al-Fudayl bin 'Iyad said: "The memorizer of the Qur'an carries the flag of Islam. He shouldn't waste his time in vain amusement, distractions, and pointless matters with those who do so, out of respect for the Qur'an."
Such a person implements by opening up the Qur'an and seeing, for example, that the believers "turn away from pointless matters" (23:3) and "if they pass by pointless matters, they pass by while dignifying themselves above them" (25:72), while on the other hand seeing that "among the people are those who purchase pointless talk" (31:6). Looking at this, you ask yourself: where do I want to stand? Then you make a choice.
You come across those who "do not encourage feeding of the poor" (89:18) and "have an extreme love of wealth" (89:20), but also those who "don't feel in their hearts any need for what they've been given, and prefer the welfare of others over themselves even if at the risk of poverty" (59:9).
You find those who, "if they stand up to pray, do so lazily and for show, and don't remember Allah except little" (4:142), but also those who "are humble and focused in their prayers" (23:2).
You come across shallow disbelievers who simply "indulge in this life, and eat like cattle eat" (47:12), but also the deep thinkers who "reflect over the creation of the heavens and Earth" (3:191).
You come across "he who takes his own desires as his god" (45:23), but you'll also meet those who "intensely love Allah more than anything else" (2:165).
And you even find the Qur'an telling the story of today's world - our story. You come across the leaders and governments who are "tyrannical on Earth, and made its people into subjugated groups, oppressing a group of them by slaughtering their sons" (28:4), who threaten them with prison if they refuse to submit (26:29), and who target Muslim women and children with fire (85:5) for "no reason other than that they believe in Allah" (85:8). These tyrants claim to represent the civilized world, and are materially wealthy and technologically advanced (28:76). Thus, those who are duped by this world choose to ignore their disbelief and oppression of others to instead admire them, their society, and culture with awe, thinking to themselves "if only we had what has been given" to them (28:79). A few sincere scholars stand up to try to open people's eyes (28:80). As a result, some Muslims wake up and migrate to the lands of Islam after their suffering in the lands of the enemy (16:110). A few of them are even inspired to "fight in the path of Allah, and the oppressed men, women, and children," to defend them in various parts of the world (4:75). But many choose to remain in the land of the enemy, who is ever-increasing in oppressing them (4:97). Not only this, but such house slaves, "while sitting back, they say to their brothers: 'If only they had listened to us, they wouldn't have been killed'" (3:168). As if that wasn't bad enough, and despite the fact that the tyrants are clearly "allies of one another" (5:51, 8:73, 45:19), and want to tempt us into watering down Islam (68:9), and will only be pleased with us if we totally abandon it and follow their ways (2:120), and do not love us even though some of us love them (3:119) - despite all this, the scholars-for-dollars assure their disbelieving allies from the People of the Book that they are their reliable partners in the War on Terror until the end (59:11). But because they are "swaying between this and that, not fully here or there" (4:143), they of course also assure us that they are believers (2:14) and sort of, kind of want victory for the Ummah. So, you have to put up with he who, "if tested, turns back on his heels" (22:11), but you also have the pleasure of meeting the "men who have remained true to their covenant with Allah" and "have not changed in the least" (33:23).
