When the Words Do Not Match the Action

“O you who believe! Why do you say things you won’t do? It is a great cause of anger in the sight of Allah when you say what you will not do.” (As-Saff, 2-3)

Man is responsible for putting the things he knows about religion into practice. He should pray according to what he knows, transfer his knowledge to others and encourage them to pray. If he does not act on what he knows, it is a contradiction and incomprehensibility for him to ask others to pray or criticize those who do not practice religious duties.

A person who teaches what he knows in the name of truth to others but does not practice it himself falls, shouldering the burden of having ilm and not practicing his religion. A believer is obliged to incorporate the pleasant deeds he has learned about from his religion into his life. Believers who advise their families and people around them to be virtuous, especially those in charge of lecturing on good and bad deeds to society, should pay close attention to what they do in their lives as they are models for others.

To Know and to Act

Our Rabb (subhanahu wa ta’ala) says:

“Do you command people to do good and forget yourselves, even though you read the Qur’an? Have you then no sense?" (Al-Baqarah, 44)

The warning of this verse is apparent. People, who are like “donkeys loaded with books,” who do not act with the knowledge they have but only give advice to others, are burdened by great responsibility and sin.

People whose job is to teach Islam are responsible for applying their knowledge in their lives in the sight of Allah and are under the burden of the impact they have on those who listen to them. When there is no consistency between the lives and words of such people, they cannot positively influence their listeners. This causes priceless dawah and khutbahs to turn into ordinary words, taken as cliches.

Such people have another harmful effect. Others create their evaluations of Islam through these individuals. The impression they get by looking at and listening to these people causes them to gradually turn away from our religion. Numerous people we listen to or read memoirs of point to such hypocritical people as the reason for the public’s growing distance from religion. In short, a listener or watcher pays attention not only to your words but to who you are and what you do.

Naturally, the harm the narrator does to himself is also significant. A person who does not try to apply what he espouses has a problem with his sincerity and devotion to Allah. One can say that the faith of a person in this situation has not really settled in his heart.

It is obviously insincere to ask others to apply a religious rule one has not implemented oneself. That means that a person in such a situation is  unable to make his nafs accept what he recommends to others. If he had sincerely wanted the things he conveyed to be done, he would have tried to practice them in his life first. This action is a form of hypocrisy.

Rasulullah (sallalahu alayhi wa sallam) told someone who wanted to learn about Islam: “Say I believe in Allah and then be steadfast.” (Muslim, 62).

What About Sincerity?

In the Qur’an, Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) openly declares the situations He is not pleased with. He states that He is displeased with some of the actions He mentions in these verses and that those who do them cannot gain His rida. Those people are the kafir who still persist after Islam has reached them and the munafiq who pretend to be Muslims.

Even if not as much as these, those who suggest something to others and do not implement it themselves are among those whom Allah despises. In the verse below, this issue is expressed as follows:

“O you who believe! Why do you say things you can't do? It is a great cause of wrath in the sight of Allah if you say what you do not do.” (As-Saff, 2-3)

So, the fate that awaits those who “live in pleasure while giving suggestions to others” is frightening. Even this verse alone is enough for a person to gather himself together.

Honesty in the Family

We see the most striking examples of making suggestions to others but excluding oneself from taking action within  family dynamics. Parents want their children to be good people, so they give them advice. Parents explain responsibilities to the children or issues they should avoid. But they do not realize that their children follow their actions and character, not their words. Children’s ears are half closed to the words of their parents, but their eyes are always on them. Moreover, their intuition is solid. They realize many things their parents think they have hidden from them.

For example, when parents advise their children to avoid rude words and swearing but do not pay attention to it themselves, their advice will remain empty. When they gossip about others and do not perform salah and prayers, no matter how much they advise their children on these issues, it will have no effect. On the contrary, they show open disdain for their own advice by normalizing gossip and lack of worship in the eyes of their children.

Whenever a person begins to give honest advice to himself and strives to follow it, he will see that his words and advice are effective. Of course, the effect of the advice of an elder who wakes up for tahajjud prayers, and tries to fast on Mondays and Thursdays, and whose words and advice are always pleasant will not be the same as the advice given by those who do not show sensitivity to these things. In fact, there is no need for verbal advice from those who pay attention to their own religious life as someone who merely observes their lives will emulate them. 

Scholars, teachers, and family elders, frontrunners in the position of advising younger generations, should keep in mind that the young people of their time are different from those of today. Young people are aware of everything; they follow and pay more attention to what a speaker does than the generations before them. The words of a smoking doctor advocating against smoking has the same effect as advice given by people who make mistakes publicly.

The Greatest of the Advisers

When we look at the life of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), he never ordered anything to be done without contributing to its completion. When he wanted something from his companions, he would first start working on it himself. He personally helped his companions with the construction of Masjid an-Nabawi and the preparations for the Battle of Khandaq (Battle of the Trench). The companions who witnessed this had more enthusiasm and, as such, gave more of an effort.

The model of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), of course, was not in labor only. While conveying and teaching the orders of religion to people, he did much more than what he demanded from others. His efforts had a tremendous impact on the establishment of Islam in people’s hearts.

One must consider; On the one hand, he would explain Islam to those who came to learn about it; on the other, he would deal with every problem in society; In addition, our Prophet would always apply what he wanted others to do first to himself. This was a great virtue, and anyone with a conscience was impressed by what they saw. Indeed, this was a sign of the greatness of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).

Until today, Islam has been conveyed through the people who have ingrained its beauty in their lives. When Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) planned to send envoys to explain Islam, he paid great attention to the fact that they were both knowledgeable and applied lived by what they knew and believed in. No matter where you look today, if non-Muslims have adopted Islam, it is due to sincere Muslims who showed a good example by applying the principles of Islam in their lives with utmost fidelity.

The Main Reason for All Our Problems

Muslims have a significant share in the misrecognition of Islam in the world today. Unfortunately, the general conditions in the regions where Muslims are dense give rise to false perceptions about Islam. Clearly, the Islam we present to the world is not the Islam Allah desires His servants to uphold. This shows that reading and explaining the Qur’an and hadiths is not enough. The important thing is to apply what is read and conveyed to our lives. When this is done, the excellent message Islam offers to humanity will be better understood and loved, and people will listen to it.

It is not necessary to be a scholar to see the miserable state of the Islamic world today. Hundreds of reasons can be listed as the causes of our problems. But the key factor is that they are all based on the weakness of Muslims in acting according to their religion. The same reason is valid for the effectiveness of foreign provocations. Being deceived is not an excuse for a Muslim. When a person pursues his presumptions and nafs instead of ilm, he begins to interpret the commands of Islam according to his own nafs and whims. This results in the mischaracterization and misrepresentation Islam faces today.

Is there anyone who doesn’t know that it is haram for a Muslim to end another life unjustly? Is there anyone unaware that our religion explicitly forbids injustice, cruelty, ruthlessness, and usurping other people’s property? Any Muslim you give a microphone to can talk on these subjects for at least ten minutes. But the current state of the Islamic world is sufficient to answer the question of “What is the result?” The source of the problem is not ignorance, but that what we have learned has not fully settled into our hearts and lives.

If Muslims start to act on what they know and what they advise others one day, the ummah will have all its problems unraveled and resolved one by one. Therefore, let’s be careful to what extent we live by what we preach, and how much space our own words of advice have in our hearts.

Abdullah Yavuz