"And take a provision (with you) for the journey, but the best provision is At-Taqwa (piety, righteousness)." (2)

Definition of piety:

The definitions of piety are varied, but they all circle around one concept which is: A person seeks protection against Allah's Wrath and Torment by following His Commands and avoiding prohibited matters.

Al Hafizh Ibn Rajab said: The origin of piety is that a person puts a barrier between what he fears to protect himself therewith. So, the fear of a person from His Lord is represented in placing a barrier between him and the wrath and punishment of his Lord by doing righteously and avoiding sins.

Ibn Al Qayyim said: The reality of piety is: Obeying Allah out of sincere faith and seeking His Reward in commands and prohibition. So, a person does what Allah commands out of sincere faith and believing in His Promise and avoiding what Allah prohibited out of sincere faith and fearing of His Threat as Talq ibn Habib said: When sedition takes place, put it off with piety.

People said: What is piety? He said: To act in accordance with the obedience of Allah by the light of Allah for the sake of His Reward and to abandon the disobedience of Allah by the light of Allah for fear of His Punishment.

This is the best statement said about piety because every act has a beginning and an end, so actions are not classified as righteous until they are based on faith and its end is the reward of Allah and seeking His Pleasure.

This definition has combined both conditions of accepting actions i.e., sincerity and following (the Sunnah of the Prophet) without which piety is not achieved.

Ibn Mas`ud said: The meaning of "as He should be feared" is to be obeyed and not disobeyed, is mentioned without being forgotten, and to be thanked without showing ingratitude.

Ibn Rajab (may Allah bestow mercy on his soul) said: Thanking Allah includes all righteous deeds and the meaning of "is mentioned without being forgotten" is: A person mentions the commands of Allah in his heart whether during his movement, consonant, and words as Abu Hurayrah said when he was asked about piety, he said: Have you ever walked in a thorny way?

He said: Yes. He said: What did you do?

He said: When you see thorn, you walk away and try to avoid it. He said: That is piety.

• You will not be of the pious until you are acquainted with the things you avoid. No one will be pious unless he knows exactly the things which he should avoid. So, piety is achieved by doing righteous deeds and avoiding evil deeds. So, if a person is not acquainted with the things which he should avoid, he may consider deniable actions praised and vice versa, and that happens a lot to innovators in religion where they innovate in religion things which Allah did not ordain, believing that they are drawing near to Allah.

Ibn Rajab said: The origin of piety is that a person knows things which he must avoid then avoids them. Ma`ruf Al Karkhy mentioned: How would a person avoid things while he does not know what he must avoid? Then he said: If you do not know these things you must avoid, you will eat up usury and when you do not know and you meet a woman, you shall not lower your gaze.