Allah (swt) says:

Allah is not a changer of what He has bestowed upon a people as a blessing (of morals and good deeds) until it changes what is in itself. Surely Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.[10]

Al-Malmalli Hamdi Yazir says the following about this verse: Allah will not change the favour which He has bestowed on a people or a community. Until they change what is in themselves. That is to say, it is not Allah’s custom for Him to change the blessing that He bestows on a people or a community until they themselves change the natural covenant, morals and good deeds that were the cause and occasion of that blessing, until they themselves change their habits. The Divine custom is that the change of the blessing which He has bestowed for personal reasons is also based on the change of personal habits and behaviour. And this is the responsibility of the human being. This is the first of the reasons. Secondly, Allah is all-hearing and all-knowing. Because Allah knows everyone’s inner thoughts and He hears what they say. Since no one can miss anything from His sight, He will reckon accordingly. This excludes the blessings that are directly received and bestowed, except those that depend on personal causes, such as reason and will, disbelief and faith, morals and deeds. There is no doubt that the value of all personal causes in this matter depends on whether or not one recognises the verses that reveal the true face of what is considered a blessing or a blessing. If a person violates his nature and his covenant with his nature and does not hear the truth with the help of the intuitions and evidences that have come to him and does not want to hear it, it causes the blessing in his hand to change. Similarly, a people’s unwillingness to hear and recognise the invitation of the guides of the truth who are within or outside of them and who convey the Divine Laws to them is such a disorder in their social consciousness and mentality that it causes the blessings in their hands to change and to be lost.[11]

In Islam, when the right knowledge is integrated with the knower, the pursuit of the knower is conveyed as the exact equivalent of the need for knowledge. Because even if the knowledge is fully acquired, if it is not embodied by experience, that knowledge remains far from life, from practical life. Only the one who receives the information triggers his ego. It delights the devil and makes him say “I know best”.

Pay attention, there is a situation that we come across abundantly in hadith books. When our Master (a.s.) asked, “Do you know what this is?” about any subject, this is the logic behind all the Companions saying, “Allah and His Messenger know”. Even if it is very simple information that the person is not likely to know, the answer is always the same. “Allah and His Messenger know.”

The reason why they say this is because they obey Allah and His Messenger. Obedience is formed by faith. The defence of belief as a correct knowledge can only be achieved by applying the results of knowledge. The meaning of Islam as ‘surrender’ comes to life only in this sense. Not knowing what you believe in means not knowing why you should surrender.

Correct knowledge is an opinion formed in the minds by eliminating the possibilities of wrongness from the actions in life. Everything that brings all humanity into conflict with each other, organises and introduces relationships, brings about international treaties, and prepares one’s actions in the process of both individual and social formation between death and life is right knowledge. The question to be asked here should be…

Why, although that correct knowledge will organise people’s lives, it is usually tried to be built on a destroyed order? Why is it that the existing knowledge in people, even if it is accepted as true, is not integrated with itself?

However, the right knowledge should add value to human life, humanity, dignity and consciousness. If the benefits of correct knowledge do not organise a person’s life, then what can organise that person’s life more effectively?

Although most of the people have their own truths, people often do not accept and apply the benefits of that knowledge in practical life. Isn’t it very interesting? There are truths they accept in life, but it is those truths that they cannot stand behind…

Anyway, man is not completely honest with himself. His dishonesty stems from his understanding of morality. Morality comes into being when knowledge and the knower are vitally integrated. Otherwise, why would one not feel the need to apply the requirements of knowledge when the right knowledge is available in oneself?

This is actually a very ugly and ugly as well as a sad situation that covers the generality. It is not a few people who commit this shame. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that it has ceased to be a shame because the majority commits it.

Today, correct information has become used in situations where there is a need to prove knowledge to others. People need the right knowledge to win any argument, but they continue their lives with an understanding that is far from their inner world and cannot reduce what they know to their lives. Human beings make it a matter of honour to stand behind what they know in order to prove their love, but they continue their lives by constantly postponing the love to be proved to the lover in their own inner world.

Unfortunately, the knowledge that one accepts as true in oneself has become a tool used in the war to be victorious, no matter for what purpose. However, the right knowledge should serve the purpose, not the means.

The situation is the same in one’s relationship with his Lord. In this sense, there are two kinds of believers. The first is the servant who does not pay attention to his worship but does not doubt the existence of the Creator. The second is the servant who, after accepting the existence of the Creator, starts to implement His commands in his life and accepts this implementation as an indispensable lifestyle. The common characteristic of both of them is that they accept the existence of the Creator and always express their love for Him. However, the second one is not satisfied with this and does not hesitate even for a moment to think about the Creator’s power, greatness, knowing that he sees and hears everything moment by moment, and his attributes such as accountability, and to put what he says into practice in his life. Is not the performance of worships such as prayer, fasting, zakat, pilgrimage, almsgiving, etc. acts that prove the love felt for the beloved?

Only by saying “I love you” to a lover who is as immeasurable as oneself can one convince a lover sufficiently. In reality, this sentence should not be the power or proof of the persuasiveness offered to the lover, but the name of the address showing to whom the love is to be proved. A life lived with the attitude of “I love you, but what you say does not matter to me” or “I do not do what you want me to do” is not enough to convince the beloved, who is sanctified from all kinds of deficiencies. This is how the love for the beloved for the servant should be embodied in lives…

To apply our self-criticism so far by appointing the Holy Qur’an, the indispensable style of the believer, as the arbiter;

Allah (swt) says:

Do you, while enjoining good to people, forget yourselves, whereas you read the Book? Will you not come to your senses? Seek help in patience and prayer. Surely this is heavy for those other than the awe-struck. But the believers know that they shall surely meet their Lord, and to Him they shall surely return.[12

Ibn Kathir (r.a.) says of those who say: “These verses were revealed to the Children of Israel at that time”: “According to the light, although this verse is an address to warn the Children of Israel, it is not meant only for them. At the same time, this verse is general about them and others. Let us add the following in relation to this. There is not a single verse in the Holy Qur’an that is not addressed to the believers in one way or another. This is because they are the only ones who benefit from the Book of Allah (swt) in the proper way. Accordingly, we should keep this principle in mind in all the commands that have been mentioned so far and will be mentioned in the future, so that we can benefit from every verse.[13]

The most serious situation of people who continue their lives by not complying with the right information is that they make this their philosophy of life. They start to form their own truths on this line.

They make sentences based on humanity, morality and trust such as “A man should be loyal to his word”, “You will be loyal to your debts, you will pay them on time”, “I do not like and even hate those who lie in life”, “We do not need money and stamps, first of all human beings will be human beings”, etc., but they themselves do not have these qualities at all. (If you ask) “Why are you doing this?” “If you are not like this in these times, they will not give you a job, they will not give you love, they will not give you love, they will not give you a girl”. They know the truth, they do not do it, but they can also criticise those who do not do it. In other words, they use these discourses not for their own purposes, but as a means to achieve their momentary interests.

This is the Qur’anic concept of hypocrisy. Hypocrites, although they are a group among the believing people (some of them think that they are imported from another planet), are an attribute that cannot be accepted by anyone. I have witnessed some people who even admit that they are drunk, but I have never heard a hypocrite say, “I am a hypocrite,” nor have I seen it in any record.

Today’s Muslims do not ask themselves the questions of the Companions, “Am I a hypocrite?” or “Have I become a hypocrite?” once in their lifetime. This is because the Holy Qur’an is not used as a correct guide for Muslims.

The reason for this is that we consider ourselves sufficient. This sufficiency stems from the aim of adapting the Qur’an to our own lives rather than adapting our lives to the Qur’an. It is sad, but this is the reality that emerges from the society in general. However, if the Qur’an were appointed as the arbiter to distinguish right from wrong, we would understand who and what we are in the sight of Allah, and we would begin to better understand and grasp what the ideas or people we blindly adhere to in life actually serve.

If you notice, not applying the requirements of correct knowledge in one’s life caused the person to become a hypocrite.

A judgement that the Qur’an opposes makes a person a disbeliever if it is theological, a fasiq[14] if it is practical, a hypocrite[15] if it is moral, a heretic[16] if it is commanded, and a faafir[17] if it is forbidden. This is a very important situation that should make us think about doing what we know. By Allah, you will be alone at the separation of the soul and the body (death), at the return to the matter from which we were created (earth), and at the re-creation of Allah on the Day of Reckoning (Judgement).

Whether you are a servant who has lived in accordance with the consent of your Lord, whether you are a hypocrite as described by the Qur’an, whether you are a polytheist who has lived by giving a share to someone else of the right that belongs to Allah, whether you are a creature who denies the Creator, you will be condemned to this solitude, you will give account alone and you will be judged alone. In this sense, we all need to be Abu Zer (r.a.) so that we can be merciful. He was the first to proclaim tawheed in the face of the polytheist people and the first to cry out without fearing the condemnation of the condemner.

The Prophet (SAW) said:

May Allah have mercy on Abu Zer, he lives alone, dies alone and is judged alone.

[10] Surat al-Anfal, Verse 53

[11] Hak din Qur’an dili (simplification) 1992, vol. 4, pg. 243

[12] Surat al-Baqarah, Verses 44-46

[13] Al esas fit-tafsir vol.1 pg.152

[14] He who commits a major sin or persists in a minor sin

[15] A hypocrite is a person who puts discord in between, who does not keep his covenant, who appears to believe when he does not believe.

[16] An irreligious person is one who does not believe in the Hereafter.

[17] The one who sins (openly)