What Causes Deviation from Path of God
Some of these factors are as follows:
1- Inattention to the signs of God. When we say people can know God by looking at wonders such as the structure of a cell, an atom or a leaf, it is for those who have a desire to know God. If someone is unwilling to know God, such signs will not help him.
Someone who sells mirrors may look at mirrors a hundred times every day but still have messy hair because what he seeks is selling mirrors not tidying up his hair.
So if some people see the signs of God and even study those signs but still refuses to believe in God, it is because his goal is not knowing God. If someone pursues knowing God, he will believe in God with one sign and proof, otherwise even a thousand signs will not help him believe in God.
2- Continuation of blessings. If a blessing is with us all the time, we may take it for granted and forget its importance. We see the signs of God and still ae unthankful to Him because we have enjoyed the blessings since the beginning of ur life.
For example you do not thank God for having thumbs because they have been with you since birth and you take them for granted. But if you lose one of your thumbs in an accident or tie it for a few minutes, you’ll see you can’t even button up your shirt. But if you lose a thumb in an accident or tie it for a few minutes, you'll find you can't even button your shirt.
One reason for existence of adversities in life is that they serve as warning to us and awaken us to the fact that we are enjoying many blessings. God says in Verse 94 of Surah Al-Aaraf: “We tested its inhabitants through distress and adversity so that perhaps they would be humble in supplication.”
The Quran frequently orders people to remember God’s blessings and that is why great religious figures do.
3- Being influenced by the conditions in which one lives. One of the factors that leads one to go astray and deviate from the path of God is being influenced by conditions and situations. For example, everyone is upset when he sees theft or treason, but if someone lives in a place where most people are thieves and treacherous, he will get used to such wrongdoings.
4- Evading responsibility. Sometimes indifference to religion is for evading responsibility because accepting the religion requires accepting certain limitations but some prefer to be free from those limitations. However, freedom from God’s commandments and order means enslavement to others. One who does not obey God, will have to obey people. The Quran says: “He who associates others with Allah is like he who falls from heaven and is snatched away by the birds or carried by the wind to some faroff place.” (Verse 31 of Surah Al-Hajj)
5- Hostility to the Truth. Some people are hostile to the truth because of biases, desires, selfishness, conceit and stubbornness.
6- Lack of correct propagation of the religion. Sometimes people’s indifference to the path of God and the religion is due to a lack of proper propagation of the right path.
