Bismillah
The way Allah deals with the believing Nation is the same. If the behavior is the same, Allah's response will be the same.
Allah has given us the Deen (Islam) which we have to take other people into consideration all the time. You have to be the best to your parents, the best to your spouse and your family. Your children have rights upon you. Your neighbor have rights upon you. Even the environment, the animals and plants have rights upon you. You must know the rights of people and fulfill them. Never mind about your rights so much.
There is a component of our Deen that we pretend that no one matters except Allah. Even our own personal feelings don't matter. Allah already decreed that certain money is haram, certain kinds of food, certain kinds of action, certain kind of environments are not permitted for you. The list of things that are prohibited is very short and also very clear. There is no confusion about what's wrong in this Deen. Everything that is wrong have been explained and elaborated without any doubt. It is pretty straightforward and not complicated because this Deen is supposed to be for all humanity. It becomes complicated because other human beings are impacting our decisions. So we start bending our commitment to what is right because it will offend someone else. For example your spouse wants you to do something that you know is haram but you do it because you don't want to hurt her feelings or you are afraid of losing her. In those kind of moments, the mindset that Allah is teaching us is very powerful. You have to pretend that no one else is around except you and Allah and that He expects you to live by certain kind of guidance and that you do this entirely for yourself.
When you obey Allah, it is entirely selfish. It has nothing to do with with anyone else. Nobody's feelings matter, nobody's anger matters, your own preferences, your culture, your status, your race, your background don't matter. Nothing matters because it is just you and Allah. That is the only reason you are following the guidance. This does not mean you can become ruthless towards others. Anything that Allah tells you to do and somebody else makes you feel good or feel bad, this has nothing to do with you and your Creator. No one else can be a part of your decision and thought process. No scars, no trauma or hurt feelings from anyone else matter because that's your relationship with another human being.
When it comes to Allah's guidance, every decision that has to do with Allah's revelation has to be separated from what people say or do out of resentment or out of love. Even if everything that those bad people did to you are valid, you cannot disobey Allah.
If your parents never nag you to pray, to wake up for fajr, you are still responsible to pray. You don't get to blame your parents on Judgment Day. Allah has made every human being intelligent and capable enough to find the right way themselves. When you are capable and smart enough, then you are held responsible.
إِنْ أَحْسَنتُمْ أَحْسَنتُمْ لِأَنفُسِكُمْ ۖ وَإِنْ أَسَأْتُمْ فَلَهَا
[And said], "If you do good, you do good for yourselves; and if you do evil, [you do it] to yourselves."
(Quran, Al Isra' 17:7)
So many people have this illusion that it is difficult to live in the West. There is no West anymore other than the name. The whole world is the West now. The fitan (trials and tribulations) in the West exist everywhere now. The idea that we get to blame the society, the day and age, the technology, the corruption, other people, religious scholars, and blame everything except ourselves, this is the lie that Allah crushes.
Allah sent us his final Messenger, Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam as our guide and excellent example. The thing that makes you worthy of Allah's Rahmah (loving care and mercy), the guidance that makes it clear and what it means to live a good life, has been made clear. On one hand Allah has Rahmah, Allah is the Guide, Allah is the Provider, Allah is the Protector, Allah overlooks our mistakes, on the other hand you are responsible for your own actions.
The dangerous thing for the Muslims is not in the corruption of their actions, although corrupt actions are bad enough, but the greater danger is when there is corruption of the thought process -- when your mind is corrupt, when your world view is corrupt, when you start thinking you can blame others and not yourself, when you start thinking you are off the hook, when you think you can blame your emotional state. This line of thinking has to stop. No one will carry your burdens on the Day of Judgment. You will be your own auditor on the Day of Judgment.
ٱقْرَأْ كِتَٰبَكَ كَفَىٰ بِنَفْسِكَ ٱلْيَوْمَ عَلَيْكَ حَسِيبًا ﴿١٤﴾ مَّنِ ٱهْتَدَىٰ فَإِنَّمَا يَهْتَدِى لِنَفْسِهِۦ ۖ وَمَن ضَلَّ فَإِنَّمَا يَضِلُّ عَلَيْهَا ۚ وَلَا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَىٰ ۗ وَمَا كُنَّا مُعَذِّبِينَ حَتَّىٰ نَبْعَثَ رَسُولًا ﴿١٥﴾
[It will be said], "Read your record. Sufficient is yourself against you this Day as accountant." (14) Whoever is guided is only guided for [the benefit of] his soul. And whoever errs only errs against it. And no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another. And never would We punish until We sent a messenger. (15) [Quran, Al Isra' 17:14-15]
We are constantly given choices. We enjoy a great deal of independence today that maybe the history of humanity has never seen. Even if you are not financially independent, you have a device that give you excess to virtually anything. You are constantly able to make a decision on to what you do with your eyes, your mind, your tongue, your hands, your other limbs.
Choice is a huge responsibility. But it doesn't feel that way when you don't see the consequences of your choices. With the social media, you type up whatever you feel like, you browse anything you want, you see whatever you feel like. If we don't realize that there are consequences to our actions, this is going to lead us to a very dark and terrible path, in which guidance will be taken away from us. If you pretend to be helpless, which is the last trick of the shaytan, you can only pretend for so long until you stand before Allah and have to explain yourself.
If no one else ever tell you that you are responsible, the fact that Allah revealed it, it is enough. You are enough as an auditor against yourself in the Ayah above. Allah is saying to every human being that on the Day of Judgment you will be reading your own book of record.
The way for you protect yourself is become scrupulous, uncompromising when in comes to Allah's guidance. It doesn't matter who gets hurt, what pain you have to go through, it is worth the pain now, it is worth the energy and exhaustion now, it is worth losing your friends now, it is worth being called names now. It is not worth what you are going to be facing later if you compromise Allah's guidance now. Those whose loyalty makes you compromise Allah's guidance will be running away from you in the Day of Judgment. Don't be fooled by that loyalty. Those people you did not follow and hated you for that, you might find them thanking you for it in the Day of Judgment because had you not done so, they would have been in a deeper trouble.
May Allah removes the tendency to cast blame on everyone else for the way that we are before we put responsibility and blame on ourselves. May Allah make us true to ourselves and those around us and make our commitment to His guidance sincere and pure and make us live a life that embodies the Quran. Aameen.
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