Changing Through the Qur’an: Living the Truth We Know
3 November 2021
Do the Words We Know Show in Our Lives?
Having a book in our home and that book influencing our lives are not the same. We may say we value the Qur’an, keep it carefully, and be pleased to have it. But if we do not try to understand the warnings within it, the value we give it may not be sufficiently reflected in our behavior. The question the lesson places before us begins here: What am I learning from the Qur’an, and what am I doing with what I learn? This question is not only about how much we read. It also concerns how we speak in a disagreement, what we consider while earning money, and how we approach others’ rights. Does the truth I read find expression in my daily choices? We can begin looking honestly at ourselves here.
People may be quite eager to learn in other fields. They listen to a successful businessperson’s experience, read a book they wrote, and try to understand how they advanced. They devote time to improving in a profession and research new methods. This effort is valuable. The lesson asks whether we show the same desire to learn in understanding the values we believe in. Reading the Qur’an does not require considering knowledge in other fields worthless. What we need is to evaluate sources of knowledge within their purposes and limits, without neglecting our own moral responsibility. Let us not regard the question of what kind of person we become on the way to success as a separate and insignificant matter.
Confidence Closed to Change
Verse one hundred and six of Surah Al-Baqarah is considered in the context of a ruling being abrogated or replaced by another. This subject, explained in Qur’anic commentary as abrogation, is considered together with Allah’s authority to establish rulings. The question the lesson directs from here toward daily life is how rigidly we hold to something we think we have learned. When we encounter more accurate knowledge, are we ready to investigate it? Or do we close the door from the beginning by saying, “This is what I already know”? Here we are not speaking of changing religious rulings according to our whims. We are recalling our responsibility to try to understand the text and its basis without considering our knowledge beyond question. Learning sometimes requires reevaluating an earlier conviction.
To explain change, the lesson uses examples such as night and day, the seasons, and people learning in stages. These should be viewed as comparisons that help reflection, rather than proofs that explain the verse’s entire meaning on their own. We do not teach a student everything on the first day. We first establish a foundation, then advance with new knowledge. People develop this way in their own experience too. They can do today what they could not do yesterday, and later correct something they knew wrongly. What matters is not remaining blindly attached to an old habit while investigating the truth of what is newly learned. Openness to development gains meaning together with responsibility and care. Nor is every new claim automatically true.
Possessing and Using Rightly
Verse one hundred and seven reminds us that sovereignty over the heavens and earth belongs to Allah. People should recognize this limit while considering their own power. Our property, work, and relationships are important parts of our lives, but possessing them does not mean we fully know how to live. While becoming skilled in a profession, we may not show the same care in forming relationships. We learn to drive over time, yet may imagine we naturally know how to listen to our spouse, understand our child, or build a just relationship with our customer. These too, however, are areas requiring thought, listening, and correction. If the same problem grows day by day, there may be something we need to learn.
Consider the example of a customer we have worked with for many years. The relationship’s length alone does not show that it is balanced. If one side is always rushing around, the same person continually makes concessions, and all responsibility rests on one person, exhaustion may accumulate. Respecting a customer and considering every demand they make right are not the same. While fulfilling our own responsibility, we can explain our boundaries clearly. Mutual trust is not built through one party continually giving themselves up. The lesson extends this example to marriage and other relationships. Being in a relationship of love and cooperation does not make discussing justice and fairness unnecessary. On the contrary, this is one of the matters that strengthens the relationship.
With What Intention Do We Ask?
The warnings in Surah Al-Baqarah also lead us to consider our attitude when asking questions. Asking to understand a subject and asking with the intention of accepting no answer may be different. But we cannot use this distinction to silence all another person’s questions. People may be sincerely curious, confused, or find an explanation they have learned insufficient. They need to be approached respectfully. We can also ask ourselves: Am I seeking an answer, or do I only want to prove myself right? Am I ready to listen to the other person? Being able to say “I do not know” where we lack knowledge is valuable for both the speaker and listener. Sincere investigation requires more patience than hasty judgment.
Recognizing the first audience and the context of the account while reading the text is also part of this patience. We should not use a warning about the behavior of particular people in the past as an accusation against every member of a religion or community today. The moral question the lesson brings into the present is being able to recognize our own mistakes, whoever we are. Belonging to a tradition or possessing a book does not automatically make all a person’s behavior right. Likewise, we cannot regard someone as the representative of wrongdoing solely because of their identity. What we examine is the behavior itself, the basis of the statement, and the person’s responsibility. Reading justly also requires looking at people justly. Let us not lose this care.
When Our Desire Takes Precedence over Our Standard
People may sometimes make a path they previously considered wrong appear suitable for themselves to obtain something they want greatly. They want to secure a job, obtain a home, or appear more successful among those around them. Others may support them by saying everyone does it this way. At that moment, the strength of desire makes seeing the decision’s consequences difficult. The lesson’s repeated warning is not to focus solely on the outcome we desire. We should ask by what path we want this result, whose rights we affect, and what burden we create for tomorrow. Not every suggestion that comforts us may truly be beneficial. Making room for thought and consultation matters especially under pressure.
When selling a product, we may be asked to say something untrue about its origin or quality. We may be told that saying it will secure the deal, and refusing will lose the opportunity. The issue here is not merely a sales sentence. It is whether we influence a customer’s decision through false information. What we gain in the short term may turn into lost trust in the long term. We should not belittle an injustice knowingly done today by saying we will do something good later. Repentance is not permission that legitimizes wrongdoing beforehand. It keeps the way back open when we make mistakes, but it does not rename wrong as right. Let us consider our good intentions together with honesty at the moment of decision. While wanting the result, let us also attend to the path we use.
The Heart Exhausted by Envy and Comparison
The emphasis on envy in verse one hundred and nine is an important point in the lesson. Why do we sometimes perceive a blessing we see in someone else’s life as proof of our own inadequacy? Their possessing something does not diminish our worth. But continual comparison may make recognizing the goodness in our own lives difficult too. Being disturbed by another person’s happiness eventually consumes our attention and peace. Here we are not calling every sadness or sense of lack envy. People may struggle and want their own needs to be met. What we are considering is a destructive orientation such as wanting another person to lose what they have or feeling joy at their harm. Recognizing this matters.
When we find ourselves within this emotion, instead of hiding and feeding it, we can consider what it points to. What am I neglecting in my own life? Which expectation do I continually measure against other people’s lives? Do I imagine I fully know a person through a few opportunities I see from outside? These questions can broaden the view narrowed by comparison. Wanting goodness for someone else and caring about our own need do not conflict. We can continue our efforts, ask for help, and proceed without becoming hostile to their blessing. Gratitude does not mean saying we lack nothing either. It means trying not to erase everything valuable we possess while recognizing our shortcomings. We can learn a more just perspective this way.
Not Ruining Our Own Path Through Anger
In the lesson’s traffic example, we are invited to consider the consequences of responding angrily to a driver who cuts us off. In an instant, through our own behavior, we may cause new harm in a matter where we were right. Anger may be an understandable emotion, but that does not mean every reaction is right. Calming down and prioritizing safety instead of responding immediately may be a more responsible choice. This example extends to everyday relationships too. While trying to remedy an injustice done to us, we should not produce another injustice. Patience does not mean saying wrong is right. It means not losing our own standard while confronting wrong. Let us try to preserve the distinction between seeking justice and seeking revenge.
The same care is needed when considering forgiveness. Forgiving someone does not mean denying the harm experienced or having to expose ourselves to the same danger again. We can maintain boundaries, seek our rights, and protect our safety. The aspect the lesson recalls is not allowing resentment to govern our entire life. Thinking for years about what the same person has done may reduce the attention we can devote to work and loved ones too. The way to ease such a burden may differ for everyone. With support where necessary, we can try to make room for our own life again. Let watching what becomes of the person who hurt us not become our life’s sole purpose. Let us not lose our own right step.
Another Person’s Outcome Is Not Ours to Judge
When we think someone has earned through unjust means, we may ask why they do not face consequences immediately. But we do not know their whole life or inner world. Wealth visible from outside is not a measure of all that person’s goodness or evil. Likewise, we cannot definitively call a later loss divine punishment. Our knowledge has limits. Let us not turn the lesson’s warning against being deceived by worldly success into drawing conclusions from people’s pain. Let us consider what we need to do rightly in our own behavior. If we see injustice, let us try to remedy it as far as we can, but not imagine we know another person’s ultimate reckoning. We can continue our pursuit of justice with this humility.
Remembering life’s transience also becomes important here. A friend’s death is mentioned in the lesson; death turns from a distant thought into a close reminder. Let this reminder do more than frighten us. Let it also make us consider whose rights we must respect today, whom we need to speak with, and which wrong we need to correct. We all have shortcomings and different weaknesses. Something easy for someone else may be difficult for us, and what is easy for us may be difficult for them. So supporting one another is more meaningful than belittling one another. We can use our time not only waiting for the next gain but also striving to become better people. The day in our hands is precious.
Not Leaving Goodness Until Tomorrow
Verse one hundred and ten recalls prayer, zakat, and good deeds finding their reward with Allah. Here the lesson considers forgiveness, controlling anger, and sharing together with our daily actions. Let us not recognize a good deed’s value only when people notice it. Upholding a truthful statement, giving a right in full, and easing someone’s burden also matter. We do not have to postpone these until a great opportunity arrives. A small good deed we can do today makes our intention visible in life. Let us seek the expression of our faith not only in the sentences we speak, but also in the effort we give and the care we show. This is why continuity matters.
At the beginning of the day, we can seek help to act rightly, and at its end review ourselves. We can ask where we rushed today, which words hurt someone, and on what occasion we did good. This evaluation is not imposing perfection on ourselves. It is preparation for living the truth we have learned a little better. The path that begins with reading the Qur’an continues through reflection, understanding, and correcting our behavior. We need the same sincerity when investigating an interpretation’s basis and observing a person’s rights. Let the goodness we say we know find a place in our lives. Today we can begin by correcting a mistake, fulfilling an obligation, and listening more carefully to someone. Change becomes visible in such steps close at hand.
Explanation of the relevant verses: Diyanet Qur’an Yolu, Al-Baqarah 106–110.