Follow the Ethical Part of the Religion As Religiously As the Ritualistic Part
By
Hakeem Rouf
October 23,
2020
Representational Pic
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In
contemporary society, one of the great problems confronting us is the neglect
of the ethical aspect of religion, which shows our intellectual bankruptcy.
Ethics is the core and kernel of every religious and even atheistic or
humanistic doctrines that we humans claim to be adherents of. And it is this
ethical part of religion and other doctrines that keeps human societies in a
dignified and non-conflicting/ harmonious order. Religious symbolism/ritualism
bereft of ethics doesn’t do any good to humanity or ensure human welfare or
dignity in any sense. Sticking to mere symbolism and abandoning the cardinal
ethical aspect is the worst flaw we are afflicted with. To make my point I would
like to mention some very common observations that we often come across in our
lives.
Here I
don’t intend to sound judgmental or resort to some character assassination
which unfortunately is our favourite pastime, but just put forth this worst
hypocrisy that stares us in the face when it comes to practising or claiming to
be practising a religion. We all often
feel baffled by the people who despite overtly claiming to be staunch adherents
of a religion, brazenly disregard and trample the fundamental ethical and human
values that religions are meant to instil in us. This may sound a sweeping
generalization but we have to cite an apt example of many government officers,
haughty bureaucrats and other employees like clerks who remain quite infamous
for resorting to corrupt and fraudulent means, hoarding illicit wealth,
inflicting miseries and injustice to the hapless during their service tenure.
Immediately after their retirement, they use religion as a refuge to absolve
themselves of the injustices and misery they inflicted and the corrupt
practices they resorted to when they were assigned with the sacred
responsibility to deliver their services with honesty, justice and integrity.
Such people often become key members of mohalla Masjids or some other religious
or shrine committee post-retirement mostly with the covert intention to repair
their social image tarnished by their evil deeds. One fails to fathom this
transition of how retirement magically transforms sinners into saints!
This moral
turpitude and bankruptcy is quite widespread among us and not just confined to
a particular social and economic stratum.
Not just public servants, we see umpteen number of such people among us
who claim to be religious and righteous but throw ethics to winds when it comes
to dealings with their fellow human beings. For instances a ‘religious’ person
could be a farmer or any anyone
encroaching government or other person’s
land, roads, causing public in-convenience, polluting water bodies,
depriving the poor of their basic rights, a job aspirant using fraudulent means
to get a job or favours, a five times mosque goer shopkeeper encroaching
footpaths and selling goods at exorbitant rates, people grabbing government
land to construct religious structures, parking vehicles at wrong places.
Many, after
brazenly snatching people’s rights perform Hajj or Umrah either with the hope
to be forgiven for being “Rishwat Khoer” all their lives or for seeking
forgiveness for wrongs done to others or merely to earn the title Al-Haj or
Haji which many insist to be added before their names merely as a status
symbol. It amounts to cheap show off and belittles the very essence of this
noble deed. What is the point in publicizing an act of worship performed to
please the Almighty?. How would my name Nimazi Rouf sound for I offer Namaz, if
not regularly? There is a misconception created by the clergy that one who
performs Hajj becomes as innocent as a new-born baby. This misconception
somehow weakens our moral fabric and encourages the chances of hurting others
either by disregarding and taking their rights or sentiments for granted.
Hajj is
indeed one of the five fundamental obligations of Islam and the noblest deed
but it is not something to be boasted about. It doesn’t absolve us of the sin
of snatching people’s rights. There is an urgent need to shun this belief that
God forgives the crimes and injustices we commit not only against fellow human
beings but to other creatures as well. Neither the worship performed during
Hajj nor the title Alhaj will absolve us of the sin of snatching people’s
rights and hurting others. It is not encouraged by Islam to perform multiple
Umrah or hajj for one whose brother grapples or neighbour struggles to meet his
necessities. We need to follow the ethical part of the religion as religiously
as we follow the ritualistic part. Mere ritualism may please the society but
surely not God to whom the virtues like love, justice, compassion, humility and
uprightness are the dearest. If religion fails to instil among us these basic
ethical values like justice, respect, compassion and humility then it is the
hypocrisy of worst sort to claim to be religious.
Let me
conclude with a distasteful incident that happened a few years ago. A destitute
and poverty-stricken person came to a revered “Sufi” and imam of Jamia masjid
who is a Haji also, with a plea to sign some document for the grant of some
financial assistance. The Imam’s reply in a hurtful and discourteous tone not
only visibly deflated and embarrassed the impecunious visitor but everyone who
was there.
“Ya Gow
Bozne Che Ne Yewan, Me Chu Feran Kadeth Thowmuth Wazu Chum Karun. Naer Sa Pate
Yeze”
“As if you
are blind, don’t you see I have taken off my pheran to perform ablution. Go and
come later.”
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Hakeem
Rouf is a freelance writer from Tullamulla, Ganderbal
Original
Headline: Wearing religion up the sleeve
Source: The Greater Kashmir
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-society/follow-ethical-part-religion-religiously/d/124524