Al-Hashr (The Exile)

19. And be not like those who forgot Allah and He caused them to forget their own selves. Those are the disobedient.

Resuming the discussion on fearing Allah and attending to one's fate on the Day of Resurrection, the blessed Verse emphasizes fear of God Almighty saying:

“Be not like those who forgot Allah and He caused them to forget themselves.”

Fear of God Almighty basically rests on two things: remembrance of God Almighty, namely permanently attending toward God Almighty and being aware of His Presence at all times and in all places; attending to Divine Justice and the Record of deeds in which each and every act, small and significant, is recorded.

It is in this vein that the Prophets and the friends of Allah fore and foremost attended to the two principles of Origin and Resurrection and their significance in purifying the individual and the society.

It is worthy of note that the Holy Qur’an is explicitly saying that forgetting God Almighty leads to forgetting one's own self. The reason lying behind such oblivion is that forgetting God Almighty leads man to drown in concupiscent desires and pleasures of the flesh and forget the goal of his creation and thereby neglect to make the required saving for the Day of Resurrection.

On the other hand, forgetting God Almighty entails consigning His Pure Attributes, e.g. Absolute Existence, Omniscience, and boundless needlessness, into oblivion, although all beings besides God Almighty are dependent upon and in need of His Pure Essence. Such oblivion leads man to regard himself as independent and needless and thereby forget the reality and identity of his human existence.

One of the worst afflictions of man is basically his forgetting his own self, since in this manner he forgets his God given inherent faculties which distinguish him from other creatures. Such oblivion is on a par with forgetting one's own humanity and such person degrades himself to the degree of a savage beast and may never think about anything but the pleasures of the flesh.

They all constitute the main cause of disobedience to God Almighty and such oblivion is the worst instance disobedience to God.

It is in the same vein that the blessed Verse closes with the clause

“They [such forgetful people] are the disobedient.”

It is also worthy of note that the blessed Verse is encouraging people not to be like those who forgot God Almighty and He made them entangled with oblivion rather than asking people not to forget Him.