The Peace FAQ:
Fear
Frequently Asked Questions:
What is fear, and what are its effects and dangers?
- "...how
extraordinary terror and panic can mesmerize man, totally immobilize his
thinking process, disrupt his behavior, and if need be, make him walk into
his own grave as docilely as a sheep."
from The Paralysis of Fear, Dr. F. Mina, Defense and Foreign Affairs, November 1980
- Fear is the state of mind denoted by a painful emotion. A
frightened person feels his energies drain away by
apprehension of a real or imaginary danger which affects his
physiological working adversely, and he becomes depressed,
dwarfed and degraded. In such a situation he needs favour,
which is an expression of kindness in words or deeds; he
wants to be carolled, consoled and cajoled. Psychologically,
fear is a poison and favour is an antidote; the former is a
thirsty traveller and the latter is a sweet well.
Fear and favour are the psychological opposites; concepts of morality, individual discipline and social order are impossible without them. Unfortunately, they are highly susceptible to manipulation, and thus the quality of individual and social life comes to depend on the will of manipulators. To understand their significance, we ought to look at their major features. Let us first consider the mechanism of fear:
1. Fear
1. Fear, as a general rule, is debilitating. By its depressive effect, it lowers one's normal level of thinking and acting. Thus one feels half a man when in the grip of fear.
This type of fear may be called "irrational," and is the usual kind. It is a product of morbid imagination where every thing is foul, filthy and facinorous.
2. Fear threatens personality, which is infused with the will to survive, and thus inclined to protect itself against external pressures. When it provokes the defensive mechanism of personality, it becomes rational fear, which brings out the best in a person, and acts as a remedy to neutralise the dread, and checks its further augmentation. The rational fear is like an antidote which, despite being a poison, acts to destroy the effects of poison.
3. Irrational fear is the ambassador of regression. Instead of tackling difficult situations, it seeks escape through make-believe. For example, when one is told there is God who is Almighty, the person suffering from irrational fear starts prostrating before Him to qualify for His mercy. He builds around his mind an impenetrable web of faith, which cannot be pierced by reason, and he feels jubilant in this golden cage of superstition. This is what makes ignorance a bliss though it is a fountain of moral insensitivity and degredation. The Muslim faithfuls, for this reason, believe that murdering the infidels, plundering their assets, and raping their women is an act of piety, which pleases Allah to guarantee them salvation!
On the contrary, rational fear is inclined to mitigate its depressive effect, and acts as a tool of enquiry. Such a fear is progressive; fear of the unknown has unleashed man's power of reasoning which has opened the door to modern sciences, and fear of death has weakened the hold of spiritual charlatans by discovering a host of medicines and surgical techniques.
4. The personality stabilised by faith to overcome the menace of irrational fear suffers frorn imbalance. A Muslim dreams of a God, who will accommodate him in paradise even if he were the most sordid person on earth, but the Almighty would throw a non-Muslim into hell, despite being the most splendid fellow on this planet. Such a person lacks the sense of justice.
Similarly, a Hindu, believing in Ahimsa or non- violence, lacks the sense of honour because he is reluctant to kill the attacker of, his wife, daughter or mother.
Thus, faith is a hallucinatory drug which makes a person see what is not there, and vice versa. It is the most heartening mirage in a desert despite being lethal in reality. In fact, it is a hag looking young through plastic suirgery and cosmetic elegance; it is a highly venomous serpent having the most beautiful appearance.
5. Analgesia i.e. insensibility to pain, is a rare condition among humans. A person suffering from analgesia does not feel physical pain, and therefore has no fear of stabbing and laceration.
Since fear is the ambassador of pain, there is a basic relationship between the two, and this fact plays an important role in the development of individuality and society. For example, the law frightens people to behave themselves, as well as protects them from the fear of lawlessness. Thus fear is the guardian of human rights.
Again, fear is the cornerstone of morality. I do not molest you because I am afraid of being molested by you. Thus fear of pain is the foundation of moral by and mutual respect.
In fact, fear is the rider, which controls the untamed stallion of human species and keeps it on the right road through a worthy deportment. It is a beautician whose consummate skills keep in check many ugly spots, which would have appeared on the face of Lady Humanity through licence and unruly conduct to destroy her charms, fascinations and enticements.
6. Irrational fear is not necessarily the fear induced by a third party; it may be the failure of one's own reasoning power. This is a blackout caused by electric breakdown; the sudden facing of a cat by a mouse or sinking of a ship by an unexpected storm.
7. Irrational fear is the agent of intellectual paralysis; the victim is so demoralised that he seeks solution through surrender, refuge and protection. This is the condition that makes a stag run at twice its normal speed; it is a stream which flows downward only and knows nothing about upward movement. It is Sir Isaac Newton's Apple which is prone to plump lower all the time. Perhaps, the best description is man himself, who invents gods and goddesses to mitigate fear of the unknown and seeks relief through supplications and prostrations.
Rational fear, on the contrary, is a messenger of challenge; it investigates it, own causes and seeks alleviation through resistance, revenge and restoration. This type of fear is a sword which is impatient to jump out ot its scabbard; it is a lion which roars louder as its pain increases; it is the crusader who fights with supreme courage when faced with death.
The fear which provokes reaction is progressive even though it may be destructive in the short run, but the fear which induces submission, surrender and servility, is regressive though it may be rewarding temporarily.
8. The best form of fear is the fear for other people's welfare and a genuine desire coupled with action to remove the causes of public fear.
The person mlativated by this type of fear is a model of humanity. He is more than a saint. In, fact, he is a god irrespective or his race, colour or creed.
9. Fear creates booth love and hate. Fear of losing one's love owing to one's own clumsiness may make the lover show his/her love more ardently but the fear of losing one's love through the machinations of a rival, may be the ambassador of extreme detestation. Thus fear is a being with two heads - one monstrous, and the other angelic.
10. Fear is more effective on female than male. It is because the female is mother endowed with love and care of young ones and it can be achieved with greater erficiency through co-operation and submission rather than retaliation and aggression. This female tendency is reinforced by the fact that motherhood is the greatest institution of love, and therefore, it shirks most situations requiring resistance. Thus women are usually escapists though ten per cent of them have the male characteristics of striking back. As a result, women are more prone to daydreaming than men, and this is what makes them superstitious. It is usually the mothers who instil superstitiousness in their children.
For securing more followers, the religion-mongers have exploited this female weakness. Declaring her unclean and the servant of man by God's will, they deprived her of all social opportunities so that she should devote most of her time to bringing up children as required by the religious dogma in complete contradiction of reality.
It is not only mothers, who love their children; fathers do it as well. Yet there is a marked difference in expressing their affection. The mother is a dove but the father is an eagle; the former is a serene spring but the latter is a roaring stream.
11. Fear is inward-looking; a frightened person is a coward who does not seek satisfaction through action but imaginatiom if he is a beggar he dreams of wearing a crown to reduce the stress of humiliation; if he is outdone by his rival, he enjoys his downfall through a train of vagaries.
12. Fear is the ambassadar of distrust and hatred. Loyalty secured through threat, torment and torture is fragile, frivolous and frustrating. Such a fear is like a blackmailer who makes his victim toe the line through dismay, dread and deviousness. A tyrant is yet another example: the day he can no longer perpetuate his tyranny, his subjects feel the urge to rise against him.
Loyalty secured through fear requires more fear to reinforce it.
13. Fear strikes at the root of happiness. The frightened person feels sad and the tendency of retaliation gives him satistaction when he sees other people unhappy. This psychological attitude is at work even when he feels sympathy for a victim of sorrow, who appears as a member of his own fraternity.
This is the reason that a well-performed tragedy, where the characters look real, gratifies the spectator: it is either because they represent the consequences of his own fear and he feels sympathy for them - or his retaliatory outlook receives gratification from other people's consternation.
Enjoyment of fear demonstrates that it is a disorder: a pervert dressed up as a prophet, a plunderer disguised as a peer, a persecutor pretending to be a peacemaker.
14. Because of the grief that fear engenders, people hate it and, therefore, he who can project himself as the eliminator of fear, is considered a hero, prophet, messiah or god.
15. The worst aspect of fear is its susceptibility to manipulation, especially for subjecting people to a person's own ambition. Its flagrant form is what may be termed as Urge of Dominance; it is a person's intense desire to donninate others through any means.
Dominance urge is also found in fowls and animals. Chickens peck one another for this reason and Kangaroos demonstrate Lek behaviour for asserting their dominance. In humans, it is the worst: Genghis Khan murdered nearly half the world to frighten them into submission; Tamburlaine made it a habit to murder the Arabs and build towers with their heads for securing their submission. Because of its high importance to humanity, I shall discuss Dominance-Urge as a separate issue in the next chapter.
Manipulation of fear is at its worst when a person promulgates that God has prepared a flaming hell, which is infested with poisonous scorpions and cobras. He projects himself as the Saviour and claims that whoever believes in him, shall be saved. Thus, he manipulates fear to gain converts, and asserts that faith is the fountain of salvation.
This is the worst exploitation of fear because faith is a form of induced blindness known as brainwashing. If someone believes in something through rational examination, it is an opinion or judgement, which is likely to change with a counter-argument, but faith is something actuated by deception; it is teased by reason and pleased by superstition.
- Anwar Shaikh in Fear and Favour
- We must resist the temptation to believe that people obsessed with the Devil have never really seen him.
- Jacques Givet, "The Anti-Zionist Complex"
Is fear a large part of the control and obedience of Mulsims?
-
And so the Prophet of Allah, peace be upon him, explains
to us that when the believer gets the reward, he gets what he is looking
for by fearing Allah, because the fear of Allah calls him to rush to do
obedience to Allah, and to refrain from what Allah prohibited.
- Khalfan Al-Esry, in ON FEAR OF ALLAH
- Irrational fear is the ambassador of regression. Instead
of tackling difficult situations, it seeks escape through
make-believe. For example, when one is told there is
God who is Almighty, the person suffering from
irrational fear starts prostrating before Him to qualify
for His mercy. He builds around his mind an
impenetrable web of faith, which cannot be pierced by
reason, and he feels jubilant in this golden cage of
superstition. This is what makes ignorance a bliss
though it is a fountain of moral insensitivity and
degredation. The Muslim faithfuls, for this reason,
believe that murdering the infidels, plundering their
assets, and raping their women is an act of piety, which
pleases Allah to guarantee them salvation!
- Anwar Shaikh in Fear and Favour
What is the greatest threat to Muslims; the greatest thing to fear?
- Hell
This is the most tormenting and terrible place. ( Salvation: 65 )
Why? See for yourself:
"The dweller of hell is given to drink oozing pus, the which he gulps, and can scarce swallow, and death comes upon him from every side, yet he cannot die; and still beyond him is a harsh chastisement." ( Abraham: 20 )
"Surely those who disbelieve in Our signs - We (Allah) shall certainly roast them at a Fire; as often as their skins are wholy burned, We shall give them in exchange other skins, that they may taste the punishment." (Women: 55-60)
The Koran tells us about the normal food and drink of the unbelievers (Rangers: 458): there is a gigantic tree called Ez-Zakkoum, which sprouts in "the root of Hell:" its spathes are like the heads of satans; the dwellers of hell eat it and are given a brew of boiling water to drink.
The "Terror: 50," further adds that after eating of Zakkoum, they drink boiling water,"lapping down like thirsty camels."
The theme of Ez-Zakkoum is further continued in "Smoke: 45:"
"Behold the Tree of Ez-Zakkoum
is the food of the wicked,
like molten copper, bubbling in the belly
like the bubbling water .."
"... As for the unbelievers,
for them garments of fire shall be cut,
and there shall be poured over their heads
boiling water
Whereby whatsoever is in their abdomens
and their skins shall be melted, for them await
hooked iron rods:
as often as they desire in their anguish to come forth
from it, they shall be restored into it.."
( The Pilgrimage: 20 )The Backbiter: 2 gives further description of hell
"It is the roaring fire of God lit over the hearts in
stretching columns."
The Tiding: 20-30 further states:
"Behold Hell has become an ambush,
for the insolent a resort,
Therein ... tasting neither coolness nor any drink
save boiling water and pus .....
Surely for the Godfearing (believers) awaits
a place of security, gardens and vineyards
(paradise) and maidens with swelling breasts...
and a cup overflowing .."- Anwar Shaikh in Fear and Favour
So what awaits the obedient Muslim; is there a positive reward?
- Paradise
Paradise is the opposite of hell (fear) and represents favour. Now compare its delights with the dreads of hell to realise how human instincts of fear and favour have been exploited for gaining recruits to the Islamic faith:
" ... for them (the Muslims) is reserved a definite
provision, fruit and a great honour in the Gardens of
Bliss reclining upon couches arranged face to face, a
cup from a fountain being passed round to them,
while, a pleasure to the drinkers .....
and with them wide-eyed maidens
flexing their glances
as if they were slightly concealed pearls.",
(The Rangers: 40-45)"Surely for the God-fearing
awaits a place of security,
gardens and vineyards
and maidens with swelling bosoms."
( The Tidings: 30 )The attraction of paradise is made more impelling when wine is made a part of paradisiac living:
"Surely the pious shall be in bliss,
upon couches gazing:
You find in their faces the shining bliss
as they are offered to drink of wine sealed,
whose seal is musk ... and whose mixture
is Tasnim, a fountain at which to drink
those brought nigh." (The Stinters: 20-25)For better illustration of the point under discussion, I may also refer to Hadith Tirmzi, volume two (p. 35-40) which gives details of houris, the ever-young virgins of paradise:
1. A houri is a most beautiful young woman with a transparent body. The marrow of her bones is visible like the interior lines of pearls and rubies. She looks like a red wine in a white glass.
2. She is of white colour, and free from the routine physical disabilities of an ordinary woman such as menstruation, menopause, urinal and offal discharge, child bearing, and the related pollution.
3. She is a woman characterised by modesty and flexing glances; she never looks at any man except her husband, and feels grateful for being the wife of her husband.
4. A houri is a young woman, free from odium and animosity. Besides, she knows the meaning of love and has the ability to put it into practice.
5. A houri is an immortal woman, who does not age. She speaks softly and does not raise voice at her man; she is always reconciled with him. Having been brought up in luxury, she is a luxury herself.
6. A houri is a girl of tender age, having large rising breasts which are round, and not inclined to dangle. Houris dwell in palaces of splendid surroundings.
Now add to this description of houris, what Mishkat, volume three says on pages 83-97:
7. If a houri looks down from her abode in heaven onto the earth, the whole distance shall be filled with light and fragrance .....
8. A houri's face is more radiant than a mirror, and one can see one's image in her cheek. The marrow of her shins is visible to the eyes.
9. Every man who enters paradise shall be given seventy-two houris; no matter at what age he had died, then he enters paradise, he will become a thirty-year-old, and he will not age any further.
10. Tirmzi, vol. 2 states on page 138:
A man in paradise shall be given virility equal to that of one hundred men.
It should be noted that men who are so potent, shall not be inclined to do anything except love-making. Surely, love-making is better than burning in hell!
To what has been said above, I may add a bit more about the surroundings of paradise to depict its appeal to the faithful:
Paradise is constructed in such a way that every brick of gold is followed by a brick of silver; instead of mud or cement, saffron is used to hold them together; even its pebbles are diamonds and rubies. He who enters paradise, shall be free from grief: he will live there forever, remain eternally young and will never die.
Paradise is generously dotted with streams of milk, honey and wine; its climate is neither cold nor hot but just nice. The inhabitants of paradise shall be given winged horses created out of rubies which will take the rider wherever he wants to go.
The inhabitants live in palaces and pavilions constructed from the most precious and beautiful diamonds, and every man shall have eighty thousand servants to serve him.
One is inclined to think that the above description of paradise is quite tempting to invite people to Islam. With a view to sharpening the appeal of his message, the Prophet used the device of contradistinction to compare heaven with hell for gaining devotees by such ploys, which lack the dignity behoving His lofty station.
- Anwar Shaikh in Fear and Favour
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- Islam and Democracy: Fear of the Modern World, by Fatima Mernissi, Mary Jo Lakeland, Fatema Mernissi
[VIEW BOOK HERE] - How Islam Plans to Change the World, by William Wagner
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[VIEW BOOK HERE] - The Oslo Syndrome: Delusions of a People Under Siege, by Kenneth Levin
[VIEW BOOK HERE] - Captive Continent: The Stockholm Syndrome in European-Soviet Relations, by Philip Pilevsky
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- Islam and Democracy: Fear of the Modern World, by Fatima Mernissi, Mary Jo Lakeland, Fatema Mernissi
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