Loyalty and Obedience to God
The Qur’an gives a detailed account of human nature. All the corruption and indecent personality traits of unbelievers are mentioned as well as the attributes of believers. The attributes of obedient believers oft-returning to God, and into whom God breathed His Spirit, are what make up an exalted standard of character.
Surely, such a high standard of moral values pertaining to believers is in sharp contrast to that of unbelievers. Sincerity and trustworthiness throw into sharp relief the insincere and hypocritical nature of the unbelievers. Likewise, the generous, brave and modest attitude of believers is very different from the arrogant, ruthless and selfish behaviours of unbelievers. One feature which clearly distinguishes between these two groups- that is, between believers and unbelievers – is a sense of loyalty, or its absence. In its real sense, unbelievers can never remain true, solely due to the fact that they are motivated by self-interest: It often takes them just a matter of moments to turn away from a lifelong friend or a close relative. Likewise, they easily give up struggling or fighting for something they think as right.
However, the believers assume a totally different attitude. The criteria they apply to their deeds and lives plainly manifest themselves in the verse. Say:
“Truly, my prayer and my devotions, my life and my death, are (all) for God, the Cherisher of the Worlds.” (Al-anam 162)
Consequently, those who have faith are considerate in their behaviours, aiming to attend the will of God, and remain committed to their people and purpose at any cost. On account of minor benefits, they never leave the righteous path and they demonstrate an unshakable and unswerving loyalty to believers and especially to the leader of believers. God describes the loyalty shown by the believers in the Qur’an as follows:
Among the believers are men who have been true to their covenant with God: of them some have been true to their vows to the very end, and some still await their end: but they have never changed (their determination) in the least. (Al-Ahzap, 23)
Loyalty keeps all believers who fight for their faith directed towards one goal. This attribute, the essential characteristic of determination, is vital for any community of believers that is steadfast. A believer would fail to keep his self-respect if even once he demonstrated a minor neglect in his loyalty. Once one loses self-respect completely, one gradually approaches a point where one loses faith. Subsequently, things deteriorate very quickly and the backslider starts to behave in just the way an unbeliever or a hypocrite does. This is because unfaithfulness encourages a person to commit other significant kinds of deception. He first of all transgresses by trying to hide his disloyalty from other believers. Then he starts telling lies, making a sustained effort to deceive them. After a while, his ‘talent’ for telling lies, makes him feel that he can really dupe believers and starts to adopt a way of living based on deriving unfair benefits from them. This indicates a state of mind in which the deceiver feels no love for believers. In this mood, he seeks the pleasure of people rather than of God. That is why he strives after high prestige. He perceives anything likely to damage this prestige as a serious threat to his being and strives to protect himself by telling more lies. Meanwhile, as believers begin to detect his lies, he displays more of the traits of a hypocrite. At this point, he tries to exculpate himself. But this effort, turns him entirely into the type of a person who does not hesitate to form alliances with unbelievers and hypocrites.
Related posts:
- Praying for Forgiveness and Repentance
- One of the Teachings of Satan: Demagogy
- Why Some People Resist Their Conscience?
- Before You Regret
- Our On-Going Test
- Hell-Made Ready for the Unbelievers
- The True Islamic Morals
- Righteous Deeds
- Arrogance Makes A Person Thankless To The Blessings Of Allah!
- Joy and Sorrow
