Page 70 - Islam: The Religion of Ease

ISLAM: THE RELIGION OF EASE

Realizing that Allah sees and knows everything, that humans
are weak and full of shortcomings, and that it is not what you
look like in the eyes of others that is important but what your
position is in Allah's eyes will make one's life easy and peaceful;
one's shoulders will no longer be bowed in misery.
Another notion that a person has which causes the greatest
distress is considering oneself more valuable than others be-
cause of certain qualities. This is also a characteristic of satan.
When Allah created the Prophet Adam (as), He commanded
satan and all the angels to bow down to him. The angels, being
created by Allah with good morals, immediately bowed down.
Whereas satan insisted on not bowing down and gave the fol-
lowing excuse:
He said, "I am better than him. You created me from fire
but You created him from clay." (Surah Sad: 76)
As is clear from this verse, because of seeing himself as more
superior to other creatures, satan became ferocious enough to
disobey Allah.
In the Qur'an, Allah also informs those who diverged from
true religion because they saw themselves as being superior to
others. For example, by saying "We are Allah's children and
His loved ones..." (Surat al-Ma'ida: 18) the Jews and Christians
deviated. However all human beings, including them, are
Allah's vulnerable creations. Every person is reliant on Allah
and follows the destiny Allah has ordained for him. No one can
develop certain qualities by himself and achieve superiority
through them. People's superiority can be measured only by
their effort to come close to Allah and by their piousness.
The answer Allah gives to those who presume they are ex-
ceptional and superior is:

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