متقي
Muttaqī
One who acts out of taqwa, the conscious fear and awareness of God; the plural is muttaqūn.
What it means
A muttaqī is a person who acts in pursuit of taqwa, or because he possesses it. Taqwa is the mindfulness of God that makes a person guard against what God has forbidden and hold to what He has commanded. The plural is muttaqūn, and the Quran uses it for those who live with that awareness. The Quran opens its second chapter by calling itself guidance for the muttaqīn (2:2), and it promises them Paradise (3:133). It also teaches that the most honoured of people in God’s sight are the most muttaqī among them (49:13), so that the measure is conduct and awareness, not lineage or wealth.
Often misunderstood as
That it means simply a pious or religious person, which loses the sense of awareness of God.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 47, listed as MUTTAQĪ. The definition is restated here.