Page 372 - Bigotry: The Dark Danger
P. 372
Bigotry:
The Dark Danger
They invented monasticism – We did not
prescribe it for them – purely out of desire
to gain the pleasure of God, but even so
they did not observe it as it should have
been observed. To those of them who had
faith We gave their reward but many of
them are deviators. (Qur'an, 57:27)
In this verse, God is saying that this false invented religion does
not appear in His book, and that those who invent that religion do
not themselves abide by it. We can therefore learn about these peo-
ple's hypocrisy from the Qur'an. Their private lives always corrobo-
rate this fact revealed in the Qur'an. Many people may imagine that
the people in question actually lead lives full of fear of God. There
may very well be some people among them who sincerely believe
this, but that is not the case. Indeed, the sincere ones among them
will eventually learn and live by the Islam of the Qur'an. It is impos-
sible for someone to be honest and yet live by a false religion because
we have God's promise:
You who have faith! If you have fear of God, He will give you
discrimination and erase your bad actions from you and forgive
you. God's favor is indeed immense. (Qur'an, 8:29)
As revealed in this verse, an honest person will have the under-
standing to distinguish between truth and falsehood.
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