldly worries and anything else that may divert from anything but thoughts of Allāh (swt)" --- Toobaa: Ramadan - Food for Thought