One third of Ramadan is behind us.
There is a narration — its grading is discussed among scholars, but widely used as a reminder — that the first ten nights carry the overwhelming mercy of Allah, the second ten His forgiveness, and the final ten His guarantee of salvation from the fire. Though in reality, every single night holds all three. Ramadan does not divide itself neatly into chapters. But the framing is useful: if the first ten was a warm-up, the second ten is time to accelerate.
Do a honest pit stop. How have the first ten days been? Whatever the answer, Ramadan is a marathon, not a sprint. The goal is not to peak on night one. The goal is to be better in the second third than the first, and better in the final third than both.
The People Who Think They Are Guided
Allah divides humanity into two groups in this passage: those who follow guidance, and those for whom misguidance has become their reality.
Why does misguidance become their reality? Because they have taken Shaitan as their wali — their loyal, protective ally. And Shaitan, as we discussed, is a wali who flatters in good times and abandons at the worst possible moment.
But here is the sobering part: they think they are guided.
This is not about people who know they are doing wrong and do it anyway. This is about people who have followed Shaitan’s logic so completely that it feels like wisdom. The Quraysh doing tawaf naked genuinely believed they were being more pure, more sincere before Allah. The logic made sense to them.
This is the danger of reason untethered from revelation. On an individual level, so many harmful things can seem reasonable. Take riba — interest. Two people agree, both are happy, both see benefit. What is the harm? But apply that same logic across an entire economy and you get 2008. Families losing homes. Businesses collapsing. Lives broken. The short-term individual logic disintegrates when it scales.
Our intellect is a gift. But it needs guidance. The Quran is that guidance. Without it, we are capable of convincing ourselves that almost anything is fine — and feeling guided the entire time.
