Our Depth Perception Problem

I feel like, in our community, we have a kind of depth perception problem. In that, we look at things that are really surface level or bare minimum type indicators and conflate from that or extrapolate from that much deeper ramifications. It goes across many different areas of our life. For example, we will extrapolate from the fact that someone prays in the masjid that they are a religious person who has iman and has taqwa and has all of these virtues that we associate with a good Muslim and they may not. They just make the salah in Jama'ah.

Doesn't necessarily mean anything about their character. That's a good thing and you cannot extrapolate anything more from that other than what it is. They pray Jamah in the masjid. That's all you know. You can't learn anything else about them from that.

Same like if a sister wears hijab. Doesn't necessarily mean that she's virtuous and has a great character or any of these other things. It just means that's a thing she's doing right. Doesn't necessarily mean anything more than that. And I just feel like we sort of look superficially at these things so that we will regard someone as religious if they meet the apparent qualifications of that, which of course has to do with we judge by what we can see.

We can't judge intention. We can't judge what's in the heart. That's all true. But we do it anyway. You see?

We only look at it in terms of, well, what we see is good, so therefore we won't assume bad. That's correct. But you also shouldn't look at what you see as good and extrapolate from that more depth to the goodness than what you see. What's inside, you don't know. You don't know the extent to which they understand the deen, you don't understand you don't know the extent to which they have iman, the extent to which they have taqwa, the extent to which they are trying to align their mentality and their mindset to Quran and Sunnah, to Islam, to pleasing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to thinking about the akhirah.

You have no idea until you actually talk to someone and get to know where their mind is at. So, like, if I talk about someone being religious, I'm not talking about they've memorized Quran, they go to the Salah, they are fulfilling the Fard. You know, that's not what I mean. I mean someone who is who actually has taqwa, who's actually thinking about Allah, about thinking about trying to align their life to what Allah has commanded and understanding it and living their life accordingly seeking Allah's pleasure. That's what I regard as a religious person.

The rest of it, you're just supposed to do. These are the bare bare minimum requirements. And I cannot personally extrapolate more from that than what I see. You're doing that good thing. You're making the salah, that's a good thing.

That's good. I accept that from you, but it doesn't tell me anything about who you are. And the same like again with knowledge. You may have a tremendous amount of information in your brain. Your brain is a warehouse.

Doesn't mean it's also a factory. You have all of the ingredients, doesn't mean you know how to make anything from it. Understand? There are some chefs who can make an incredible meal with very few ingredients. And then there's someone who has no culinary art skills, who can have all the necessary ingredients for a delicious meal and they have no idea what to do with it.

They've got the ingredients, but they don't have the recipe and they don't have the skills to make it. We have to be, I think, a bit more discerning for our for our own sake, for our own safety, than to make assumptions about people that attribute to them greater levels of wisdom and intelligence, greater levels of virtue and character then we have reason to believe. You understand what I'm saying? And I'm not saying to think badly of someone. I'm just saying don't extrapolate more from what is apparent than just what it is that is apparent.