Page 52 - Faith: The Way to Happiness

FAITH: THE WAY TO HAPPINESS

possible. They do not see, or do not want to see, one another's good
sides. In short, they cannot take as much notice as they should of the
kindnesses, the help and the good turns which are done to them.
People who demonstrate such a confrontational attitude also
approach Allah and religion insincerely. The faith of these people in
Allah is extremely weak and they tend to forget Him at the slightest
hint of trouble or difficulty. In the verse of the Qur'an below, Allah
warns us that people whose worship is held by the thinnest of
strands will suffer great loss in this world and the Hereafter:
Among the people there is one who worships Allah right
on the edge. If good befalls him, he is content with it, but if
a trial befalls him, he reverts to his former ways, losing
both this world and the Hereafter. That is indeed sheer
loss. (Surat al-Hajj: 11)
Another verse in which Allah draws our attention to these peo-
ple's insincerity in their faith is as follows:
When harm touches man, he calls on Us, lying on his side
or sitting down or standing up. Then when We remove the
harm from him he carries on as if he had never called on Us
when the harm first touched him. In that way We make
what they have done appear good to the profligate. (Surah
Yunus: 12)
Another indication of the insincerity of these people is that they
put forward a number of reasons and excuses for making their
doing just exactly what they want to do seem reasonable. When they
are reminded of their responsibility to Allah, they have countless ex-
cuses for evading this responsibility and wasting their lives accord-
ing to their own greedy desires. In every situation they invent false
reasons for their failure to worship and their failure to adhere to
Allah's instructions. These excuses differ according to people's de-

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