Surah Al-A‘raf: Understanding and Responsibility Instead of Fear
28 February 2021
Not Losing Our Direction Amid Fear
Imagine hearing about the possibility of a new disaster every day. One day famine is discussed, another day great destruction, and the next a threat said to change our entire lives. After a while, people are not merely following the news; they begin to see their future through these possibilities too. Working, planning, and caring for loved ones become difficult. That is why the question at the beginning of the lesson matters: Does what we hear make us more informed and responsible, or does it continually make us feel helpless? A claim being presented in a very compelling way does not mean it is true. Nor is the intensity of our fear a measure of the truth of what is being said.
Taking a real risk seriously and placing every unverified possibility at the center of our lives are different things. In the first, we seek knowledge, consider suitable precautions, and do what we can. In the second, we may feel that nothing will change whatever we do. Yet we cannot know every detail of the future. While listening to someone who speaks with certainty about things we do not know, we should ask where they obtained this information. Stepping back a little from content that continually ties our attention to the same fear may help us assess the issue more calmly. There are tasks, people, and responsibilities in our lives that truly need our attention. Let us try not to allow a possibility that has not yet occurred to overshadow all of them.
Learning and Acknowledging What We Do Not Know
The lesson addresses our attitude toward learning with the reminder that above every person of knowledge is someone who knows more. A person may be very experienced in certain subjects; this does not mean they have the same competence in every field. The knowledge of a doctor, cook, repairer, and designer is not the same. Our need for one another is not a shameful aspect of our limitations, but a reality of life. Something I know may help you; something you know may make my work easier. Therefore, asking about something we do not know does not mean giving up thinking. Directing the right question to the right person is also part of thinking and learning.
While benefiting from a source, we should also recognize its limits. Looking at who is speaking matters, but investigating what they say and the basis on which they rely is also necessary. It is more honest to acknowledge the source of an idea we learned from someone else than to present it as our own discovery. We do not have to accept everything we hear with the same degree of confidence. An interpretation, an observation, and verified information should not be confused. When trying to understand the Qur’an, we likewise need to distinguish the verse itself from the thought we derive from it. Such care both deepens our learning and keeps us from imposing our own interpretation on others as an unquestionable ruling.
Seeking Balance Without Belittling Anxiety
In daily life, anxiety sometimes helps us recognize a responsibility. If we have a payment due at the end of the month, we plan; if a task must be completed on time, we look at our preparations. But when anxiety occupies our entire day, the balance between what we think about and what we can do may be disturbed. While continually considering the same possibility, gathering the attention needed for a solution may become difficult. Here, instead of being angry with ourselves or feeling ashamed and asking why we feel this way, let us try to understand what we need. Even someone close to us listening calmly may help us feel less alone. Something that seems small to another person may truly be heavy for us; acknowledging this as we speak is a more humane beginning.
The lesson discusses anxiety, panic, and other mental difficulties. These subjects should not be turned into a grading scale for measuring a person’s faith. Faith and prayer can be important supports in a person’s life, but we cannot attribute mental health conditions solely to a lack of faith. The World Health Organization states that effective treatments exist for anxiety disorders and that people experiencing symptoms should seek care. Therefore, asking for help from a mental health professional when needed is valuable. Maintaining our spiritual lives and receiving professional support do not exclude one another. Standing beside someone without belittling their difficulty is a more responsible attitude than making promises of certain recovery.
Let us not immediately make a moral comparison between one person feeling well and another still experiencing the same difficulty. Everyone’s life, experience, and needs differ. Saying “How can you worry about that?” often gives the other person no solution. Instead, we can ask what is troubling them most. We can listen and ask how we can support them. Rather than trying to apply a solution we have heard in the same way to everyone, we need to try to understand the person’s situation. Sometimes we look for a way forward together, sometimes we simply listen, and sometimes we help them reach appropriate support. Solidarity is possible without having to know all the answers.
Trusting Does Not Mean Abandoning Effort
While reflecting on trusting Allah, we try to see both our own effort and the limits of our control. People want to make every outcome certain. They ask whether they will definitely get this job, whether this plan will certainly work, and whether their future is completely secure. Planning is necessary, but planning does not guarantee the future. While fulfilling our own responsibility, we also need to accept that we cannot control every detail. If we turn reliance on Allah into waiting without doing anything, we abandon effort. If we imagine we can control everything on our own, we forget the limits of our strength. Between these two extremes, we seek an attitude that carries work and submission together.
Let us consider the difference between learning a profession at school and practicing it. Saying one is a designer is one thing; knowing materials, taking accurate measurements, and solving problems in a project is another. People learn through practice; as they recognize and correct their shortcomings, their confidence rests on firmer ground. In our relationship with the values we believe in, we too should not be satisfied with merely saying the right sentence. If we know justice is good, let us try to observe it in a disagreement. If we know the value of gratitude, let us not waste blessings. If we value helping one another, let us make time to listen to someone’s troubles. As our words and behavior draw closer together, what we know becomes more visible in our lives.
Caring for What Is Entrusted to Us and Sharing Goodness
Thinking of our bodies and the resources we possess as trusts moves us away from the illusion that we can use them without limits. We would not want something we lent someone to be returned broken, incomplete, or neglected. Drawing on this example, we can ask what we care for in our own lives and how. Caring for our bodies, time, and relationships is also part of this attention. However, the fact that a person has become ill does not necessarily show that they have cared poorly for what was entrusted to them. Instead of producing guilt through illness, we need to consider the appropriate care and support possible today. Awareness of a trust is a reminder to act responsibly and compassionately, rather than to treat ourselves and others harshly.
One of the lesson’s questions is whether, in acts of help such as donating blood or organs, what kind of person receives the help changes the intention to do good. The moral idea emphasized here is not to tie support for a person’s need to our own interests. We cannot control the whole life of someone we help; nor do we own every choice they make afterward. We can focus on our own intention and the rightness of what we do. The suitability and implementation of such donations are evaluated with authorized healthcare teams. Rather than forming assumptions that a person’s moral qualities pass to someone else through a bodily part, focusing on need, responsibility, and the purpose of help provides a healthier framework.
Goodness is not limited to giving money. Giving one’s time, asking how an older person is, recognizing a neighbor’s need, and listening carefully to someone are also valuable. Sometimes we think we can do nothing because we lack substantial means. Yet the person beside us does not always need a large payment. A phone call, a visit, or a little help with a task can ease their loneliness. When we do these things expecting something in return, however, we may feel that all our goodness is worthless if no thanks comes. Help offered seeking Allah’s pleasure calls us to review our expectation of a return while continuing to value people.
Does My Behavior Concern Only Me?
We sometimes defend our daily choices by saying they do us no harm. But we should also consider the ways our behavior touches other people’s lives. A child may take us as an example; a friend may consider what we do normal. This does not mean we are limitlessly responsible for all another person’s choices. Nevertheless, we cannot entirely give up reflecting on our own influence. Someone who sees a person profit through cheating at work may think this is how earnings are obtained. Someone who sees a person acting honestly and protecting rights may recognize that another path is possible. Being a good example is a responsibility that emerges through our daily behavior before lengthy explanations.
The question about intoxicants and gambling in Surah Al-Baqarah and the warnings in Surah Al-Ma’idah are considered in this context. The lesson emphasizes that looking only at immediate benefit or pleasure is not enough to see the whole outcome. When evaluating a behavior, we also need to consider its effect on our relationships, responsibilities, and judgment. Feeling compelled to adopt an unwanted habit to gain acceptance in a social circle should also be questioned. In the example of a gathering described, the person who does not choose the drink everyone else is having faces social pressure, making this point visible. Belonging to a group should not mean abandoning our own conscience and standards. Being able to say no is sometimes part of being honest with ourselves.
Being Able to Let Go and Understand Others
When thinking about freedom, let us not be satisfied with asking only whether we can do what we want. Let us also ask whether we can give up that desire when necessary. Buying an item, maintaining a habit, or being accepted in a setting may have become an indispensable condition of our lives. Then what we think serves us actually begins to govern our decisions. The lesson’s emphasis on being able to let go invites us to recognize this inner attachment. Of course, abandoning every responsibility or cutting our ties with people is not what is meant. We are considering recognizing where our desire takes precedence over our values and being able to make a better choice when necessary. Opening this space for ourselves matters.
Accepting that other people’s strengths and weaknesses are not the same as ours also changes our relationships. Something we overcome easily may be very difficult for someone close to us. Our child may not think like their sibling; our spouse may not decide as quickly as we do. Constant comparison does not replace understanding a person. When we say, “Why aren’t you like the neighbor’s child?” we have not learned who the child before us is. We need to ask what interests them, where they struggle, and how they can be supported. The same care is necessary in friendship and marriage. Instead of trying to fit one another into our own mold, we can build a fair and respectful relationship amid differences.
Bringing What We Hear into Life
The lesson also draws attention to material means distancing people from one another and to competition in showing off. Wanting new possessions, a larger home, or a higher position does not by itself explain our entire life. We need to ask what we neglect for their sake. If we are not hearing a loved one’s needs, do not know our neighbor, and are not listening to our child’s troubles, we should pause and look. Sharing and reducing waste can help us rearrange the weight we give to things in our lives. We do not do this to praise poverty or say everyone should live under the same conditions. We want the resources we possess to lead us toward being more sensitive, useful, and responsible people. Let increasing ownership not be our only measure.
The accounts of hardship and abundance in Surah Al-A‘raf also nourish this attention. We may recognize our need for one another in difficult times and then distance ourselves again once we are comfortable. Instead of listening to advice only until hardship passes, let us carry what we have learned into our easier days too. If our knowledge of a subject is incomplete today, let us ask; if a loved one’s burden is heavy, let us listen; if a fear governs us, let us investigate its basis and seek support when necessary. While asking Allah for what is good, let us also take the step that falls to us. We do not have to find the answer to every problem at once. But instead of remaining motionless amid fear, we can move forward through understanding, helping one another, and taking responsibility. Not forgetting one another while seeking peace is also an important part of this path.
Health source on anxiety disorders: World Health Organization.