SURAH AL-BAQARAH
Ayah 12.
أَلَا إِنَّهُمْ هُمُ الْمُفْسِدُونَ وَلَـكِن لاَّ يَشْعُرُونَ
In fact, they are the troublemakers, but they are not aware.
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أَلَا “alaa” = “Listen! Pay attention! Unquestionably!”
Wake up oh Believers and know the facts! Wake up oh Munafiquun and stop stirring corruption!
“they are the troublemakers”
Sometimes, the second type of Munafiq thought that what they are doing (“reforming”) is necessary. They are not aware that they are the troublemaker/corrupter of the religion. They will not acknowledge to this fact when being told.
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As for the parable of the superpowers of the world sucking resources from third-world countries, these have led to many wars and bloodshed in the region where they have entered. The general citizens are not aware that these superpowers are the troublemaker in other countries.
Ayah 13.
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ آمِنُواْ كَمَا آمَنَ النَّاسُ قَالُواْ أَنُؤْمِنُ كَمَا آمَنَ السُّفَهَاء أَلا إِنَّهُمْ هُمُ السُّفَهَاء وَلَـكِن لاَّ يَعْلَمُونَ
And when it is said to them, “Believe as the people have believed,” they say, “Shall we believe as the fools have believed?” In fact, it is they who are the fools, but they do not know.
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“Believe as the people have believed”
This ayah was actually an encouragement to them.
Allah mentioned النَّاسُ “An-Naas” = people in general instead of the word “Muttaqiin” = people of Taqwa.
The first phase is for you to believe as the other common people have believed and not to be intimidated to become people of Taqwa instantaneously. Take baby steps at a time, one after another continuously.
Instead of appreciating the encouragement, the Munafiq arrogantly replied that those believing people were fools.
“They said, Shall we believe as the fools have believed?”
They were told to stop behaving like the Munafiquun and to behave like the sahabah. They said it would be foolish to follow the examples of the sahabah who were doing quite well in Makkah and left all that to become poor in Medina. They called the Sahabah “the humiliated ones” , “the dogs of Makkah” who got nothing worldly by coming to Medina.
The Mushrikuun claimed to be following the religion of Ibrahim(a.s). However, the Sahabah who sacrificed their own comfort zone and traveled far, gaining hardship to save the Deen were the ones that followed the path of Ibrahim(a.s).
The previous few ayaat regarding people of Taqwa depicted the story of the Sahabah. Their believe in the unseen were so convincing that they spent the provisions that Allah gave them, i.e. sacrificed their house, their plot of land, etc. and left all of it in Makkah to migrate to Madinah.
Those who said these were foolish people, were very naive of the facts. If you want to achieve success in any field, you will have to go through hardship and sacrifices.
“they who are the fools, but they do not know.”
If you as a Muslim, felt down and depressed by being called as fools for being a practicing Muslim, then Allah is saying that those people who call you as fools, are the one who are foolish and naive. What is important is what your Master thinks of you. By saying that the Believers are foolish means that the religion is foolish while the religion is from Allah, therefore it is an insult to Allah. That is why Allah responded back in this ayah calling “Fools” to all those who attempt to say the Believers as foolish.
As proven in history, the Sahabah were the one who progressed and became the dominant force in Medina while the “Munafiquun” were the one being despised by society.
Some liberal “Muslims” looked down on practicing Muslims as if these are fools who abides by the regulations in Islam in this modern times. They said that all religion are the same, so why do we have to abide by the “cage” of Islam. These same people called themselves Muslims and they think they are smart. They labelled those practicing Muslims as extremists.
Practicing Muslims are just those who peacefully practice the religion, not those terrorists. They purposely labelled these 2 different groups together to hide their refusal to practice the religion themselves. When any of their agenda is exposed, they will explode with anger while refusing to accept the truth.
One reason why some born-Muslims easily get the Munafiq sickness is that they are born into the religion by default. There was no struggle or test of the eeman as what the Sahabah had went through. Eg. to be a doctor, you will be put to a test/exam. People will not trust an un-certified doctor. If you have sacrificed heavily to enter into something, it is equally difficult to leave it. If you casually enters into something, it is equally easy to casually leave it.
After the conquest of Makkah, more and more people entered Islam because the Muslims were in the trajectory of greater power. Their faith was not as pure as the first batch of Muslims. That was where the Munafiq disease easily could have spread. Comparing with those who sincerely converted to Islam, they have a larger amount of eeman as they have successfully gone through trials of finding the truth.