The bird's wings:
Dear brother, if you want to live under the shelter of your Lord in this world and hope to reside beside Him after moving to the Hereafter, you have to move to Allah as quickly as possible. You have to do so not slowly, as if walking, but as swiftly as birds and fly in the heavens of faith. The stronger your wings are, the more wishes you will fulfill. But, do you know where you can find your wings?
Ibn Al-Qayyim said, “The heart, on its journey to Allah, is like a bird: love is its head, and fear and hope are its wings. When the head and wings are sound, the bird flies gracefully. If the head is cut, the bird dies. If the bird loses one of its wings, it then becomes a target for every hunter or predator.” [Madaarij As-Saalikeen by Ibn Al-Qayyim]
You cannot fly without wings! You cannot move to your Lord without a heart in which the valleys of fear and hope flow!
These are important signs in the way of upbringing to which Ibn Al-Qayyim directs us. They signify that a heart which moves to Allah The Almighty must have a strategy including two matters: fear and hope.
The hair turns white:
Reflecting on the biographies of the Prophets and the Messengers of Allah you find that they greatly feared Allah The Almighty. The master of those who fear the Lord of the Worlds, the Prophet, , figures at the top of this list. It is enough for you to listen to his words when he wanted to express his fear of His Lord: "I see what you do not see and hear what you do not hear. The heaven makes a noise like groaning, and it has the right to do so, for there is no space in it with the width of four fingers, but there is an angel placing his forehead in prostration to Allah. By Allah, if you knew what I know, you would laugh little and weep much, you would not enjoy your women and you would go out into the roads praying to Allah."
It was narrated on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbaas that Abu Bakr said, "‘O Messenger of Allah, you have developed white hair!’He replied: ‘The Surahs Hood, Al-Waaqi‘ah, Al-Mursalaat, An-Naba’ and At-Takweer turned my hair white.’" [Al-Albaani: Saheeh]
Fear of Allah turned the Prophet's, , hair white.
The inheritors of fear (of Allah):
The Companions of the Prophet, , inherited the fear of Allah from him. Describing this, Ibn Al-Qayyim said, "Reflecting on the life of the Companions one finds that they worked hard and were very fearful of Allah The Almighty. On the contrary, we do little but do not have fear of Allah The Almighty. Here is the example of As-Siddeeq saying, "I wish I were a hair in a believer's side."
It was also narrated that he used to catch his tongue and say, "This was the reason behind my destruction!" He used to frequently weep and say, "Weep, and if you cannot weep, then feign weeping." [Ad-Daa’ wad-Dawaa’ by Ibn Al-Qayyim]
It was narrated that Tameem Ad-Daari one night recited Surah Al-Jaathiyah and when he reached the verse in which Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {Or do those who commit evils think We will make them like those who have believed and done righteous deeds - [make them] equal in their life and their death? Evil is that which they judge.} [Quran 45: 21] He kept on repeating it and crying until morning." [Sifat As-Safwah by Ibn Al-Jawzi]
The righteous follow the same way:
Faatimah bint ‘Abdul-Malik, wife of ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul-‘Azeez said to Mugheerah ibn Al-Hakam, "There might be among people those who pray and fast more than ‘Umar. But I have never seen anyone who fears his Lord more than ‘Umar does. He used to perform the ‘Ishaa’ (night) Prayer and then sit in his place of prayer, and supplicate and weep until he fell asleep. Then he would wake and make supplication and weep until he would fall asleep. He used to continue in this way until morning." [Siyar A‘laam An-Nubalaa’ by Ath-Thahabi]
Once ‘Umar wept and then Faatimah wept and then all the inhabitants of the house wept. However, none of them knew why the others were weeping. When they stopped weeping, Faatimah said, "O Commander of the Believers, I ransom you with my father and mother, why did you weep?" He replied, "I remembered when people will be divided into two sections before Allah, a section in Paradise and another in Hell."
Al-Marwazi said, "When Abu ‘Abdullaah, meaning Ahmad ibn Hanbal, remembered death, he was overcome by tears. He used to say, 'Fear of Allah prevents me from eating and drinking. Whenever I remember death, all worldly matters become worthless in my sight. It is just an inferior food and inferior clothes (compared to those of Paradise). They are just a few days. Nothing is safer than poverty. If I could, I would set out (from this town), so that no one knows me or praises me.’" [Siyar A‘laam An-Nubalaa’ by Ath-Thahabi]