Page 18 - Why Do You Deceive Yourself ?

16 WHY DO YOU DECEIVE YOURSELF?

Because of that We showed Ibrahim the dominions of the
heavens and the Earth so that he might be one of the people
of certainty. When night covered him he saw a star and said,
"This is my Lord!" Then when it set he said, "I do not love
what sets." Then when he saw the Moon come up he said,
"This is my Lord!" Then when it set he said, "If my Lord does
not guide me, I will be one of the misguided people." Then
when he saw the Sun come up he said, "This is my Lord! This
is greater!" Then when it set he said, "My people, I am free of

what you associate with Allah! I have turned my face to Him
Who brought the heavens and Earth into being, a pure natu-
ral believer. I am not one of the idolaters." (Surat al-An'am:
75-79)
As we can see in the above story, Prophet Ibrahim (as) realized the
existence of Allah, the Creator of the heavens and the Earth, and un-
derstood the need to serve Him solely by listening to his conscience.
We understand from this example that looking at their surroundings
through the eyes of the conscience is enough for people to understand
their need to serve Allah. However, in spite of this, Allah in His good-
ness has provided people by various means with detailed information
about the purpose of their existence and how they should serve Him.
Without doubt this is a sign of Allah's boundless mercy and compas-
sion towards humanity, and a manifestation of His name, Al-Hadi, the

Guide showing people the true path. In the world, Allah uses many
methods of pointing this out to people and also gives them time to un-
derstand these signs.
Despite all this, people, who fail to evaluate with open con-
sciences the signs and the manifest truths they see, make up the major-
ity in the world. Such people exhibit behavior which is completely