Bigotry: The Dark Danger
Answers from the Qur'an
Answer to the "If the Qur'an's morality promises such a good and perfect structure, then why does it have so many enemies?" DeceitThe Qur'an brings the easiest and most comfortable lifestyle, one that encompasses the most perfect moral and social structure. The essence of religious morality relies on a heartfelt submission to Allah, scrupulous obedience to His commands, and awareness that He holds everything in His will and control. For this reason, no matter how perfect a lifestyle abounding with beauties, ease, and blessings Islamic morality presents to humanity, those suffering from such personality disorders as arrogance, jealousy, and pride do not come close to having faith in Allah and being with believers, although their conscience tells them to do so. This situation is related in the Qur'an, as follows:
Such a distorted view is defined in the Qur'an as "idolatry" and it is revealed that these people feel rage and hatred when summoned to Allah and living by the Qur'anic morality:
The unbelievers' rage and hatred for Allah's verses, and thereby for Islam and all believers, is revealed in many other verses as well, such as the following:
This rage and hatred stemming from the unbelievers' arrogance and pride appears in the form of a relentless opposition toward believers. These people, who feel restless even in the presence of a single true believer, strive in their foolishness to divert believers from the right path and to impose upon them their own ignorant system. They hope for the worst for believers and wish that all adversities will befall them. Of course none of these happen to the true belivers, as Allah creats the believers with triumph and victory from the very beginning. The Qur'an tells about these vain efforts of the unbelievers, as follows:
It is obvious that some interest groups would feel uneasy at the establishment of a system based upon the Qur'an's morality. Those who make money on theft, usury, poverty, and by exploiting innocent people; those who abuse certain positions and ranks for their personal benefit although they lack the necessary expertise, knowledge, and experience essential for those positions; those who have adopted indecency and immorality as a lifestyle or profession; or those who serve some distorted ideologies are naturally unwilling to embrace the lifestyle brought by Islam—one that is based upon social justice, honesty, and equality. For this reason, they may resort to anything to hinder and even annihilate the spread of Islam's moral system. Apart from this, some of the hypocrites we mentioned earlier join the believers' community in order to provoke unbelievers against believers, to collect information about them, and to instigate restlessness. They make a great effort witlessly to stir up sedition and distort religious commands, as the following verses state:
Hypocrites continue their stealthy struggle against believers by cooperating with unbelievers. The Qur'an provides a detailed account of their personality and character traits, as well as the way they look, speak, and act. Allah sent down Surat al-Munafiqun (Chapter of the Hypocrites), which is addressed especially to hypocrites. In this chapter, He states that they are truly the enemies of believers:
Wrapped up in jealousy, these hypocrites follow the ever-growing blessings, power, authority, and beauty granted to believers. These people, consumed with their own inferiority complexes, are jealous of the respect shown to believers and thus feel rage and hatred against them. However, they also fear believers. The Qur'an reveals some of the hypocrites' character traits, as follows:
The Qur'an informs us that people who are ignorant of religion have shown these reactions and attacked the Prophets and believers in all ages. It is the unbelieving society's leaders who first recognize true believers. For example, Pharaoh first recognized Prophet Musa (pbuh) and Nimrod first recognized Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh). All Prophets spent their lives struggling against unbelief and its leaders, for this immutable law of Allah applies to all ages:
Consequently, according to the Qur'an, the existence of such opponents, slanders, lies and plots against the believers is one of the most substantial pieces of evidence of the believers' righteousness and sincerity. Meanwhile, one point deserves special mention: No one can attempt such an act without Allah's will. In all ages, Allah creates various settings of struggle between believers and unbelievers in order to test the believers' patience and trust in Him, to raise them in rank, to show His help to them and the superiority of faith over unbelief, to give believers their Reminder, to disgrace unbelievers, and to reveal the hypocrites' true faces and the sickness in their hearts. Allah promises that whatever happens, His help is always with true believers and that they will always prevail, provided that they adopt and display the attributes of moral perfection described in the Qur'an. Allah informs believers that they will absolutely be the "uppermost," for:
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