Guidance for Perceiving Minds — Page 67
67 destruction through death is slow. They are not afraid of the spread of misguidance and witness the emergence of temptations and the arrival of horrors. They know that the priests ruined our lives with lies, and wanted to erase all traces of Islam, yet they turned away from their allegations, as if they had finished their duties and performed the obligations of their services. Among [the scholars] are people who, during their entire lives, did not stand up to the opponents and spent their lives charging believers of infidelity and calling the truthful as liars. I was proud to honour these scholars, thinking they were pious, but when I noticed their hidden characteristics and inner traits, I knew that they were among the traitors, not the good and righteous. They are hypocrites in the paths of Allah, not among the sincere chosen ones. I saw that everything they knew and did was tainted with hypocrisy, and their hearts were as black as the long dark night. So, I retracted my thoughts, saying, “Surely, to Allah we belong and to Him shall we return,” and changed my mind in pain. I became certain that my foresight had been wrong and that the matter was the opposite. They are a people who preferred the lowly world and sought prestige and affluence. They see the corruption in towns and lands, then lower their eyes like one who is blind. The wound has developed an infection, but they do not see its spread. They did not respond to Allah’s Summoner, even if he sobbed and cried, yet they would respond to an invitation of a meal of fine sheep’s trotters. They do not think to themselves: What are they doing for religion? Were they created to eat delicious food and beautify themselves? The land has been tainted by their corruption, and the plague has spread throughout their countries. It is an affliction that