Page 68 - Devoted to Allah

DEVOTED TO ALLAH

Those who can distance themselves from the indoctri-
nation of society are the true believers:
- Because the criterion of believers was not money but
faith and because they knew all property belonged to
Allah, they realized that it was unwise to envy Qarun.
Furthermore, they understood that he was certainly in a
pitiable position.
- Unlike the members of the society of ignorance, they
did not say: “Allah gives abundantly to whom He wills, or
sparingly to whom he pleases” after Qarun’s death, but
comprehended this fact right at the beginning.
A similar situation is related in the story of “the own-
ers of the vineyards.” The distinction between a man who
is given plenty of blessings and property, as is in the case
of Qarun, and a believer, who believes in Allah and ob-
serves his duty to Him, is related in the Qur’an as follows:
Give them this parable. Once there were two men, to
one of whom We gave two gardens of grape-vines and
surrounded them with date-palms, putting between
them some cultivated land. Both gardens yielded their
crops and did not suffer any loss, and We made a river
flow right through the middle of them. He was a man
of wealth and property and he said to his companion,
which conversing with him, “I have more wealth than
you and my clan is mightier than yours.” He entered
his garden and wronged himself by saying, “I do not
think that this will ever end. I do not think the Hour
of Doom will ever come. But if I should be sent back
to my Lord, I will definitely get something better in re-
turn.” His companion, with whom he was conversing,
said to him, “Do you then disbelieve in Him Who cre-

66