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alladhīna yuballighūna risālāti llāhi wa-yakhshawnahū wa-lā yakhshawna ʾaḥadan ʾillā llāha wa-kafā bi-llāhi ḥasīban
such as deliver the messages of Allah and fear Him, and fear no one except Allah, and Allah suffices as reckoner.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Al-’Ahzab – Verse 39
39. “Those who convey the messages of Allah and fear Him, and do not fear any one but Allah; and Allah is sufficient to take account.”
This verse refers to the conclusiveness and courage of the emissary in conveying the command of Allah to people, but we must know that in some aspects, in order to attract the hearts conciliation, mildness, and silence are necessary. So, this verse points to one of the most important general programs of the Divine prophets, where, concerning them, it says:
You, too, should not have the least horror from anyone in conveying the messages of Allah when He commands you to marry the divorced wife of your adopted son, Zaynab, in order to break the wrong pagan tradition in the field of marriage, and you must never afraid of the words of this one or that one, because this is the way of treatment of all Divine prophets. In principle, the duty of the prophets in many stages is to break such traditions, and if they let them have the least fear in it, they will not be successful in fulfilling their messengership.
They must go forth conclusively, tolerate eagerly the wrong words of some opponents, and heedless to the evil circumstances and the plots of corruptive people, they must go on their own programs, because all accounts are in the power of Allah. So, at the end of the verse, it says:
He both keeps the account of the prophets’ devotions in this way to reward them, and takes account the wrong and evil words of the enemies to punish them. In fact, the sentence: “Allah is sufficient to take account” is an evidence for this matter that the Divine leaders must not have any fear in conveying their messengership, since the reckoner of their labours and the giver of rewards is Allah. The purpose of the Qur’anic term /yuballiqun/ here is ‘to convey’, and when it relates to ‘messages of Allah’, it means: whatever Allah has taught the Prophets in the form of revelation, they must teach people and cause them to penetrate into their hearts by means of reasoning, warning, glad tiding, advice, and admonition.
The Qur’anic word /xašyat/ is in the sense of fear accompanied with respect and veneration, and that is why it differs with the word /xauf/ which lacks this quality. It sometimes is used in the sense of ‘absolute fear’, too.