What is the difference between the righteous (al-abrar) and the God-fearing (al-muttaqin)?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, what is the difference between the righteous (al-abrar) and the God-fearing (al-muttaqin), and does one of them include the other?
Answer:
There is no difference between the righteous (al-abrar) and the God-fearing (al-muttaqin); the righteous are the God-fearing, and the God-fearing are the righteous. He (Exalted and Majestic is He) said:[Al-Baqarah 2:177] up to His saying: "Those are the ones who are truthful, and those are the God-fearing." So they are righteous and they are God-fearing. Yes.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, what is the difference between the righteous (al-abrar) and the God-fearing (al-muttaqin), and does one of them include the other?
Answer:
There is no difference between the righteous (al-abrar) and the God-fearing (al-muttaqin); the righteous are the God-fearing, and the God-fearing are the righteous. He (Exalted and Majestic is He) said:
Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but [true] righteousness is [in] one who believes in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets
لَّيْسَ الْبِرَّ أَن تُوَلُّوا وُجُوهَكُمْ قِبَلَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ وَلَٰكِنَّ الْبِرَّ مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةِ وَالْكِتَابِ وَالنَّبِيِّينَ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [3287- 4717] ما الفرق بين الأبرار والمتقين؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.