Do We Keep Our Promises? Between Truth and Whispered Doubts

15 September 2021

Why do people fail to keep a promise? Because they truly forgot, or because the price of keeping it felt too high?

As we approach verses 39–42 of Surah Al-Baqarah, we see how serious a matter denying Allah’s verses and remembering the covenant we have made is.

Question: Does my promise to Allah truly affect my daily decisions?

Sometimes we express our faith in words. But when it encounters an interest of ours, we do not think about where those words have gone.

Worldly Gain Is Not Everything

Earning a great deal of money, owning many possessions, or appearing comfortable outwardly does not necessarily mean a person is at peace.

Sometimes we look at someone’s life, see the opportunities they have obtained, and assume everything is going well.

But visible possessions and a person’s inner world are not the same thing. The goals of someone living only for this world may also remain within its limits.

A perspective that does not take the Hereafter into account may make temporary gain the sole outcome.

That is why we cannot accept all of a person’s choices as right by looking at their wealth or power.

Question: By what do I measure the rightness of a behavior: its short-term benefit to me, or the measure Allah has declared?

We want to profit in business. We want to own a home, provide good opportunities for our family, or live comfortably.

These things are not wrong in themselves. But if we cross a boundary we know to be right for their sake, our loss begins elsewhere.

Sometimes, while normalizing something forbidden, people may look only at the gain they obtain at that moment. When they do not see the consequence immediately, they may consider themselves right.

Yet not seeing a consequence today does not mean it does not exist. That is why awareness of the Hereafter broadens a person’s outlook.

Visible success cannot be the sole measure of whether a behavior is right.

How Do Whispered Doubts Magnify Possibilities?

Before an event, people may construct many possibilities. They think, “What if this happens, what if that happens, what if I lose this time?”

Sometimes they begin experiencing fear of a situation that has not yet happened as though it already has.

On the first day, a small doubt arises. Then that doubt grows through new thoughts and may occupy our minds.

In this respect, Satan’s appeal to human expectations and fears in the story of Adam is thought-provoking.

Question: Which possibility that does not actually exist in my life stands in my mind as though it were a completed event?

People cannot know the future. Despite this, they sometimes construct what will happen to them years later as though it were certain knowledge.

As fear grows, it affects our decisions. We may behave suspiciously toward those we love or postpone a right action out of fear.

Considering a possibility is a precaution. Believing that possibility will certainly occur and organizing our whole life around it is different.

Whispered doubts do not merely frighten us; they may also try to make a wrong decision seem right.

Because we fear missing something, we may claim to know a subject we do not know. To appear right in an argument, we may tell the truth incompletely.

Fear does not always come from outside; sometimes the possibilities we produce within ourselves take the place of reality.

Remembering the Covenant We Have Made

Al-Baqarah 40 recalls the blessing given to the Children of Israel and calls for the fulfillment of the promise made.

If we read this verse merely as words directed at a community in the past, we may miss the question directed at ourselves.

A promise matters in the bond between people and Allah. Believing means not merely making a claim, but bringing that commitment into behavior.

When we fail to keep a promise to someone, trust in our relationships is shaken. If we do not even take our own word seriously, how do we approach our servitude to Allah?

Question: In which matter am I backing away despite knowing Allah’s command?

A person’s test sometimes emerges in something that seems very small. A promise, a transaction, an apology, or an admission.

Sometimes accepting the truth requires giving up a way of thinking we have been accustomed to for years.

People may not want familiar behavior to change. They may criticize us, say they have misunderstood, or distance themselves.

But everyone’s acceptance of us is not a certain sign that we are acting rightly. A crowd can make mistakes; someone standing alone can make mistakes too.

That is why our measure should not be merely other people’s reactions.

Mixing Truth with Falsehood

Al-Baqarah 41 reminds us to believe in what Allah has revealed and not exchange the verses for a small price. Then verse 42 tells us not to mix truth with falsehood.

Sometimes people conceal the truth to protect an interest. Sometimes they hide another part of an event by choosing the words the other person wants to hear.

When we tell an outright lie, recognizing it may be easy. But telling a half-truth sometimes seems more innocent to us.

Yet if the listener reaches a wrong conclusion because of an incomplete account, a serious problem arises.

Question: When explaining the truth about a matter, do I choose the part that benefits me and hide the other part?

A person’s two-faced attitude may not be easily understood from outside. Someone speaking beautiful words may harbor a completely different calculation in their intention.

Therefore, we should both be careful when getting to know others and look at the contradictions within ourselves.

Instead of selectively using the Qur’an to legitimize our own wrongs, we should try to read it as counsel.

Allah’s verses are not merely words to put forward against others. They first question our own truthfulness, sincerity, and commitment.

Turning the Question Toward Ourselves

Learning about past communities is valuable. But if that knowledge is not connected with which behavior we will change today, it remains incomplete.

While describing someone else’s mistake at length, people may overlook their own similar mistake.

Perhaps the most difficult sentence is this: “Could I be making the same mistake too?”

If a fear governs us, let us recognize it. If we have broken a promise, let us face it. If we are concealing a truth, let us ask why we are hiding it.

Question: Which small behavior of mine today contradicts the standard I say I believe in?

Changing many things at once may not be possible. But first, we can honestly see what is wrong.

Then we try to understand the fear, expectation, or habit behind that wrong.

Taking our promise to Allah seriously requires much more than merely knowing past events.

Protecting the truth begins with abandoning the false justifications in our own lives.

Now let us consider the most important of all our words: We say we are turning toward our Lord. In which step of ours today does this turning appear?