Page 34 - Loyalty Described in the Qur'an

LOYALTY DESCRIBED IN THE QUR'AN
In the following verse, Allah reveals the words and real intentions of
these characters:
If it had been a case of easy gains and a short journey, they

would have followed you, but the distance was too great
for them. They will swear by Allah: "Had we been able to,
we would have gone out with you." They are destroying
their own selves. Allah knows that they are lying. (Surat at-
Tawba, 42)
Because these people did not believe in Allah with certainty,
when the time came for them to make a self-sacrifice, they were un-
able to be devoted or loyal to Allah and His messengers. They could

not see that remaining faithful to Allah and His prophet, and work-
ing to earn Allah's favor, would bring them enormous gain both in
this world and the world to come. They were deceived by the life of
this world, and failed to earn Allah's favor through their lack of pa-
tience. In Surat an-Nisa', Allah tells us that those who, because they
cannot be patient in time of difficulty or anxiety, do not live as faith
dictates, prefer to dissociate themselves from believers:
Among you there are people who hang back and if you en-

counter a setback then they say, "Allah has blessed me in
that I was not there with them." (Surat an-Nisa', 72)
In this verse, Allah tells us that these individuals cannot appre-
ciate the importance and the gravity of the situation in which they
find themselves. They regard it as a blessing to have been able to
avoid an act of self-sacrifice, that would otherwise have earned
them Allah's favor, showing clearly how little they understood.
Another form of insincerity evidenced in these people is that

they are loyal and agreeable when they get what they want, how,

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