The Role of Fear in the Early Development of Religion (with Emphasis on the Quran)

One of the Western views which adopts a naturalistic approach to exploring the "origin of religion", regards "the fear of natural events" as the source of religion. Referring to the Quran and narrations, this paper seeks to explain the Quranic view on this issue and investigate whether or not the fear of natural events is the origin of religion, tendency towards religion, and one's commitment to its practical rulings, and what in principle, is the Quranic viewpoint about the answer to these three questions? After explaining the related concepts, the author divides the discussion of this topic into three parts which are as follows: the first, that is "the early development of religion", which considers that fear does not play any role in the development of religion, rather, its development if ascribed to, God and His will. But in the two other parts, namely, "tendency towards religion" and "adherence to religious injunctions", it is argued that although fear is not regarded as a fundamental factor , its role cannot be completely ignored.