Page 60 - The Worst Slander: Idolatry

58 THE WORST SLANDER: IDOLATRY

gious moral values. As a result, and unaware of any bounds
when it comes to satisfying their passions, desires, and
wants, they spend a large part of their lives pursuing that
which they think will make them happy: social rank and sta-
tus and the wealth accruing from the acquisition of a great
deal of money and property. While possessing material and
wealth is not an evil in itself, we must be aware of the follow-
ing fact: in order to fulfill their craving and passion, people
often make concessions when confronted with what Allah
requires of them. In other words, they become idolaters
because they prefer to satisfy their earthly desires over
adhering to Allah's commands and prohibitions. It is as if
there were a veil over their eyes that somehow prevents them
from thinking about our Creator, why they have been creat-
ed, or the Hereafter. Allah reveals this truth in the Qur'an:
Have you seen the one who takes his whims and desires
to be his deity – whom Allah has misguided knowingly,
sealing up his hearing and his heart and placing a blind-
fold over his eyes? Who then will guide him after Allah?
So will you not pay heed? (Surat al-Jathiyyah: 23)
Since idolaters do not use their reason and conscience,
they cannot make sound judgments about certain funda-
mental truths. Their insensitivity to Allah's might and the
existence of the Hereafter resembles that of the orchard
owner described in Surat al-Kahf. This account is a very sig-
nificant example of the idolaters' weakness of mind and
logic at all times. In the Qur'an Allah reveals:

Make an example for them of two men. To one of them
We gave two gardens of grape-vines and surrounded
them with date-palms, putting between them some cul-