Jamiatul Ulama KZN Council of Muslim Theologians
People who are steeped in denial don’t like hearing the truth, just as people who are asleep don’t like to be woken up.
When Prophet Ibrahim عليه السلام told his people the truth, they hated it.
قَالَ لَقَدْ كُنتُمْ أَنتُمْ وَءَابَآؤُكُمْ فِى ضَلَـٰلٍۢ مُّبِينٍۢ
He said, “You were certainly, you and your fathers, in manifest error.” (Surat Al-Anbiya, 54)
قَالُوٓا۟ أَجِئْتَنَا بِٱلْحَقِّ أَمْ أَنتَ مِنَ ٱللَّـٰعِبِينَ
They asked, “Have you come to us with the truth, or is this a joke?” (Surat Al-Anbiya, 55)
They, on the surface, seemed almost like they wanted the truth. Indignantly, they demanded, “Is this the truth? Or are you playing around?” As though they would respect or follow the truth.
قَالَ بَل رَّبُّكُمْ رَبُّ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ٱلَّذِى فَطَرَهُنَّ وَأَنَا۠ عَلَىٰ ذَٰلِكُم مِّنَ ٱلشَّـٰهِدِينَ
He replied, “In fact, your Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, Who created them ˹both˺. And to that I bear witness.” (Surat Al-Anbiya, 56)
Unresponsive and stubborn, these people needed not just to be merely told the truth– they needed to be *shown* it.
So Ibrahim عليه السلام decided to do exactly that.
وَتَٱللَّهِ لَأَكِيدَنَّ أَصْنَـٰمَكُم بَعْدَ أَن تُوَلُّوا۟ مُدْبِرِينَ
˹Then he said to himself,˺ “By Allah! I will surely plot against your idols after you have turned your backs and gone away.” (Surat Al-Anbiya, 57)
فَجَعَلَهُمْ جُذَٰذًا إِلَّا كَبِيرًۭا لَّهُمْ لَعَلَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِ يَرْجِعُونَ
So he smashed them into pieces, except the biggest of them, so they might turn to it ˹for answers˺. (Surat Al-Anbiya, 58)
قَالُوا۟ مَن فَعَلَ هَـٰذَا بِـَٔالِهَتِنَآ إِنَّهُۥ لَمِنَ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ
They said, “Who has done this to our gods? Indeed, he is of the wrongdoers.” (Surat Al-Anbiya, 59)
قَالُوا۟ سَمِعْنَا فَتًۭى يَذْكُرُهُمْ يُقَالُ لَهُۥٓ إِبْرَٰهِيمُ
They said, “We heard a young man mention them who is called Abraham.” (60)
قَالُوا۟ فَأْتُوا۟ بِهِۦ عَلَىٰٓ أَعْيُنِ ٱلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَشْهَدُونَ
They said, “Then bring him before the eyes of the people that they may testify.” (61)
قَالُوٓا۟ ءَأَنتَ فَعَلْتَ هَـٰذَا بِـَٔالِهَتِنَا يَـٰٓإِبْرَٰهِيمُ
They said, “Have you done this to our gods, O Abraham?” (62)
قَالَ بَلْ فَعَلَهُۥ كَبِيرُهُمْ هَـٰذَا فَسْـَٔلُوهُمْ إِن كَانُوا۟ يَنطِقُونَ
He replied ˹sarcastically˺, “No, this one—the biggest of them—did it! So ask them, if they can speak!” (63)
A moment of crisis.
Of clarity.
He showed them plainly the absurdity of their position, the delusions they believe in. When he destroyed all their idols except for the biggest one, and they came asking him if he’d done it, he casually told them to ask the big idol what happened.
He didn’t just destroy their idols– he also destroyed their delusions, destroyed their comfortable denial.
With this reply, Ibrahim عليه السلام held up a mirror to them, to show them clearly the craziness of what they were doing.
He asked them to ask stone to speak.
Perhaps for the first time, the idol-worshipping pagans saw their own reflection staring back at them. They were forced to confront the truth: the idols were made of stone. Stone is an inanimate object that doesn’t speak or move or see. They worship stone idols…they worship inanimate objects that don’t speak or move or see.
In that moment, they were forced to face the truth: their beliefs were irrational, their position was incoherent, and their lifestyle was incorrect.
They hated it.
فَرَجَعُوٓا۟ إِلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ فَقَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّكُمْ أَنتُمُ ٱلظَّـٰلِمُونَ
So they came back to their senses, saying ˹to one another˺, “You yourselves are truly the wrongdoers!” (64)
Thrust into this moment, when they were forced to see the truth they usually kept suppressed, the people felt incredibly uncomfortable.
They were wrong.
It’s uncomfortable to admit, being wrong.
This discomfort stems from cognitive dissonance: knowing that your actions and your beliefs aren’t aligned. Knowing that what you know to be the Truth and what you are doing aren’t the same thing.
The gap between the two (your knowledge and your actions) is cognitive dissonance, and it makes human beings feel bad.
It feels too bad to sustain.
So, to feel better, we must choose something: either fix our actions so they align with the truth, or deny the truth and pretend that it actually aligns with our actions so we don’t actually have to change our actions.
It’s a choice between truth and actions, as well as a choice between habit and change.
You can either choose the truth knowing you’ll have to change your mind, your actions, your lifestyle to follow it. Or you can choose to reject the truth, but you get to keep your habit and keep everything the same so you don’t have to upend your whole life suddenly.
Which do you choose?
In the case of Ibrahim’s people, their actions were worshipping idols they made themselves from stone. The truth that Ibrahim forced them to finally face was that these idols are useless and worshipping them doesn’t make sense.
Actions and Truth aren’t aligned.
Cognitive dissonance.
Discomfort.
The choice: what do you keep and what do you throw away? The Truth, or your actions? Because you can’t keep both.
You have to choose ONE.
ثُمَّ نُكِسُوا۟ عَلَىٰ رُءُوسِهِمْ لَقَدْ عَلِمْتَ مَا هَـٰٓؤُلَآءِ يَنطِقُونَ
Then they ˹quickly˺ regressed to their ˹original˺ mindset, ˹arguing,˺ “You already know that those ˹idols˺ cannot talk.” (65)
The pagan people made their choice: keep their actions (paganism) and throw away truth (paganism is absurd).
But they went one step further: they got angry.
Angry at the person who even put them in this difficult position in the first place, the person who forced them to see the absurdity of their ways. Ibrahim.
They had been asleep and he was waking them up.
They had been in denial and he was shoving reality in their face.
They hadn’t seen themselves clearly and he was here holding up a mirror to show them who they were.
قَالَ أَفَتَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ مَا لَا يَنفَعُكُمْ شَيْـًۭٔا وَلَا يَضُرُّكُمْ
He said, “Then do you worship instead of Allāh that which does not benefit you at all or harm you? (66)
أُفٍّۢ لَّكُمْ وَلِمَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ
Shame on you and whatever you worship instead of Allah! Do you not have any sense?” (67)
So not only did they hate the truth because it made them uncomfortable, but they also hated the person who held up the mirror to them to show it to them. He showed them a reflection of themselves and it wasn’t pretty so they didn’t like it.
So they shot the Messenger.
This is why their reaction was:
قَالُوا۟ حَرِّقُوهُ وَٱنصُرُوٓا۟ ءَالِهَتَكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ فَـٰعِلِينَ
They concluded, “Burn him up to avenge your gods, if you must act.” (68)
They hated both the truth and the person who brought it to them. The truth, they denied. The person saying the truth, they punished.
This is a scene that replays itself over and over again in human interactions.
The story of Ibrahim showing his people the truth and their denial of it and their punishment for him isn’t only about Ibrahim عليه السلام. It’s a story that many of us today have lived in our own lives.
If a husband tells his wife that she really ought to wear hijab and dress modestly, she (instead of submitting to the Truth and putting aside ego), may become enraged and accuse her husband of being “controlling” and “abusive” and having “toxic masculinity” and she might file for divorce. The cognitive dissonance between the truth and her actions is too painful to face, and she has to make a choice, so she chooses to keep her actions and throw away the truth. And, of course, to shoot the messenger. How dare he wake her up from her denial?
If a daughter tells her father that he really ought to control her brother (his son) and forbid him from the haram things he’s engaged in like clubbing, dating, or fornication, the father (instead of submitting to the Truth and putting aside ego), may get offended and accuse his daughter of being “judgemental” and “rigid” and having “no tolerance” and cut off the daughter. The cognitive dissonance between the truth and his actions is too painful to face, and he has to make a choice, so he chooses to keep his actions and throw away the truth. And, of course, to shoot the messenger. How dare she wake him up from his denial?
In the case of the wife whose life revolves around fashion, cute outfits, and the latest clothing trends, following truth and wearing the hijab would involve a lot of change. She’d have to overhaul her entire wardrobe and throw away her expensive name-brand designer items and makeup and accessories, and start from scratch building a new, more modest wardrobe.
In the case of the father whose family system relies on enabling bad behavior and looking the other way as children commit haram actions, following the truth would involve a lot of change. He’d have to come out of the denial he’d been immersed in for decades, the false belief that he had been a great parent whose tarbiya of his kids was excellent, and face the reality that his son was deeply troubled. The father would have to upset the deeply-entrenched family dynamic, and upend the entire dysfunctional system by actually setting limits, enforcing rules, teaching haram and halal, and giving his children consequences instead of allowing anything and everything.
This change is hard. It’s easier to just stay the same, and just get mad at the truth and punish the person saying it.
But people’s wrath should not deter us from telling one another the truth.
We must advise one another toward the truth, as Prophet Ibrahim عليه السلام did.
We must be the mirrors for one another that Prophet Muhammad ﷺ told us of in the hadith:
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فال: الْمُؤْمِنُ مَرْآةُ أَخِيهِ إِذَا رَأَى فِيهَا عَيْبًا أَصْلَحَهُ.
Abu Huraira said, “The believer is a mirror to his brother. If he sees something wrong in him, he should correct it.”
The Believer is a mirror that shows you an honest reflection of yourself, with no delusions or illusions or additions or subtractions.
It’s up to you if you want to recognize the truth or deny it, and if you want to keep your comfortable delusions or change your actions to align with Truth.
اللهم أَرِنا الحق حقاً وارزقنا اتباعه، وأرِنا الباطل باطلاً وارزقنا اجتنابه.
O Allah, allow us to see Truth as Truth and grant us the ability to follow it, and show us falsehood as falsehood and grant us the ability to avoid it, ameen.
Umm Khalid
