Page 39 - Why Do You Deceive Yourself ?

Being Sincerely Religious without Deceiving Yourself 37
comes to understand with the greatest possible bitterness that all the
effort he devoted to the goals for which he grew old and wasted his
life, had neither meaning nor importance. The truth is that this is not
something he did not know. He knew in his conscience exactly what
would become of him but he chose to evade this by deceiving himself.
Allah tells us about the position of people like this in the verse:
... Satan made their actions seem good to them and so de-
barred them from the way, even though they were intelligent
people. (Surat al-'Ankabut: 38)

In other words, although they are capable of seeing the truth,
these people fall prey to Satan's deceptions and waste their lives on
empty tasks.
Allah tells us in these verses that accepting that they have done
wrong will do these people no good in the Hereafter:
And your Lord arrives with the angels rank upon rank and
that Day Hell is produced, that Day man will remember; but
how will the remembrance help him? He will say, "Oh! If
only I had prepared in advance for this life of mine!" That
Day no one will punish as He punishes and no one will
shackle as He shackles. (Surat al-Fajr: 22-26)
In order not to be one of those who says, "if only… " in the
Hereafter, think right now about the real purpose of your life and con-
sider to what extent what you are doing serves this purpose. Be care-

ful! Do not deceive yourself into thinking that the empty and purpose-
less tasks you do are worthwhile. This applies to everything you do,
every task you undertake throughout the day. Naturally, you are going
to work hard for many different things but your basic purpose in
doing all of them should be to earn Allah's approval and His Paradise.
If, in any task, you see no likelihood of Allah's approving, and do not