Page 73 - Passivity in Religion

The Characteristics of the Passive

respect, or their desire to live in a way that seeks the pleasure of
other human beings rather than that of Allah. Those who are sick
in their hearts imply, through various means, to those ignorant of
the religion that they tacitly approve of their corrupted way of life
and thinking. In the Qur'an, Allah describes the condition of this
kind of person:
Those who reject Allah after having believed—except for
someone forced to do it whose heart remains at rest in its
faith—but as for those whose breasts become dilated with
disbelief, anger from Allah will come down on them. They
will have a terrible punishment. That is because they prefer
the life of this world to the Hereafter and because Allah does
not guide disbelieving people. (Surat an-Nahl, 106-107)
Allah tells us that in every age there have been those living in
close contact with Muslims, but who have abandoned their faith,
and been deceived by Satan into returning to ways of ignorance.
One of the groups mentioned in the Qur'an in this regard were
weak-willed individuals living among the people of Prophet
Musa (as). These people learned the noble moral teachings and re-
ceived spiritual training from Prophet Musa (as), a person beloved
and blessed by Allah, and witnessed the miracles performed by
him. Prophet Musa (as) saved these people from the horrible pun-
ishment inflicted on them by Pharaoh, through the will of Allah,
as well as relating Allah's words to them and guiding them. But,
when Prophet Musa (as) temporarily left his people, in order to re-
ceive a revelation from Allah, his absence was the occasion for
their becoming ensnared by the satanic temptation into the per-
verse beliefs of a person named Samaritan. Samaritan had until
that point been regarded as a religious man, but his corruption in-
fluenced several among them, and led them to deify others along
with Allah.
With the following verse, Allah told Prophet Musa (as) what

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