Paying for Frivolity

Paying for Frivolity

1992 10-11 October-November 20 Paying for Frivolity (320) Some there are who would gladly pay for a frivolous tale, so that in their ignorance they may mislead others from the path of God and make fun of it. For these we have prepared a shameful punishment (31:6)

“But there are, among men,

Those who purchase idle tales,

Without knowledge or meaning,

To mislead men from the Path

Of Allah and throw ridicule

(On the Path): for such

There will be a humiliating

Penalty”. (Qur’an 31:6).

When the truth is revealed and people are urged to acknowledge it, there is always a section of the public who will come forward to declare their acceptance of it. These are the open-minded; openhearted individuals for whom the call of truth has great appeal. Free from psychological complications, and with no thought of underhandedness, they willingly accept the truth. Then, by divine guidance, they enter the ranks of God’s chosen servants.

There is another section of the public, however, which is marred by haughtiness. For them, acceptance of the truth becomes impossible because of their feelings of superiority. They find it inconsistent with their station in life to respond to a call of truth which has neither past grandeur attaching to it, nor the power to further exalt their positions. So they ignore it.

But they are not content with the mere rejection of truth. They must justify their option. This is why (according to the above-quoted verse) they deliberately mislead others and attempt to frighten them away from the truth.

The commonest ways of doing this are to evade the issue and instead keep up a barrage of taunts aimed at the dayee, to resort to fault-finding instead of applying logic, and to make such allegations against the dayee as will cause his message to be distorted.

Resorting to such measures against the truth is as ineffective as raising a wall of sand to contain the mighty waters of a flood.