Culture Culprit
People are often persistent in thinking that the Qur’an is some kind of declaration to inflate the ego—a platform that grants superiority, dominance, or authority over others. But in reality, it is the very opposite. To be a Muslim in faith, to submit and to guard oneself, is one of the most humble acts of life. It is not a call to draw attention or demand power, but the hardest and most profound path of understanding.
The purpose of the Qur’an is not to elevate us above people, but to protect us from what destroys us within: arrogance, ignorance, and the vulnerabilities that come from being deceived or gaslit. These are all forms of narcissistic abuse—traps of the ego—that Allah calls on us to guard ourselves against. Because ultimately, the real struggle is not against one another, but against Shaytan. That is the true purpose of the Book of Faith: to guide us with deep knowledge so that we may recognize how and why history has carried its double standards—advancing in one sense while falling behind in another—under the lingering influence of Shaytan, who persuades humanity to go against its own self.
This is why the Qur’an is too vast to be seen only as a whole. Allah perfected it so that each person could engage with it individually—according to their own journey, their perception, even the uniqueness of their very being. And yet, through that individualized connection, He eventually unites us all, regardless of our differences, reminding us of the countless similarities we share. And the strength of it relies on each of us to guard against shaytans relentless attempts to corrupt us and the meaning of Islam.
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The essence of Allah’s guidance is submission. Yet society mocks submission, twisting it into weakness, a blindfold into danger. But this is exactly why Allah calls it submission—because we are walking the course of life where our intellect must submit to an unseen, yet evident, guidance from Him.
Shayṭān, meanwhile, thrives on corruption that becomes visible. He hunts for vulnerable hearts and unguarded souls. His whispers plant bad thoughts about Allah, as if turning to Him were only for the desperate—spreading his own desperation in arrogance, as though invoking the Creator of life itself were a sorry excuse.
We use excuses to divide and sometimes to unite. We call things coincidences—when they are not. We cling to anything that makes us feel together, yet support the very systems that shred belief apart. Society has fallen into a trap of oxymorons, double standards, contradictions.
We hesitate to raise our children in the deen, fearing they’ll be treated unfairly, while it is normal for others to train their children from birth to chase worldly crowns—sports, fame, wealth. We bury our pride in Islam, afraid of judgment and it is the primary cause of life. While Shayṭān tightens his oppression, making it look like we are the burden—when in truth he is the burden of this world.
Allah is not discriminatory or racist. He is not hateful. His love is unconditional. It is human hands that sow hate, deceit, and oppression. His “strictness” in the Qur’an is not cruelty or threat—it is His form of ultimate tough love. Through life’s testimony and His perfect foresight, He knows the detrimental challenges at stake. That is why He sealed the final covenant with the Qur’an, after the Torah and the Bible before it.
We did not choose who we were born to. We do not decide when we will leave. And when we do, nothing follows us except our deeds. The heart and mind will decompose back into the earth—but the soul will stand before Allah, carrying the truth of what it lived. Reminding us of the reason we are living—whether we understand it or not—He makes clear that our purpose is to outrun Shayṭān, so that he does not win our souls into hell.
Humanity is not ungrateful—Shayṭān is. And it is the different levels and ranks of gratitude that set the tone for our integrity and our peace in life. Because deep down, when life gets real, we all know: we’re all thinking about God.