The Dangers of Heedlessness
By Hamza Yusuf | 2026-01-16T00:57:38.335219+00:00 | Topic: Iman
The Dangers of Heedlessness
Opening
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem. As-salamu alaikum.
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem. Allahumma sali ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salam taslima wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa billahi l-aliyyi l-azim.
The Nearness of the Day of Reckoning
Alhamdulillah, Allah says in the Quran:
"People's reckonings are drawing nearer, and yet they are in heedlessness, turning away." (Quran 21:1)
Yaqtaraba linnasi hisabuhum - the reckoning of people is drawing near. Yawm al-hisab, yawm al-qiyamah, the Day of Judgment. Allah described the state of these people as being in ghafla.
Understanding Ghafla (Heedlessness)
Ghafla is a word in Arabic that has many different meanings. Generally, whenever you have a word that begins with ghayn, it has to do with some kind of covering or something being hidden, something being veiled - like ghaba and ghafara, to cover over. So the basic meaning of ghafla is that people are in a state of heedlessness.
The ghafil is heedless. Mughafal is a simpleton, a fool, somebody that can be easily tricked. Somebody that other people can fool is a simpleton. So the idea that people are in a state of ghafla is a very strong Quranic concept.
Those Destined for Hellfire
Allah says in the Quran:
"We have prepared for Hell many multitudes of the jinn - unseen creatures - and the ins - human beings. They have hearts (qulub, meaning intellects) but they don't understand with them. They have eyes but they don't see with them. They have ears but they don't hear with them. Those people are like dumb beasts, like cattle and sheep." (Quran 7:179)
But then the Quran says: (بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ - bal hum adallu) - "No, they are more astray." And this is a rhetorical istidrak in Arabic. Bal is used to clarify something if you made a mistake or said something that wasn't clear. Here it's used rhetorically:
they're like animals? No, (بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ - bal hum adallu) - they are even more astray. Why?
Lessons from the Animal Kingdom
Because they're in a state of heedlessness. Now, if you look at the animal kingdom, you will not find animals in a state of heedlessness. Animals, no matter what they're doing, are always in a state of awareness.
If you watch an animal eating, even a dog, it will immediately sense if somebody comes near it. If you watch a rabbit eating, rabbits move their ears around. Why? Because they're worried there's something that threatens them, there's some danger. Most animals have very sensitive ears and eyes.
If you watch rats or mice - if you watch a mouse come out of a hole, a mouse doesn't just saunter out of the hole. The mouse comes out slowly, it moves its head around. The same with the lizard. If you watch a lizard come out of its hole, a lot can be learned from animals. That's why Allah uses them as metaphors in the Quran.
If you watch a lizard come out of a hole, the Arabs say: (أَحْيَرُ مِنْ ضَبٌ - ahayru min dabb) - "more bewildered than the lizard" - because the lizard looks like he's bewildered. What he's really doing is checking: is there any danger out there?
The Constant Vigilance of Animals
Animals are constantly aware of danger. They're always aware of danger. Why? Because their existence is threatened, and that awareness - if they're not aware, they're endangering themselves. They're endangering their pride if they're lions, or their flock if they're sheep.
That's why in the dumbest of animals that we domesticate - not animals in nature - animals that are domesticated need a shepherd, because humans have domesticated them. They feel safe, they're in fences, their food is there, they don't have to forage for it, so they start feeling safe. So then you bring in the ra'i (shepherd).
But if you go out in nature, fish are constantly - watch a fish - they turn all at the same time if they sense anything. Fish are constantly aware because, like the Arabs say: (الحوت يبلع الحوت - al-hootu yabla'u al-hoot) - "the fish swallows the fish" - big fish eat little fish. So fish are always aware.
There are a lot of animals that will only come out of their shell, like a turtle. It'll come out of the shell, but if it senses any danger, it goes back into the shell. There are animals whose hole serves the same purpose - they'll run back to their hole.
The jerboa has two holes - one there. It checks if it's safe, it'll go out. If it's not, it goes out the other one. It's called al-nafaq, which is where the Arabs get munafiq (hypocrite) from, because hypocrites always have exits, exit strategies.
Humans: More Astray Than Animals
But that's why Allah says that these people are more astray than animals, because animals are not in a state of
heedlessness about the danger that is threatening them. But humans are in heedlessness.
They lie around. An animal, if they sense fire, they immediately run. You watch any animal - you put fire near an animal and they flee. What do people do? They see a fire, they say, "Let's go check the fire out." They're curious because this is the type of heedlessness. Man is so clever, his cleverness kills him. This is the state of human beings.
Divine Warning Against False Security
But Allah warns of that state. Allah says about the people of the cities:
"Do people feel safe in these cities that Our punishment won't come in the nighttime while they're sleeping?" (Quran 7:97)
"Or do they feel safe that Our punishment won't come to them in the daytime while they are playing?" (Quran 7:98)
Why does Allah use "playing"? He doesn't say (يَعْمَلُونَ - ya'maloon) or (يَسْتَغِلُونَ - yastaghiloon) - "they're working." If there's no purpose in your life, in what you're doing, then you're playing. That's what la'ib is. It's an activity that has no purpose other than entertainment. That's what games are - they're simply to entertain people. And so this is what Allah is saying about people: they're in a state of heedlessness.
"Do they feel safe from the plan of Allah?" (Quran 7:99)
People that feel safe from the design of Allah, who are they?
"None feels secure from the plan of Allah except the losing people." (Quran 7:99)
The Reality of Human Loss
الْقَوْمُ الْخَاسِرُونَ - the losers.
"By time, indeed mankind is in loss." (Quran 103:1-2)
The same word: الْخَاسِرُونَ Surely by time, by the passage of time, the human being is in a state of loss. You're losing time. Your time is running out. You've got a clock on your hand that'll tell you twelve hours. You also
have a clock that Allah has designed - it's an internal clock. It's got fifty years, seventy-five years, forty years, thirty years. And that clock comes to an end. That's it. You don't get a battery recharged. If your clock breaks down here, you go and get it fixed. No - it's over.
And then people, what do they say?
"My Lord, send me back, that I might do righteousness." (Quran 23:99-100)
That's what people say. That's the state of people.
The State of Modern Heedlessness
It's a state of heedlessness. People are walking around daydreaming. They're completely unaware.
I was taking my children across the street yesterday. It was at night and they had ridden somewhere. I rode with them and I said, "Look, when you go across the street, you have to be completely aware, because these people are sleeping. They're driving around, they're daydreaming." People are on automatic pilot.
And just to prove my point, as I stepped off the curb - and I had the right of way, and the pedestrian light had a sign saying, you know, "Walk: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6" - a car almost hit me coming around. And this lady looks at me like she didn't even see me. Just to prove the point. You know, that could have been it for me. But that's the state people are in.
Driving as an Act of Worship
They're in a complete state of heedlessness. When you're driving out there, driving is ibadah, because you have a weapon of mass destruction. That's what you've got there. That's a weapon of mass destruction, and you don't give weapons of mass destruction to idiots.
A car can kill large numbers of people. You can kill fifty people on the freeway. We had thirty-three people die in Virginia - it's a national catastrophe. You know how many people died yesterday in automobile accidents? But people don't think of that. But it's the same type of heedlessness. That's what people are in. They're in a state of ghafla.
The Quranic Warning
And that is what the Quran is warning about: Don't be in that state. Don't be in that state. Don't be worse than animals, because animals aren't in that state. Animals are thinking about danger. They're aware of their enemies.
We're not aware of our enemies: nafs, shaitan, hawa, and dunya. Those are the enemies of man - nafs, shaitan, hawa, and dunya. Just like every animal out there has natural enemies that it's worried about constantly, it's vigilant about. Why? Because it doesn't want to lose its life.
And humans should be conscious of losing their eternal life. That's what we're here for. We're here to prepare.
The Three Powers Given to Humanity
If you look, Imam Raghib al-Isfahani says that Allah has given us three powers (quwa) that He put in the human being.
The First Power: Shahawiyyah
The first quwa is called shahawiyyah, which is a power that we share with animals. It's called appetitive, and it's part of our animal nature, because human is hayawan (animal), but he's hayawan natiq, as the Arabs say - an articulate or a rational animal.
But that power, the ability to - this power of appetite is a healthy thing when it's kept in check. And that's the mashrab (drinking), the ma'kal (eating), and the mankah (procreation). That's the shahwa that human beings have.
The Second Power: Ghadabiyyah
And then you have the quwa al-ghadabiyyah, which is called the irascible power or faculty that Allah has put into man. And this relates to the emotions. It's why people get angry, and that's put in there for a reason, because you should get angry about things that should elicit proper anger. But you should get angry for the right reasons, in the right degree, at the right time, and towards the right object. You don't just get angry.
There are people now walking around - they're just filled with rage. They're filled with anger. They'll get angry at the slightest thing because that's their state. That's the hab (condition) that they're in, because the irascible self has overwhelmed them.
Just like there are people now just looking for - there are people - forty million downloads of pornography in this country every day. Forty million. The highest pornographic downloading going on per capita is in Muslim countries. You can look at the Google research on it. And I'm reading a book on this subject where I can't even believe what's going on out there, because people are complete slaves of their selves. And that's total heedlessness.
The Destruction of the Inner Eye
You couldn't do something like that unless you were in a complete state of heedlessness. That's what it is. It's total heedlessness. And now shaitan has vehicles - machines and technology that can completely destroy a human being. Completely. You'll put out your inner eye, blind it.
It's like - the scholars of this science say that the inner eye is more sensitive than the outer eye. The spiritual eye is more sensitive than the outer eye. Just like when you get a little speck of sand in your eye, you can't see. You
The Root Cause of All Evil
That's what it is - it's all heedlessness. That's why Imam al-Junayd said that the real root cause of all sin, crime, and evil in the world is ghafla. That's what he said. That is the root crime.
Human beings are sleepwalkers in somnambulant states, not aware that the time is coming when we're going to have to meet Allah.
"Drawing near, and people are in heedlessness."
They're not thinking about it.
Prophetic Guidance on Self-Accountability
The Prophet ﷺ was thinking about it constantly.
(Hadith)
"Take yourself to account before you're taken to account."
(Sahih Muslim)
"Consider yourselves already in the grave."
That's a hadith in Sahih Muslim: Consider yourselves already in the grave. Be prepared to meet Allah.
The Reality of the Hereafter
It's real. It's real.
(Hadith)
"The Fire is real and Paradise is real."
The Day of Judgment is real. It's all real. This is the illusion. People think they're going to be here forever.
There were people a hundred years ago listening to the same ayahs, hearing the same message - they're all gone. They're dead. All of them. They're all gone. And here we are, and we're going to be gone. And these young people, they'll be sitting here with the same problems, the same stupidities, the same miserliness, greed, envy, backbiting, nameemah (gossip) - all the same diseases.
The Spiritual Journey
And that's why in the hadith, the Prophet ﷺ said:
(Hadith)
"Set out on the journey and reap the rewards."
Al-Risbahani said: Don't take this as some kind of outward journey. The Prophet, when he tells you a commandment - because outwardly, merchants, when they go out on a journey, they benefit.
سَافِرُوا فِي الْأَسْفَارِ خَمْسُ فَوَائِدَ
As the Arabs say: "Travel - there are five benefits in traveling." You get benefit from travel, but this is a spiritual traveling. Set out on a journey to Allah.
The Third Power: An-Natiqah
And finally, before I get to that, the third quwa is the quwa an-natiqah. It's the rational soul, the power, the faculty that human beings have that separates them from all other species on this planet, with the exception of the jinn. That faculty is the ability to reason. It's the ability to think.
And that faculty is meant to be in control of the other two faculties. But what's happened is قَلْبُ الْحَقَائِقِ - "the inversion of realities." It's switched over. The horse is riding the man. The donkey is riding you. That's what's happening. It's switched. It's completely backward.
The Tragedy of Self-Inflicted Illness
You can tell people that your basal metabolic rate is like 1,600 - it'll burn 1,600 calories a day, right? So you just need that just to survive. You'll burn fat or something like that for a certain amount of time, and then the body starts eating itself, then you die. That's what you need. And then, based on your movement, you need something on top of that - 500, 1,000, depending on what people do. Laborers need more. People that use their intellect need more, because there's glucose - you have to have caloric intake for thinking.
But there are people out there eating 4,000 calories a day. Every time they get on the scale, they see it going up. They get diabetes, and then they pray, you know, for a shifa اللَّهُمَّ اشْفِنِي - "O Allah, heal me!"
People eat all that ghee and dalda and this and that and the other, and then they have a triple bypass. الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ
No, seriously - if you're sick, people get sick. You know, genes - there's a lot of reasons people get sick. But most people make themselves sick, and then they ask Allah for healing. Allah gave you a body. It has legs with muscles. You have a stomach that's meant to digest. It's all wisdom. But you can understand all of that rationally.
Do people exercise? No. The doctor tells them to exercise - they don't exercise. Do people overeat when the ice cream comes? Do they eat it? Yes. Even with diabetes, I've seen people shoot up insulin before they have their dessert. I'm not making that up. Why? Because they can't control themselves. It's as simple as that.
The Dignity of Being Human
People aren't well. But you're human beings. I mean, this is Bani Adam. We're not insignificant creatures. We're meant to be people of discipline. I mean, that's why Allah has given us this religion - five prayers a day at specific times.
The Prophet saw a man who had a heavy stomach, and he said, "That would be better if it was on somebody else."
Thirty thousand children died yesterday of starvation, and probably more - or as many - died from overeating, because it's imbalanced.
The Disease of Self-Centeredness
People don't think about other people. They just think about themselves. That's ghafla. It's all greed. It's all ego. It's all "me, me, me." That's what's going on out on that freeway out there.
Nobody's thinking of the other people. When I grew up, people had courtesy on the road. I remember that clearly. I'm not making this up. People had courtesy on the road. People would actually stop and let you get in. Now they speed up and then flip you off. Seriously.
Because this is a complete "me" culture. That's what's happening. It's the whole planet. We've got six billion people - "me, me, me" - six billion people. It makes a wonderful world, doesn't it?
The Islamic Alternative: Preferring Others
That's what Islam is about: They prefer others to themselves, even if they have needs. They actually prefer others to themselves.
Like the two of the Ansar who had a guest, and they turned out the lights because they didn't have enough food for themselves. They put their children to sleep, and then they fed the guest. And the Prophet said, "Allah was pleased with what you did last night," because Allah is aware.
Those are real people. Those are human beings. It's not all these selfish people out there. It's not all these people filled with that "me, me, me" attitude. It's human beings. That's what we're supposed to be. We're supposed to be human beings.
Reflecting on the Virginia Tragedy
Now, if you look at what happened in Virginia, I mean, there's a lot - it's a very deep problem. But it's a problem
that we need to think about as a society, about where this whole thing is going, where this project is going. You know, internet and violence that's so graphic that if you have any sanity at all, you have to feel sick in the fact that it's out there - all this graphic violence, video games, all these things. I mean, even the kid is imitating a film that he saw. That's what it - you know.
But if you look at what happened to him, that's what I'm interested in. What happened to him? I mean, how did that get created? You know, humiliated, laughed at because he's Korean, made fun of. "Go back to China!" People don't even know the difference between a Korean and a Chinese person. You know, they have a very distinct look, and they know each other. The Korean sees another Korean, they know each other. Chinese know each other.
The Importance of Human Dignity
It's like Africans - people think blacks all look alike. When I was in Africa, I had to learn all the different tribes - Yoruba, Hausa, Mandinka, Fulani. They all look different, and I learned. I meet people on the street that are from Africa, I'll say, "Oh, where are you from?" "Nigeria." "How do you know?" "I say, you're Yoruba." "How do you know?" They can't even believe an American would even know that there are different kinds of black people in the world.
But you have to treat people with dignity. That's what happened. This man was humiliated since he was a little kid in grade school. And that's what happens - all this bullying. And the Quran prohibits that. It's one of the worst things that you can do - making fun of people, mocking people, humiliating people.
The same thing happened in Columbine. You study those two boys that did that in Columbine - the same thing. They were mocked by the jocks of the school, spit on, called faggots. What kind of culture is that? What do we teach our children?
The Epidemic of Abuse
In the homes, there's so much abuse out there. If you want to know why people are in the states they're in, look at the way they're being raised. Look at the way they're being spoken to. Just human respect, human dignity, treating people like human beings, welcoming people - that's what humans are supposed to be doing. That's what humanity is about. That's what we're here for.
We're here to help each other, work with each other in righteous things. Don't work with each other in horrible things.
The Quranic Prohibition of Mockery
Allah says:
"O you who believe, let not one people mock another people." (Quran 49:11)
And here, قَوْمٌ is indefinite. It's a substantive. Whenever you have a negative before that, it means anybody. It's لِلْعُمُومِ like the usulyun (legal theorists) say. It means anybody. No people should mock another people.
Arabs shouldn't mock Americans. Americans shouldn't mock Arabs. People should not mock each other, because when you mock people, they get angry, because you're humiliating them. You're making them feel insignificant. You're making them feel - like rich people that mock poor people.
That was a lot of his diatribe was about rich people, their insensitivity. And that happens. We're in a culture where we don't even know there's a whole other culture living alongside this culture that doesn't have anything, really. People that don't have anything. They live with rats and cockroaches in this culture.
The Neglected and Forgotten
We've got New Orleans right now down there. Nothing's been done. We're trying to rebuild Iraq, and a whole city was wiped off the map, and still there are people that can't go back to their homes. What's happened? And these are questions we have to ask as a culture, as a country.
And these are really, really troubling things that people should be deeply troubled by. These things just come and go, and then it's just a media flash, and everybody gets excited, and then it's over until the next one happens. People don't think about what's going on. What are we teaching our children?
The Violence in Our Culture
There's a book by Dave Grossman - he's a lieutenant colonel - taught the psychology of killing. It's called Stop Teaching Our Children to Kill. It's been proven by social sciences that there's a small number of people out there that are going to become violent from all of these violent games that they watch. Yeah, it's small. It doesn't happen to everybody. But if it happens to a small number, that's the whole purpose of Islam: you prohibit things to protect that minority that's going to be endangered by those things.
Like alcohol a lot of people, they have their glass of wine every night. The doctors say, "No, it's good for your heart." Forget about your liver and your kidneys, but it's good for your heart. But what happens? There's a whole other group of people - they start drinking that stuff, it destroys their marriages, it destroys their life.
The Danger of Internet Pornography
It's just like internet pornography. In this book I'm reading, there are so many marriages that have been destroyed - destroyed. People that get addicted to that don't even want to have an intimate relationship with a real human being. They're just in cyber world, kind of culture.
People have to ask themselves those questions.
Inshallah, as-salamu alaikum.