Page 71 - Passivity in Religion

The Characteristics of the Passive

businesses, spouses, friends, family or anything else. For this rea-
son, praise of Allah is always in their thoughts and on their lips. In
one verse of the Qur'an, Allah tells us about the intensity of the
love that those who are truly devout feel towards Him:
Some people set up equals to Allah, loving them as they
should love Allah. But those who believe have greater love
for Allah... (Surat al-Baqara, 165)
Contrary to this, those of passive character want also to pre-
vent others from remembering Allah. Allah tells us of this in the
Qur'an:
Who could do greater wrong than someone who bars access
to the mosques of Allah, preventing His name from being
remembered in them, and goes about destroying them?...
(Surat al-Baqara, 114)
As the verse, "you would know them by their ambivalent
speech" (Surah Muhammad, 30) maintains, we can recognize
these people by the way they speak to others, while the Muslims
are known for the completely different way they converse. From
the way in which they speak, passive individuals give the impres-
sion that they do not share the Muslim moral qualities. Unlike the
Muslims, they speak in a way that shows they place too much im-
portance on trivial matters, and that they have forgotten that Allah
is in control of everything that happens. They read a few books or
newspapers, and relay the knowledge they obtain to others with
calculated, pseudo-intellectual language, that has none of the
warmth or humility that faith can provide. Even if they regard
these methods as means to show they are superior to Muslims,
they foster no contentment in their hearts; it does not remove the
deep malaise in their souls. On the contrary, it is the reason they
continually live in fear and apprehension.

69