10 Scenarios That Contradict Faith
The Muslims of yore were known for total submission to Allah. When they needed aid, Allah’s aid was sought and well received. They built an unshakeable faith which guaranteed their dua' was unstoppable. This is the situation for the one who truly believes in Allah and relies solely upon Him. However, reverse is the case for many Muslims today. It isn’t as if Allah has changed — He’s the same Lord of Ibrahim, Musa, Dawud, Isa and Muhammad ﷺ. It is the neo-Muslim whose action and inaction has led to a deplorable status. Here are ten situations common among Muslims of today which may be part of the causes of the higgledy-piggledy state of the ummah. Hence the need to rethink and repent in earnest.
- Knowing Allah, yet failing to fulfil His right: If you ask an average Muslim who is your Lord? He’s most likely going to respond Allah. Enquiring further about Allah’s Attributes in relation to tauhid will only bring to reality the understanding of who Allah truly is to the individual. This will be apparent based on how he fulfils his obligations to the Sovereign Lord. A bunch of Muslims know Allah, yet they fail to submit whole-heartedly in obedience to worshiping Him. Allah says in Qur’an 51 verse 56:
“And I have created not the jinns and humans except they should worship me (Alone)”
2. Reciting the Qur’an but not putting it to practice: The Qur’an is the word of Allah revealed through Angel Jibril to the Messenger — Muhammad ﷺ. It is the most accurately memorized and well read book in the world. While it’s awesome to lead the ladder of most sought-after books, it’s more important to put into practice the lessons derived from it. Do what Allah has ordered and abstain from what He has forbidden.
3. Loving the Prophet ﷺ but hating the sunnah: A Muslim is not said to have attested to faith if he doesn’t believe in the sunnah of the prophet It astounds to find people claim their love for the Messenger ﷺ is real, yet they contradict him in all manners he has established. The sunnah is Islam for without the sunnah there’s no preservation of this deen.
Anas radi Allahu ‘anhu (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet ﷺ said: “None of you will have faith till he loves me more than his father, his children and all mankind.” (Bukhari)
4. Knowing shaytan is your enemy, yet choosing to play along with him: It sounds funny when people commit sins and blame it on the devil. Well, he’s been accursed so I see reason why a lot of people play the blame game with him. It all starts with a whisper which converts to thoughts. Those thoughts are then confirmed by actions of the body. However, the true believer has an antidote in saying Audhubillahi mina shaytanee rajeem. You need to desist from following the footpaths of shaytan today. For if you don’t, you’d be surprised shaytan will deny you on the day when Allah calls you to account for your deeds.
5. Craving for jannah but failing to strive for it: And this is one of the biggest illusions of the time we live in. When someone supplicates: 'may Allah make us inhabitants of Al-jannah' you would hear a loud Ameen following it. Everyone wants to make paradise, but no one wants to die nor make sacrifice for it. The earlier Muslims strove to plant the seed of Islam with their life, wealth and blood. The fruit of which we enjoy today. Let’s ask ourselves: 'what realistic efforts are we striving to put in place in order to attain jannah?’. Bear in mind that Allah’s merchandise is expensive, and Allah’s merchandise is Al-jannah.

6. Finding faults in others, and not acknowledging yours: Nowadays, people have taken fault finding as a hobby. They’re too quick in declaring others as apostates or hypocrites. They often want to be the jury and the judge at the same time. If we ponder more on our own misdeeeds, we will find it difficult seeking faults with others. Giving people excuse for their mistakes is a best practice exemplified by the noble messenger ﷺ. Did you remember the story of the bedoin Arab who passed urine in the mosque? Let’s pick up a lesson from the prophet’s reaction to this situation.
7. Gaining Allah’s blessing yet not being grateful: Indeed Allah has blessed you if you can read up to this point. It means you’re living healthy and sound to a large extent. There are a lot of people who ask for nothing from Allah but good health. They could pay for wellness and happiness with wealth as much as the height of Everest and Kilimanjaro. Many of us have this privilege but little thanks do we give. We’ve all been blessed in different ways, but we only choose to be like Oliver Twist — always asking for more. We need to cultivate an attitude of gratitude. For if we show thankfulness, Allah will bless us more out of His endless bounty.
8. Burying the dead without learning from that state: A friend narrated an ordeal of his recent visit to a graveyard. The welcoming inscription reads: “we were once like you, thread softly”. And while he was leaving, he saw another sign of a parting words: “soon you will come and join us”. And this is the reality of life. Death is the only sure thing life has promised us, yet many Muslims live as if they’re not gonna die. And when they die, it appears like they never lived at all. Allah’s Apostle ﷺ already predicted that two things will be accountable for our ‘sorry-state' as it is today… “love of this world and hatred for death”.
9. Earning and living upon impure source of livelihood: A lot of time, people complain about the fact that their prayer isn’t accepted. What they often fail to realise is that Allah is pure and will not accept anything from His slave except that which is pure. We need to make a pure livelihood in order for our du’a to be accepted. There’s no two ways to it, this is a reality that seems unreal.
10. Fearing the fire but not running away from it: A good Muslim fears Allah in all situations without condition. Do you remember the story of Abubakr Radiallahu Anhu and his slave? Abubakr Radiallahu Anhu had a slave who once brought a meal for him to eat. Out of severe hunger, he ate a morsel of the meal without asking for the source. Thereafter, the slave told him that he had purchased the meal from an ill gotten wealth he acquired during the pre-islamic period. On hearing this, Abubakr forced up the morsel of food he had. He then said: Allah’s apostle ﷺ once said: “Any part of the body which grows from haram earning will burn in the fire”. Is this the same situation with us today? We ask Allah to rectify our states as we strive towards being better Muslims.
