Al-Madinah

Some people dress and act like religious and pious sheikhs, and pretend they are God-fearing when they are not. They do this for worldly gains. For example, some of them want to be promoted while others have their eyes on high positions. Many want to earn as much money as they can.

Religiosity should influence behavior and actions in a positive way. If a person is truly religious, his behavior and actions will speak volumes about his religiosity. Dressing like a religious person while acting like a non-religious person is wrong. Actions speak louder than words.

The Holy Qur’an warns against fake religiosity when it mentions the story of scholars and monks who use religion for worldly gains. The Holy Qur’an says: “...indeed many of the scholars and the monks devour the wealth of people unjustly and avert (them) from the way of Allah.” (09:34)

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) also warned against people who pretend to be religious and lengthen their prayers to show people that they are religious. Their actions, however, are not very religious.

There is a famous story that took place during the time of Omar Bin Al-Khatab, the second rightful caliph of Islam. Omar asked if any of the people who were sitting with him knew about a man who was not present. A person stood up and said he knew the man. Omar asked the person the following questions: “Are you the man’s neighbor?” The man answered in the negative. Omar asked, “Did you travel with him to any place?” The man said no. Omar said, “You must have seen him at the mosque praying and nodding his head up and down?” The person said yes. Omar said, “Then you really do not know him.”

Perhaps Omar knew that some people use religion to deceive others; perhaps he knew that having a long beard did not automatically make someone religious. He could be an impostor for all you know. Similarly, a woman wearing a black abaya does not necessarily mean she is modest.

Religiosity is a good thing but we have to focus on the essence of our religion and express it through words and actions. If you want to know what a person is like and whether he is God-fearing, you should interact with him and not judge according to his appearance.

The Kuwaiti columnist Ahmed Al-Boghdadi wrote about fake religiosity in one of his article. He said that he was shocked at how some Muslims believed that they were the only ones who were righteous and pious and that other Muslims were wrong. He said that some Muslims justified murder if the murderer was a man and the victim was a woman and if the murder involved honor. These Muslims believed that if a man killed his sister or wife because of honor, then he should not be severely punished and that the court sentence should be mitigated.

Al-Boghdadi also talked about the group of Muslims who describe anyone who criticizes religious individuals as kafirs or disbelievers. They believe anything the mosque imam says without questioning. The columnist does not understand many of the fake actions of some Muslims. He points out that the actions of some Muslims are contrary to their words. The problem is that those Muslims with fake religiosity end up believing that they are right and that others are wrong.

A university decided to expand its specialist programs to meet the needs of a larger segment of society. It opened up schools of medical science, information technology, medicine, pharmacy and dentistry. However, some members of society vehemently opposed this expansion and said that the university should have expanded its religion and humanities faculties despite them knowing that graduates of religion and humanities schools have been unsuccessful in finding jobs and that most of them are unemployed.

What is funny about this is that when the new schools officially opened, those in opposition sent their sons to enroll in them. The question arises why they opposed the schools in the first place? Why did their words contradict their actions? The answer to this is fake religiosity. They say what they do not do.