“And among them [people of the book] are unlettered ones who do not know the Scripture [the Torah and Bible] except [indulging in] wishful thinking, but they are only assuming.”
To conclude, these people assumed that abandoning knowledge and learning a few practices from their religion was enough for salvation. They turned their religion into a few empty practices and failed to understand that their faith was meant to affect every word they utter and every action they perform. This realization can only take place when one strives to gain and act on religious knowledge. Unfortunately, many Muslims have followed in their footsteps and rely on a few physical acts of worship assuming this is the path of success. When one turns their faith into a few practices and rituals performed in a language they do not even understand they faith stops becoming a way of life. When the next generation follow in their footsteps it is only a matter of time before they abandon these few practices assuming that they are only a part of their culture instead of realizing their faith is meant to be a way of life. For example, the elders which migrated to western countries held onto their culture in respect to the clothes they wore but the next generation who were born and raised in the west abandoned this way of dressing assuming it was only a cultural practice and not a way of life. The issue with culture and fashion is that they are always changing from generation to generation and if faith is seen as a few cultural practices it too will be abandoned with the passing of time. If one turns the pages of history they will observe that this is what occurred with the people of the book, the Jews and Christians. Once upon a time their synagogues and churches were full of worshippers and students of knowledge but when the people abandoned knowledge and instead adopted a few practices the next generation went a step further and even abandoned these few practices and as a result their synagogues and churches became empty.
In addition, those who adopted this mentality amongst the older generation held onto the few practices they learned but due to changes in the general mentality of society the next generation no longer desire to blindly follow practices and often question why they should adopt faith and act on these practices. If the older generation are unaware of why they are Muslims then how can they explain this to the next generation? Ignorance will only encourage the next generation to abandon their faith and the few practices they were taught by their elders and to instead lead a life serving their own desires.
If Muslims do not change their attitude by devoting themselves to gaining and acting on Islamic knowledge and encourage the next generation to do the same then they too will share the fate of the people of the book mentioned in this verse.
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