Page 19 - Why Do You Deceive Yourself ?

Remembering the Purpose of Creation 17
heedless of these truths even though this behavior will cause them
harm in their eternal lives in the Hereafter.
Look around you once again. Children, teenagers, men, women,
old people; most of them are going about their daily business as if they
will never be faced with death and the Day of Judgment. One is trying
to catch the school bus, another is hurrying towards his car to avoid
being late for work. One is busy shopping for guests who will arrive in
the evening, another making preparations for the arrival of the grand-
child who will be born in a few weeks. Of course, these are things that

everybody experiences in the normal course of daily life. Obviously
they are all extremely commonplace. The problem is that people live
through them in a completely heedless mental state and do not stop to
think that Allah is with them, that death is coming quickly and that in
the presence of Allah they will be called to account for the years during
which they forgot our Lord.
So how can people be so blind to these blatant truths in spite of
the countless signs of Allah's existence and the many signs of their im-
potence in His presence? How can they close their eyes to the truth like
ostriches burying their heads in the sand – especially when they will
be afflicted with the harm this behavior causes?
Without any doubt this happens with most people not because
they cannot understand what they should do, but because they de-
ceive themselves even though their consciences can see what is right.

We are using the word "deception" because, as we have said, on this
matter these people do not have a problem of ignorance or inability to
understand. The problem is the level of commitment of these people to
worldly life and their failure to approach realities honestly because of
secret or open rejection of the Hereafter. Allah tells us in the Qur'an
about the existence of such people as follows: