Page 24 - Unawareness: A Sly Threat

22 UNAWARENESS: A SLY THREAT

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b behind by an immense reward.” Satan wants to prevent
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believers from striving in His Way and from earning greater
dignity in His Sight.
Satan makes intimations to believers during difficult
times of sickness or in the heat of battle in order to take
advantage of a momentary weakness.
Of course, Allah tests individuals with periods of difficul-
ty, pressure, and distress so that they will reveal their true
natures. Such testing is very important. For example, during
the time of our Prophet (saas), some individuals who were
constantly by his side on the battlefield became unaware in
the heat of battle:
… when they came at you from above you and below
you, when your eyes rolled and your hearts rose to your
throats, and you thought unworthy thoughts about
Allah. (Surat al-Ahzab: 10)
Allah gives the good news that sincere believers who fall
into momentary unawareness will be forgiven if they repent.
Repentance is thus one of His great gifts. In fact, He tells us
in the Qur’an how He forgave three sincere believers who
regretted their failure to fight:
And (He turned) also toward the three who were left
behind, so that when Earth became narrow for them, for
all its great breadth, and their own selves became con-
stricted for them and they realized that there was no
refuge from Allah except in Him, He turned to them so
that they might turn to Him. Allah is the Ever-Returning,
the Most Merciful. (Surat at-Tawba: 118)