Ramadan Night 21 - The Eighth Entry

They have made their oaths
A screen (for their misdeeds):
Thus they obstruct (men)
From the path of Allah:
Truly evil are their deeds.
That is because they believed,
Then they rejected faith:
So a seal was set
On their hearts: therefore
They understand not.
S.63 A.2-3

I know this applies to apostates who then work against Islam in any way they can.  I am constantly amazed at the "common sense" attitude that if someone, anyone quits something, that thing they left must be bad.  People believe this way I think, unless of course the thing the other person left was theirs. Do we ever ask questions like "is it possible that the individual did not get the selfish benefits they wanted?", "the individual did not want to make the sacrifices necessary to understand?", "the individual might be the kind of person who would end up quiting anything he started?"  I don't hear these questions, only that their departure is an indictment in and of itself.  And of course, this effect is magnified exponentially when we don't like that which was abandoned.  I have seen the most ludicrous hypocrisy here: one faith, one ideology putting forth a convert from another who would never be the one they would hold up had he been with them originally. At times, it is almost comical - almost.

I also believe, and I may be wrong, that this verse applies to people who think they still believe!  Those people who use violence and hatred against others in contradiction of God's word.  They hate, and hate has to find a target lest it diffuses and dies leaving its owner nothing left for his sustenance. These might be the most dangerous of all apostates, with their passion and their zeal, confusing the less grounded members of their faith or society.  They don't know they have rejected their faith, and they approached that threshold so long ago, they cannot even sense their own corruption.

I don't believe I will ever abandon my faith, but I cannot be so arrogant as to say I might not misconstrue it and use it for the wrong motives.  That is why I read and discuss my Koran, keep the company and confidence of good Muslims, and challenge my heart and reaffirm my sincere devotion to God each morning with the setting of the stars.