Page 43 - Perfected Faith

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THE MORAL PERFECTION CONFERRED BY PERFECTED FAITH

tions in which he feels his interests are at stake, he may well become a
totally different person.
Such situations clearly reveal the superiority of those who have at-
tained maturity of faith. One of perfected faith unflaggingly displays
moral perfection at every moment of his life. The greatest patience,
the highest degree of self-sacrifice and submission, the strongest love
for Allah are manifest in his behaviour. These qualities make him a
distinguished person. In the words of the Qur'an, he becomes a
"leader (i.e., example) for the righteous." (Surat al-Furqan, 74)
The major goal of every Muslim is to attain such moral perfection.
Setting limits for oneself leads man to be contented with himself,
which is an attitude a man should strenuously avoid. In one verse,
Allah stresses that the feeling of self-sufficiency is a serious deprava-
tion:
No indeed! Truly man transgresses all bounds in seeing himself
as self-sufficient. (Surat al-Alaq, 6-7)
For this reason, everybody who has faith in Allah and the hereafter
must make his major goal to live by the values of the Qur'an in the
best way possible. Only one with such a noble goal can hope to attain
paradise and be united with the prophets, the saints, the martyrs and
the truthful. Allah informs us that only strict obedience makes man
successful in this noble effort:
Whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger will be with those
whom Allah has blessed: the Prophets and the truthful, the
martyrs and the righteous. What excellent company such peo-
ple are! (Surat an-Nisa', 69)
In the following pages, we will dwell on this kind of moral perfec-
tion of which Allah gives a detailed account in the Qur'an and see the
great zeal and enthusiasm man should show in order to be successful
in this cause.