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For Believers, the Quran defines truth, clarifies purpose, guides behaviour, and warns of accountability. We should worship God alone, live with purpose, follow Quranic guidance, and prepare for the Hereafter.
Righteousness means having moral courage, ethical consistency, and faith without compromise.
[10:61] You do not get into any situation, nor do you recite any Quran, nor do you do anything, without us being witnesses thereof as you do it. Not even an atom’s weight is out of your Lord’s control, be it in the heavens or the earth. Nor is there anything smaller than an atom, or larger, that is not recorded in a profound record.
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Worshiping God alone is what allows us to have our egos dissolved. During worship, the soul dwells in tranquility and fulfills the purpose it was designed for.
God says in 51:56: “I did not create the jinns and the humans except to worship Me alone.”
One of the key words in this verse is alone — meaning that you make Him the most important factor in your life, and you judge yourself and everything around you according to the criterion He has revealed.
Whenever we deviate from that purpose, our hearts begin to feel lost, confused, and weighed down by pain or sin. One author gives a helpful example: a pen is designed to write. No matter how pretty or expensive it is, if it stops writing, it no longer fulfills its purpose. Humans would simply put it aside or throw it away.
But God’s patience and mercy are far greater — He gives us our entire lifetime to return, fulfill our purpose, and earn entry into Paradise.
In the great feud, the angels suggested that the rebels be exiled from God’s kingdom, but the Most Merciful willed to give them a chance to repent and submit to His absolute authority. The vast majority of the rebels accepted God’s gracious offer. They agreed to kill their egos and come to this world in a submissive role. In return, they are redeemed back to God’s eternal kingdom.
[22:18] Do you not realize that to God prostrates everything in the heavens and the earth — the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, the trees, the animals, as well as many people?
I once had a colleague who boasted about his marketing prowess. He was exceptionally proud of coining marketing slogans for his company, so much so, that he would say to me: it’s all about marketing, “marketing baby, marketing!”
This phrase stuck in my head, “marketing baby, marketing!” and I later found it relatable to Satan’s efforts in trying to divert us from the right path.
In Sura 20, God recounts the story of the original sin, failing to make a firm stand.
[20:118] “You are guaranteed never to hunger therein, nor go unsheltered. [20:119] “Nor will you thirst therein, nor suffer from any heat.” [20:120] But the devil whispered to him, saying, “O Adam, let me show you the tree of eternity and unending kingship.”
God tells us that we will NEVER hunger in heaven, emphasis on the word NEVER. This word refers to a timeline, meaning, not NOW NOR EVER will you hunger therein. So, in essence, God promised us immortality, which google defines as “an indefinite continuation of bodily existence.” We were promised, allegorically, that our bodies will never hunger, thus, never “disappear.”
However, along comes Satan, knowing that immortality is an essential promise in heaven, and REBRANDS immortality into the shape of a tree. He repackages immortality into an enticing form, and tells Adam: “here, don’t you need it? God didn’t give this to you, so come get it!”
Satan is rebranding the immortality that God promised us, into something enticing that we think we need. But souls ALREADY HAVE IT! “Marketing, baby marketing!”
In 20:118, God also promises Adam provision, i.e. food, water, shelter, cool shade, etc. However, Satan rebrands that too by promising us “unending kingship.” Something he does not have nor can provide.
Satan, having been a high-ranking creature, knew that immortality and provisions are hallmarks of heaven. That every creature in heaven is guaranteed those things by God, so he repackages them into something enticing for the newly created human-being. Unfortunately, we forgot that God has already warned us that Satan is our most ardent enemy: [20:117] We then said, “O Adam, this is an enemy of you and your wife. Do not let him evict you from Paradise, lest you become miserable.
So, moving forward, we need to recognize Satan’s rebranding strategy when he is whispering to us. We can ask ourselves, what is this whisper promising? If we dig deep, like I have tried, we will realize that it’s promising either immortality or provisions, that’s it! Both of which he DOESN’T have! He’s running on empty promises, and we are the victims, his target audience.
[7:17] “I will come to them from before them, and from behind them, and from their right, and from their left, and You will find that most of them are unappreciative.”
May God guide us to recognize Satan’s marketing strategies, rebranding tactics, and enticing promises. Promises which are nothing but empty barrels:
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