Shaping Religion to One’s Mind

CONSEQUENCES OF MISINTERPRETATION sleeping, giving charity despite personal hardships, and sacrificing one’s desires, habits, and comforts for the hereafter. Many such opportunities are always available anywhere and anytime. Each of these actions holds tremendous potential to stir one’s heart. But you have been deprived of these simply because you have absorbed a self-constructed interpretation of Deen in your mind. This skewed perspective has led you to see Islam from a distorted angle, causing you to overlook the spiritual domains where God’s angels continuously distribute boundless nourishment for faith. Consequently, afflicted with insensitivity and stagnation, you find yourself lamenting that your leaders do not provide you with a revolutionary program to revive and energize you. The result of a distorted understanding of the Quran’s message is that one begins to see the entire Quran in a different light. Psychologically, this leads to an attachment only to those verses or interpretations that align with one’s preconceived notion, while other verses or alternative interpretations are mentally sidelined and do not hold the place they deserve. Although one cannot see into another’s mind, this mindset can certainly be observed in outward behavior. I have seen individuals who, when presented