Page 15 - Loyalty Described in the Qur'an

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In societies ignorant of the morality of the Qur'an, faithfulness
is understood in regard to personal gain. Those who understand its
meaning in this way will happily show loyalty to whomever and
whatever is necessary for the sake of profit. However, this is an in-
sincere kind of faithfulness. Their degree of faithfulness is depend-
ent on the value and size of the reward they are to obtain. If the only
way to achieve their aim is to feign loyalty, they will willingly do so.
Moreover, the reason often for so much conflict between people
is because of their failure to keep their promises to one another. The
basic cause of this is their being opportunistic. Because they seek
profit at every chance, disbelievers exploit others merely to get what
they want, through trying to hide their real intentions. And, the best
way to get what they want is, they think, to win the other person's
trust. Having done so, they will then lead that person to think posi-
tively of them, and create the situation by which they can attain
what they want without the other person knowing. In order to cre-
ate such a "relationship of trust," and to achieve their aims, those so
perverse have the tendency to make false promises, giving their
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