Page 102 - Commonly Disregarded Qur'anic Rulings

100 COMMONLY DISREGARDED QURANIC RULINGS

prone to making mistakes and faulty decisions, and whose
actions and words may be wrong. He does not consider that
perfection and freedom from error belong only to Allah. He
wants to be perfect himself. But he cannot, and the fact that
some of his attitudes are wrong, draws him into despair.
A Muslim experiences deep peace by accepting his imper-

fections and helplessness in relation to Allah and never claims
to be free from error.
It should be remembered that the tendency to err and sin
-even though one may be a firm believer- makes him more
aware of Allah’s perfection. One can conceive of perfection
only when he has experienced imperfection. Consciousness
of his own failures and weaknesses lets him better appreciate
the absolute perfection of Allah. He will have a clear concep-
tion that He is exalted above all else while measuring Allah
with His true measure and glorifying Him with praise.

HONESTY

Lying is frequently employed by some of those who fool-
ishly eschew the morals of the Qur’an to mislead others.
Various reasons prompt a man to lie: to avoid others’ criti-
cisms, to lay the grounds for a dishonest argument or to
attain superiority. However, no matter what the reason, this
is an act forbidden by Allah. In the Qur’an, He praises those
who are truthful and curses liars:
If anyone argues with you about him after the knowl-
edge that has come to you, say, ‘Come then! Let us
summon our sons and your sons, our women and