Page 22 - Passivity in Religion

PASSIVITY IN RELIGION

this understanding is their tendency to observe some commands of
the religion but disregard others. That is, as the verse, "Among the
people there is one who worships Allah right on the edge." (Surat
al-Hajj, 11) maintains, they do not have true faith. Consequently,
they fail to fully live by the commands of the religion.
In every instant of their lives, the sincere Muslims live by that
which Allah describes in the Qur'an. From their understanding of
the necessity of the cleanliness of the food they prefer, to the love
and respect they show to other believers, to their loyalty and self-
lessness, they share a common moral code and lifestyle that con-
sists of hundreds of attributes unique to believers. Though a true
believer can make mistakes, he nevertheless aims to perfect all of
these values, without exception. However, those who advocate
passivity assert that one can still be a Muslim without living by all
the commands of the religion as Allah describes in the Qur'an. Due
to this deviant belief, which is utterly incompatible with the
Qur'an, they are devoid of many of the attributes unique to the sin-
cere believers.
They do not fully commit themselves to the deeds they take up;
they do them simply not to stand out among the Muslims. It is rare
to see them show forth the attributes of moral perfection, such as
unconditional obedience to Allah and His messenger, modesty, sin-
cerity, the profound love and respect felt for believers, loyalty, self-
sacrifice, devotion and so on. For instance, they find it hard to
make self-sacrifices, one of the true attributes of believers, for it de-
mands renouncing one's own interests but giving priority to those
of others. For those who have little fear of Allah, or who are totally
devoid of it, it is difficult, and even distressing. For this reason, if
they are required to perform a self-sacrifice, they do the minimum
they can, and only for show. These people do not exercise their con-
science as sincere believers do, but live self-centeredly. When their

20