Knowledge and Fear are antonyms. If someone possesses knowledge, that person won’t be under fear, whereas a person who is really illiterate would be very fearful. That way you will find that even many so-called educated people are actually illiterates where as many assumed illiterates could be knowledgeable in fact. The worldly knowledge makes us fearful. A kid who does not have any knowledge of this world is not scared of anything.
As we gain knowledge of this world, our fear starts rising and to overcome that fear we need to brush up our real knowledge. True knowledge is reflection of God into human beings. As much knowledge we have as much we would be close to the reality. For us either there can be reality or fear. If we know the reality then there will be no fear, because there is one-ness in this universe. As Shah Latif narrates:
پُنهون پُنهون پَئِي ڪريان آءُ پِڻ پُنهون پاڻ
اديُون هُيَسِ اڻڄاڻَ جو ڪونه سُڃاتم سچ کي
In daily life we are scared of so many small and big things; the ultimate fear is that of Death. If we are not fearful of death, many of our problems would be solved already and there would be much more peace and tranquility in this world. There are two interesting points here which we forget: first, we did not belong to this world before and second, that death does not eliminate us from the universe, it’s just change of place/form.
To make it more interesting Sufis consider death as a step forward to the reality and closeness to God, as they consider this world as an unnecessary layer between the creator and the creature. With the real knowledge we consider each and everything from Almighty who is the ultimate reason behind everything. Shah Latif beautifully puts it: He is this and that, who makes us dead and gives us life, who is the sweet beloved and life, who is foe and friend at the same time.
سو هِي سو هُو، سو اَجلُ سو اللهُ
سو پِرين سو پَساهُ، سو ويرِي سو واهَرُو
So who and why to fear? Many is one and one is many, if we believe in many we may be in trouble but if we believe in the One then there is no fear. We have been told that those who know the truth will have nothing to fear about and will have no grief because it is the fear which brings grief !