Page 69 - Those Who Do Not Heed The Qur'an

HOW TO SAVE ONESELF FROM FIXED IDEAS 67

the Qur'an, paying lip service to the faith and not living out in the
full sense the life the Qur'an prescribes is behaviour that Allah dis-
likes. Allah warns of this in Surat al-'Ankabut:
Do people imagine that they will be left to say, "We believe,"
and will not be tested? We tested those before them so that
Allah would know the truthful and would know the liars.
(Surat al-Ankabut: 2-3)

Thus it is essential for all those who say they believe in Allah and
the Qur'an to read the Qur'an, to think deeply about its verses and,
to put its teaching into practice. On the Day of Judgment people will
be asked about the Qur'an and called to give an accounting of every-
thing they have done.
As we have already mentioned, many people resist the Qur'an
without reading or studying it at all because of the fixed ideas which
they hold. But if they ever read it once and thought carefully about
it, they would be unable to escape the truths contained in the Qur'an
and would be forced to abandon their lack of faith. Instead of read-
ing and arriving at this conclusion, they condition themselves in ad-
vance by saying, "Even if I read it, I will not be able to give up my
own ideas and prejudices" and so they reject a sincere approach out
of hand.
As we have examined in detail on previous pages, the situation is
that a large majority of people are influenced by those around them
into staying away from the Qur'an and rejecting its teaching. Some
feel distanced from the religion due to a long lasting and negative
influence from somebody with no knowledge of proper morality
and who has applied it incorrectly, and for long years they cannot be
rescued from this negative influence. Others take as their yardstick
what they have heard from an atheist or an unbelieving enemy of re-
ligion and allow themselves to be governed by these ideas through-