The Life of This World is but Chattel of Deception #59

July 8, 2021

Repelling Bad Deeds with Good Deeds

From the Quran:

“And whoever could be more elegant in expression than

one who calls upon people to return to God,

And performs good deeds,

And testifies to his faith.

You can’t equate a good deed with a bad deed

Repel a bad deed (by someone) by answering with a good deed

And you will discover that the one who has been

A sworn enemy of yours has turned

Into a bosom friend.

But this feature is granted only to those

Who persevere in patience

And are of the blessed in good fortune.”

Quran, 41: 33–35

The message in those few short verses is that the greatest achievement for any person is to have his/her heart connected with the love of God and never to lose sight of that connection when dealing with people. So, it is not how rich a person is or how powerful he/she is but only how they relate to God in their deeds. This same message was told in both the Torah and New Testament, but was misconstrued by some people to say that rich people do not enter paradise, quoting Jesus to have said:

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

This misses the essence of the message, which was later mentioned in the Quran, 7:40:

“Those who deny our verses and act arrogantly toward them, the gates of heaven will not be opened to them, nor will they enter paradise until a camel enters into the eyes of the needle”

Going back to the original verses, they also teach that by being attached to God, one learns to be patient and to persevere in adversity and if confronted with adverse conditions, to offer a conciliatory gesture, and suddenly an adverse person becomes a friend.