This arises because fear of Allah is not joined to love for Him and the desire for Him. Hence one of the early generations said:

“Whoever worships Allah through love alone is a heretic; whoever worships Him through fear alone is a Harūrī; whoever worships Him through hope alone is a Murji'ite; and whoever worships Him through love, fear, and hope is a believer.”

The point is that separating love and remembrance from fear leads to these perils. When fear accompanies them, it keeps a person on the path and brings him back whenever something causes him to falter. He is like a fearful traveller carrying a whip with which he strikes his mount to keep it from leaving the path. Hope is the camel-driver whose song urges it onward, while love is its guide and the rein that stirs its longing. If the mount has neither a whip nor a staff to turn it back when it veers off the path, it will leave the path and go astray.

Nothing safeguards Allah’s limits and prohibitions, or enables those who draw near to Him to reach their goal, like fear of Him, hope in Him, and love for Him. Whenever the heart is devoid of these three, it becomes so corrupt that there is no hope of its ever being set right. Whenever any one of them weakens within it, its faith weakens accordingly.

Reflect, then, on the Quran’s subtleties and wisdom in pairing fear with remembrance and secrecy with supplication, while also indicating the pairing of secrecy with supplication and fear with remembrance. Reflect, too, on its mention of eager expectation—which is hope—in the verse on supplication, for supplication rests upon it. Unless the supplicant hopes to obtain what he asks and seeks, he will feel no impulse to seek it: seeking something one has no hope of obtaining is impossible. He mentions fear in the verse on remembrance because of the fearful person’s great need