While thousands of Muslims are killed all over the world, and while tens of thousands are imprisoned and tortured for calling to the path of Allah, for enjoining the good and forbidding the evil and for defending their religion and land, most Muslims remain remarkably silent and have no concern except for the material things of life. Their hearts have been filled with the love of this life and the forgetfulness of the Hereafter.

Allah says in the Qur’an: “And thou wilt find them greediest of mankind for life and (greedier) than the idolaters. (Each) one of them would like to be allowed to live a thousand years. And to live (a thousand years) would by no means remove him from the doom. Allah is Seer of what they do.” (Al Baqarah 2:96)

Many Muslims today have become so much attached to their lives that their desire is to dwell among their family, house, money, and commerce. They have forgotten that matters of the Hereafter should come before matters of this life and that we must strive to follow the orders of Allah, not just those we find easy and convenient to follow.

Some Muslims today claim that it is better to perform extra prayers and extra fasting rather than enjoin the good and forbid the evil or defend the lives of weak Muslims. Such people would even blame the Muslims who strive to perform these obligations.

Commenting on this phenomenon Imam Ibn Ul-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah states:

“Satan has misled most people by beautifying for them the performance of certain voluntary acts of worship such as voluntary prayers and voluntary fasting while neglecting other obligatory acts of worship such as enjoining the good and eradicating the evil, to the extent that they do not even make the intention to perform them whenever they are able to.

Such people are considered by the scholars to be on the bottom of the scale of religion: For the essence of our religion is to perform what Allah ordered us to do. Anyone having some knowledge about the revelation of Allah, the guidance of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and the life of the companions would conclude that many of those who are pointed at today as the most pious people are in fact the least pious.

Indeed, what kind of piety is there in a person who witnesses Allah's sanctities being violated,His religion abandoned, the Sunnah of His Messenger shunned, and yet remains still with a cold heart and a shut mouth. Such a person is like a dumb devil!

In the same way the one who speaks falsehood is a speaking devil. Isn’t the misfortune of Islam due only to those who, whenever their life and food are secure, do not care about what happens to the religion? The best among them would offer a sorry face. But if they were challenged in one of the things their heart is attached to like their money, they would spare no effort to get it back. These people, besides deserving the anger of Allah, are afflicted with the greatest calamity without even knowing it: Their hearts are dead.

Indeed the more alive a person's heart is, the stronger its anger for the sake of Allah and the more complete his support to Islam and Muslims.”