Page 91 - Answers from the Qur'an

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ers. Indeed, Allah calls our attention to this matter and makes it
clear that this pretext is completely invalid. The Qur'an mentions
that a group of people in the time of our Prophet (pbuh) who
stayed behind while struggling in Allah's cause came to the
Prophet (pbuh) and excused themselves, saying: "Our wealth
and families kept us occupied" . But Allah revealed that "they
say with their tongues what is not in their hearts." (Surat al-
Fath, 11) Yet in another verse, Allah gives the example of those
who, in our Prophet's (pbuh) time, tried to avoid fighting by say-
ing: "'Our houses are exposed,' when they were not exposed; it
was merely that they wanted to run away." (Surat al-Ahzab, 13)
Another excuse put forward by the lower self is that matters
related to business or school hinder one from observing Allah's
commands. According to them, business or school take so much
time that there is no time left for performing the regular prayers,
fasting, enjoining the good, living by the Qur'an's morality, and
being with believers.
In fact, those who put forward this excuse have an important
misconception: They think that their school or profession is the
most important thing in life, and so prefer to reserve the rest of
their time for religion. But it is not possible for a believer to make
such a distinction. Of course the believers also have good educa-
tion, consider their schools important, have professions; but
none of these hinder them from living their lives according to re-
ligious morality. According to the verse, "Say: 'My prayer and
my rites, my living and my dying, are for Allah alone, the Lord
of all the worlds,'" (Surat al-An'am, 162) believers lead their
lives in a way designed to pursue Allah's approval. Setting apart
some time for mundane matters and the remaining for religion is
not compatible with the morality in the Qur'an.

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