Page 62 - Why Do You Deceive Yourself ?

60 WHY DO YOU DECEIVE YOURSELF?

Underlying the principle of conforming to the majority is the
bankrupt idea that if everybody is agreed on something it is essential
to go along with it. That is, a person is afraid of being criticized or con-
demned or isolated by others if he does not abandon what he knows to
be right to go along with the majority. This is a mentality which is very
widespread amongst all people, whether they are young or old. There
are people who, solely for this reason, fail to observe their obligations
of worship and ignore the approval of Allah throughout their lives for
the sake of the approval of the majority. A person does not have to cal-

culate what others think and then act accordingly. With the Qur'an
Allah frees people from dependence of all types. A person is account-
able only to Allah and will be called to account only as to whether or
not he believed in and conformed to the Qur'an.
The fact is that everybody knows this truth very well but many
people deceive themselves by putting forward the excuse of going
along with the majority and thinking that they can deceive those
around them. However, when they enter the Hereafter they will find
that the large community of people they went along with cannot save
them just as they cannot save themselves. Allah tells us about the state
of such people in the Qur'an:
No indeed! If he does not desist, We will grab him by the
forelock, a lying, sinful forelock. Let him call his attendants;
We will call the Guards of Hell! No indeed! Do not obey him,

but prostrate and draw near. (Surat al-'Alaq: 15-19)
A person in this position has ignored the approval of Allah in
order to fit in with those around him and has never considered that he
will come face to face with the Day of Judgment. Now he will go to the
Fire along with the irreligious majority to whom he attached great im-
portance and for whose approval he neglected Allah. This being the