Page 112 - The Debased Culture of Superficiality

110 THE DEBASED CULTURE OF SUPERFICIALITY

tant appointment, is fired from his job or is the subject of
unfounded gossip. Or someone who fails a university
entrance examination after years of constant preparation.
Before they become angry, these people should consider that
none of these occurrences happened by chance. For a devout
Muslim, all of these things are the means to good and were
all created for a purpose.
Shallow people frequently forget about the fact of des-
tiny; they do not consider that any adversity that happens to
them is under Allah’s control, and they become caught up in
anger. But believers control their anger. They trust in Allah
and ask for good to come out of their negative experience.
They keep in mind that Allah directed the other person who
may have caused such an adversity. They know that being
overcome with anger, tension, hurtful words and irritability
are marks of a person with a shallow mind. In the Qur’an,
Allah reveals:

[People who guard against evil are] those who give in
times of both ease and hardship, those who control their
rage and pardon other people—Allah loves the good-
doers. (Surah Al ‘Imran: 134)

Greed is an Essential Part of the Shallow
Character

People of shallow character have a strong attachment to
the values of this world and so live divorced from religious
morality. What drives a person into superficiality are things
like arrogance, jealousy, ambition, impatience, and anger, at
the bottom of which lie the passions and desires of the lower