Whom Do We Follow? Guidance, Blessings, and Learning Together

24 November 2021

Question: Even when we know what is right, do we abandon our own standards so that people will accept us?

People do not want to be alone.

They want to belong to a group, be accepted, and avoid exclusion.

But this desire can sometimes distance us from the truth we know.

Verse 120 of Surah Al-Baqarah reminds us that true guidance is Allah’s guidance. It warns against following people’s desires after knowledge has come.

This warning is not only about communities of the past.

We need to consider whose words we take as our measure every day.

People’s Desires or Allah’s Guidance?

Everyone around us may regard something as normal.

A behavior may be widespread. A way of earning money may be used by everyone.

But the majority doing something does not automatically make it right.

Question: Do we sometimes give up something we know to be right to please people?

Sometimes family pressure, sometimes our circle of friends, and sometimes the workplace influence us.

We may think, “If I do not do this, they will exclude me.”

This is where the measure of guidance becomes important.

People’s desires may change.

But we cannot change Allah’s measure according to their satisfaction.

This does not mean opposing everyone.

It means not losing our own direction while distinguishing truth from falsehood.

Why Are Blessings Recalled?

In verse 122 of Surah Al-Baqarah, the Children of Israel are asked to remember the blessings given to them.

When blessings are forgotten, people may begin seeing themselves as self-sufficient.

Something we initially prayed for may become ordinary after we obtain it.

We find a job, then after a while see only its shortcomings.

We acquire a home, then think about a larger one.

We gain access to knowledge, then regard it as our natural entitlement.

Question: What blessing is in our life today that we once prayed for but no longer notice?

Gratitude begins here.

In seeing the blessing again.

Then in using that blessing rightly.

Sharing if we have knowledge, avoiding waste if we have wealth, and avoiding injustice if we have power are gratitude expressed in conduct.

Will Lineage and Connections Save Us on the Day of Reckoning?

The continuing warnings in Surah Al-Baqarah recall the day when no one can pay a price on another’s behalf.

In this world, people may rely on their family, connections, or position.

But responsibility for their choices belongs to them.

This measure becomes even clearer through Ibrahim in Al-Baqarah 124.

Ibrahim is tested with certain words and fulfills them. Allah makes him a leader for humanity.

Ibrahim asks for this position for his descendants too. The answer states that the covenant will not extend to wrongdoers.

Question: Does coming from a good family mean that we will automatically be good too?

No.

Even descent from a prophet does not remove a person’s own choice.

A family can provide opportunities. It can offer education. It can set an example.

But it cannot believe on our behalf or act justly in our place.

So instead of relying on lineage, a group, or past success, we should look at our own conduct.

The Value of Learning Together

Al-Baqarah 125 mentions the Ka‘bah as a gathering place and a place of safety for people, the station of Ibrahim, and the cleansing of the Ka‘bah for those who circumambulate, bow, and prostrate.

In the source, this verse is also considered in terms of people coming together and learning together.

When alone, a person may fail to recognize their own mistake.

Learning within a community, asking questions, and seeing what someone else sees open up a different opportunity.

Question: When learning, do we rely only on what we ourselves know, or are we open to learning from others?

The purpose of coming together is not merely to form a crowd.

It may be to share knowledge, recognize our mistakes, and remember Allah together.

In the source, the concept of salat is also considered in terms of learning, teaching, and forming connections. Attention is given to the separate mention of bowing and prostration.

This approach invites us to consider that worship should also involve awareness and learning.

We should try to understand what we are doing rather than being content merely to perform the movement.

Safety and Provision in Ibrahim’s Prayer

In Al-Baqarah 126, Ibrahim asks that the town where he is be safe and that the believers be provided with fruits.

Allah’s response states that the disbeliever will also be given worldly enjoyment for a time.

This shows that worldly provision alone is not a measure of faith.

A person may earn a great deal and still do wrong.

They may earn little while maintaining their devotion to Allah.

Provision is not the sole measure of our worth.

So we cannot look at someone’s wealth and say, “Allah is certainly pleased with them.”

The issue is not the quantity of the blessing, but how it is used.

Free Will and Responsibility

The same thread appears repeatedly throughout these verses.

A person receives knowledge, experiences blessings, receives family support, and encounters prayer.

But ultimately, they make a choice.

Not all of Ibrahim’s descendants have to behave in the same way.

Nor can we explain every mistake of our own by citing our family.

Our environment may influence us, but it does not completely eliminate our will.

Likewise, we cannot consider every decision our children make to be our own.

We teach them, pray for them, and set an example.

But they, too, bear responsibility for their choices.

Where Will We Place Our Own Measure Today?

Let us consider a decision.

Do we make it according to how people will see us, or according to the measure we know to be right?

Let us consider a blessing.

Are we grateful for it, or has it become invisible?

Let us consider a piece of knowledge.

Instead of carrying it alone, are we open to learning and sharing together?

Question: Whom do we follow: people’s changing desires or the guidance Allah has shown?

Let us answer this question honestly in one area today.

Let us remember the blessing, learn knowledge properly, respect another person’s will, and bear responsibility for our own choices.

Guidance is not the direction of the crowd; it is being able to preserve in our lives the measure Allah has shown.

A Gathering Place, Cleansing, and Shared Awareness

The mention of the Ka‘bah as a gathering place and a place of safety for people also prompts reflection on the responsibility of being together.

When people gather, more than bodies stand side by side. Knowledge, experience, and conduct also influence one another.

So the command to keep the gathering place clean invites reflection not only on physical cleanliness, but also on preserving the awareness of worship there.

People circumambulating, bowing, and prostrating in the same place make their shared turning toward Allah visible.

Question: When we enter a community, do we make it cleaner, more aware, and more beneficial?

Being part of a group does not automatically show that we are upright people.

Just as the warning concerning Ibrahim’s descendants removes lineage as a guarantee, belonging to a community does not guarantee a person’s conduct.

The community gives us an opportunity to learn, but we still decide what we will do with what we learn.

Therefore, we should distinguish learning together from imitation.

Let us ask questions. Let us try to understand. Let us correct one another’s mistakes kindly.

And let us not place any group’s satisfaction ahead of Allah’s guidance.

Unity does not mean abandoning thought; it means preserving our will and responsibility while seeking the truth together.