"In the Indian subcontinent, when the British ruled over it, Muslims and Hindus collaborated to drive them out of India, and launched a joint movement holding demonstrations and public meetings and calling for strikes. Sometimes the Muslims were asked to behave as Hindus and sometimes it was difficult to distinguish a Muslim from a Hindu. For instance, during the protest demonstrations, Muslims also marked their forehead in the Hindu fashion and went to their temples and took part in their rites. Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (ra) did not like the manner in which the Movement progressed and not only did he not take part in the movement but he also advised his acquaintances and disciples against it.
At one time during the movement, a delegation of its leaders visited Maulana Thanvi (ra) to convince him to cooperate with them. He told them plainly that he was not in agreement with the way the movement was going on when they suggested that if he joined and supported it the British would soon be driven out. He also asked them what they had achieved in the past few years during which they had held demonstrations, organised public meetings and called for strikes? One of them remarked that although they had not gained independence they had succeeded in removing fear of the Red Cap from the minds of the people. The police then used to don the red cap and were known by it. "No one now fears the police. There was a time when on seeing the police the entire locality trembled with fear. This is a great success and soon we will drive the British out too."
Maulana Thanvi (ra) told them that they had done a very bad thing by removing fear of the police from the minds of the people. He said, "By removing fear of the red cap you have given freedom to thieves and bandits. They will do bad things without fear of the police. The least you could have done when you removed the fear of the red cap was to instill the fear of your green cap in the minds of the people. That would have been a great success. But, you have removed the fear of authority without replacing it with another fear with the result that society will face lawlessness and restlessness. People will be in constant danger of losing their lives, property and honour. You have not done a good thing and I do not praise you for that.
These words were spoken by Maulana Thanvi (ra) about 60 years ago. [from 1995] We can see today that there is no longer fear of authority in the minds of the people and the consequences are apparent in the raging chaos and disorder our society goes through."
-Mufti Taqi Usmani
Fear of police, government, other people ensures man behaves well with others. But fear of Allah means man behaves well even when alone and isolated and under the most extreme circumstances.
Take for example how people in South Asia and especially the Middle East just do not seem to be able to stand in line (queue) properly, anywhere. It's always people cutting each other off in a mad dash to the front. Yet in the Masjids, they orient themselves in neat, perfect lines automatically each and everytime.
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