al-Ḥashr

لَأَنتُمْ أَشَدُّ رَهْبَةً فِي صُدُورِهِم مِّنَ اللَّهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَوْمٌ لَّا يَفْقَهُونَ

Being afraid of people rather than of Allah is an explicit token of hypocrisy. However, hypocrites are unaware of the fact that the Muslims' glory and might depend on Divine Will and Favor. The blessed Verse analyses the reason lying behind the hypocrites' defeat saying that the awe inspired by you in their hearts exceeds that of Allah, since they are not afraid of God Almighty but they are fearful of everyone and everything, particularly of believing and persevering enemies like you, since they are ignorant. The Arabic word rahba originally denotes fear tinged with anxiety and self-consciousness. Such fear truly is deeply rooted and its tokens are to be found in their acts.

Although the blessed Verse concerns the Jews from Banu Nadhir and the reasons lying behind their defeat against the Muslims, but it is generally addressed to all hypocrites since human heart may not simultaneously entertain fear of Allah and fear all besides Him. Everything depends upon Divine Will and whoever fears God Almighty and be aware of His Omnipotence should not be afraid of others besides Him, but the root of all misfortunes lies in ignorance of the truth of monotheism.

If Muslims today happen to be believers and Muslims in the true sense of the words, they will not entertain fear of the military and industry superpowers but those superpowers will be afraid of them as its instances are evident such that they are afraid of a small but believing and sacrificing nation.