Page 46 - Those Who Do Not Heed The Qur'an

44 THOSE WHO DO NOT HEED THE QUR'AN

planation. They are incapable of saying, "This is a warning Allah
sent to us," and are even afraid of expressing the possibility of such
a thing. This is another tactic of Satan's.
All disasters, misfortunes, problems and events which befall
people and remind them of the pain of hell are opportunities Allah
provided for them as a kindness. Allah sends people difficulties so

they can learn from them and so correct their behaviour. In a verse
of the Qur'an, Allah explains the reason behind worldly troubles:
We will give them a taste of lesser punishment before the
greater punishment, so that hopefully they will turn back. Who
could do greater wrong than someone who is reminded of the
Signs of his Lord and then turns away from them?... (Surah as-
Sajda: 21-22)
Here Allah is reminding people that they are close to death, that
a person is responsible for his or her every action, and that they

therefore need to conform to His orders and prohibitions. But be-
cause of their extreme arrogance, the deniers turn all reminders into
a laughing matter and increase their resistance still further. Indeed,
they respond defiantly to prophets who warn them to conform to
Allah's verses by saying, "… When will this promise come about if
you are telling the truth?" (Surat al-Mulk: 25) or exhibit an ugly
courage by using expressions such as, "We and our forefathers
were promised this before. This is nothing but the myths of previ-
ous peoples!" (Surat al-Mu'minun: 83) In Verse 95 of Surat al-A'raf,
Allah responds to this taunt by saying "…We seized them suddenly
when they were not expecting it," and of their deserving great tor-
ment. In Surah Al 'Imran, He invites people to consider what their
spiritual state will be on the Day of Judgment:

On the Day that each self finds the good it did, and the evil it