By: Maryam Hedayat
Source: MuslimVillage
A year ago a new neighbor moved into a building. He had a long beard, looked gracefully dressed, and was punctual in his five times prayer. Slowly he came to interact with his neighbors. His talks were almost incomplete without the references from the Holy Quran and Hadith. People in the building seemed impressed with him at the beginning.
However, within a week he had differences with his house owner, and then hardly had six months passed, he almost contradicted with everyone. The people who were first impressed with his outward appearance came to know about the true color of his heart and mind. The religious-bearded look that he used to display to the people stood in sharp contrast to what he was from inside.
The loud sound of music coming from his flat used to disturb the neighbors. People around him hesitated to talk to him because of his inhospitable and unsocial behavior.
According to him everyone lacked in purity of faith, and thus regarded all as a non-practicing Muslim except himself. Some verses from the Holy Quran and Hadiths he memorized seemed only to be quoted to impress upon others that he was a great scholar of Islam and the rest of common believers had false notion of religion.
He represents an attitude of a large number of Muslims these days. Every one of us thinks a scholar in himself/herself. Each one of us tries to look more religious than the others.
The person with long beard considers himself more spiritual and pious than the one having short beard or no beard at all. Similarly, the lady covered from top to bottom reflects herself more spiritual than the one without face-veil, the one wearing abaya (religious gown) thinks herself being more devotional than the one without it, and so on.
Unfortunately, such so-called pious Muslims who claim that or act like they understand religion more than anyone else try to justify their complex through Qur’an and the Hadith.
Their main focus is on their rituals, appearances and expressions without any morals and manners, being egoistic and ignorant. They don’t even hesitate to address other Muslim fellows as innovator, mushrik, kafir, “grave worshiper”, jahannumi etc.
Allah has clearly warned about such egotism in the Quran;
“Is not the time ripe for the hearts of those who believe to submit to Allah’s reminder and to the truth which is revealed, that they become not as those who received the scripture of old but the term was prolonged for them and so their hearts were hardened, and many of them are evil-livers.” (Surah Al Hadid 57:16)
Islam is called the religion of peace. It always emphasizes Muslims to be polite, generous and forgiving towards others. But regrettably some of the so-called religious not only insult and humiliate others by making a show of their supposed superiority but they also condemn other human beings.
In contrast to that behavior, Islam focuses on human interaction and socialization encouraging integration, understanding and humility. It does not advocate eremitism or isolation.
If a Muslim, having a specific type of dress, long beard, punctual in his prayers, but on the other hand his fellow beings are not safe from his/her tongue and rude behavior, then that person should never be viewed as a true practicing Muslim.
Abdullah bin Amr reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
“The true Muslim is one who avoids harming other Muslims with his tongue (words) and hand (actions).” (Sunan Ibn Mājah 2340)
Islam is about the purity of heart and mind toward other fellow beings in addition to outwardly following the example of the Prophet (peace be upon him). It is about following him outwardly and inwardly. Unless ‘faith’ enters that much deep into the heart, the apparent Muslim is likely to be a failure in his responsibility toward society which is a failure toward Allah.
Sadly, today many Muslims are only trying to score over others in outward appearances without having inward spiritual beauty. This can be even more dangerous than those who claim to be “spiritual” while blatantly ignoring the basic commandments of the Religion and it has led some Muslims to face difficulty in social adjustment with others, which in turn, is a threat to peaceful co-existence and the noble propagation of the Religion.
The need of the hour is to balance the life of religiosity and other social commitments with other fellow human beings. Failing to do so is not only to disregard the universality of Islamic values but it also to lower our stature in the eyes of others which is misrepresenting the Religion. Prayers and other outward Islamic appearances are, no doubt, obligatory to practice but we should never forget that Islam is not about showy actions and pretentious behavior. It is about pursuing ihsan or excellence both outwardly and inwardly as well.
