By Febriyanti Lestari

Taqva: A Man’s Fear of God (2006) is undeniably a thought-provoking film. Not only does it allow non-Muslim audience to understand everyday issues that Muslims are constantly struggling with, it also potentially evokes deep internal feelings of self-criticism for the Muslim audience. Taqwa is an important concept in Islam. The goal of doing all ibada is to be a muttaqeen to whom Allah has promised his Jannah, and thus daily jihad to Taqwa becomes an essential part of Muslim’s life. Interestingly, this film was directed by a self-declared atheist Özer Kiziltan who translated Taqwa for this film’s English title as a man’s fear of God. While it is true that fear can be one of the feelings inherent in a process or discipline that leads to Taqwa, this concept essentially neither carries a negative connotation of Taqwa as an impossible stage nor incorporates a negative theology. Kiziltan’s Taqva, however, conveys a rather pessimist tone about Taqwa.

In Arabic, Taqwa comes from the word “waqaya” which means “protection,” in contrast to khauf which means afraid. To have fear can be one of its characteristics, but it essentially means to protect oneself from wrong doing and to keep a moral life. Quran mentions a number of explicit actions that could lead to Taqwa. Among others are to repent immediately, provide zakah, forgive others, control one’s anger and emotion, do good deeds (3: 133-135), keep promises, be patient in poverty and hardship (2: 76-77), avoid being arrogant (28: 83), and do zikr (33: 41). As an effort to protect oneself, a person has a choice whether to isolate himself or herself from worldly businesses or to take up the challenges. In Taqva: A Man’s Fear of God, all these are problematized through the protagonists Muharrem and the Sheikh.

Muharrem is portrayed as a man with a good character. He is pious, humble, honest, and kind-hearted. Carrying his tasbih beads everywhere, he constantly does zikr both alone and with a group and repents for his sins immediately. To some extent, he might reflect all the characteristics of a muttaqeen, except the fact that he is rather too naïve, fear-driven, and focused on the vertical connection with God while lacking the skill to deal with complex realities of the everyday life. For example, his decision to not get married in order to bow down to God while frequently feeling guilty in junub after experiencing sex dreams is rather unrealistic. Should his body be deprived of sexual pleasure in order to please God? From his facial expression and gestures, Muharrem seems to have always been in tension. He is never relaxed. He also rarely smiles—the only scene he looks cheerful is when Rauf came to visit his house the first time. For Muslims, the best example of a muttaqeen must be Prophet Muhammad. In fact, Muhammad lived a normal life. He was married and known as a smiley man.

In Taqva, Kiziltan uses a paradox as Muharrem becomes even more tormented after he joins a religious group led by a respected Sheikh. I would say that this film can be seen as a cynical take on organized religion. The way the Sheikh and the Order are operating is based on pragmatism, flexibility, and organization-oriented goal, and it often makes their decision or policy bias. They care about such small thing as avoiding riba or bank interest, but they do not care to take action when a poor tenant needs an urgent help. They prioritize to allocate money to educate young dervishes, but they do not care to educate an old tenant who drinks alcohol as long as he can pay the rent or to be fair with others by allowing Muharrem to cut the line because they selfishly value their own time effectiveness. Therefore, I would argue that the spiritual leader here is corrupt rather than understanding something higher. A muttaqeen must put people first. Besides, without attending an Order, a Muslim can still be pious and study Islam at home or mosque. This Order seems to become the servant of capitalism.

While Muharrem’s naive piety before he worked for the Order is already questionable, his job as a rent collector endowing him with a mobile phone, elegant suites, laptop, car, etc transforms him into a temperamental man. Having been accustomed to living a simple life, he was seemingly unprepared to deal with worldly matters. He continues to repent and do prayers and zikr, but his personality never grows. He has a problem dealing with his own fear. His failure to reconcile with proportional jihad to be a muttaqeen seems to be a result of his lack of intellectual capacity—or maybe education?—to think beyond doing ritual worship. He never works hard to understand a situation in his surrounding—let alone to think of solution for the good of ummah. He is sad to see the poor family who cannot afford the rent, but when he has excess money in his hand, he does not even think to allocate it for the poor. Or after he receives the ‘haram’ money from the contractor, he is very indecisive. Miscalculation happens, and he can just admit it to Ali and the contractor, correct it, and return the money. However, his mind is unable to process it. Unable to get advice from the Sheikh, reflecting his dependence on other’s judgment, he begins to be restless. He kneels and sheds tears all the time, but he never finds peace. At this point, the quality of his daily ritual worship starts to be questionable. It is more about quantity than quality community with God. 

In short, Kiziltan’s Taqva promotes pessimism towards Taqwa through a timid Muslim character like Muharrem. It is contrary to the Quranic verse (Al Isra: 81) he quotes for the film opening. The background of the verse was the optimism of Prophet Muhammad and his followers when entering Mecca to get rid of the idols and defeat the Quraisy. At the end of the film, falsehood continues and truth is never achieved. Taken care of by the Sheikh’s daughter, Muharrem turns bedridden and loses his mind. However, it should be noted that piety differs from naivety; nor is it measured by the knowledge of a Sheikh of a particular religious institution or sect who is also prone to temptation of power and arrogance. In line with the verse (3: 191) recited in the film before the first zikr ritual in the Order, zikr must be synergized with ‘yatafakr’ or thinking to have a happy life both in the world and in the Hereafter. To be a muttaqeen indeed requires humility and persistent disciplines, but it is also not a blind fear of God. The road to Taqwa is definitely not easy, but it is also not impossible. (FL)

 

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