Some people disguise themselves in a religious façade to make others assume they are pious. However, never judge a book by the cover and be aware that some people pretend to be religious for their ulterior objectives, something that has distorted the image of Islam.
Dr. Nasser Al-Obaid, a Dawa worker, said it is dangerous for people to pretend to be what they are not and that it is equally dangerous to generalize people. “Unfortunately, most people either harshly judge those who pretend to be religious or staunchly support them. We should be moderate and avoid generalizations,” said Al-Obaid to Al-Riyadh newspaper.
“Some tend to generalize based on certain personal situations and claim that everyone who appears to be religious are hypocrites because from the outside they pretend to be good but from the inside they do not observe Islamic teachings,” he added.
Al-Obaid said he was not defending religious people or asking others to turn a blind eye to the negative practices they engage in. “At the end of the day, religious or not, people are human beings and are prone to make mistakes. It is wrong to judge people on certain acts in certain situations,” he said.
However, if a religious person continues to engage in negative practices then he deserves to be blamed and criticized, he said, adding: “Everyone should be careful when dealing with such people.”
Dr. Atallah Al-Abar, secretary-general of the Family Welfare Society, Qurayyat, warned against Islamic preachers who try to convince people they are religious but live lives that are contrary to the Shariah.
“Only renowned and well-known scholars should be followed because they are known to all people and the majority respects them. Some people disguise themselves as religious for ulterior goals. They do this to deceive people and con them out of money or for other illegal purposes. Some of us fall prey to them and believe that they are telling the truth,” he said.
The real religious person, said Al-Abar, is the one who embraces the other and does not exclude him; he offers advice and tolerates others. “I advise young men and women to approach only renowned scholars if they have questions. The scholars should open up channels of communications with the general public and make their moderate voice reach all sections of society,” he said.
Dr. Khalid Al-Sebait, an associate professor of Islamic studies at King Khalid Military College, criticized how some members of the public tend to base judgments on external appearances.
“It is strange that even if one performs the five prayers every day, fasts Ramadan, pays zakat, acts politely with others and above all treats his parents nicely and with great respect, he will still be viewed negatively. It is because some of us judge him by the way he looks on the outside,” said Al-Sebait.
“In fact, some people with low-level ethics have taken advantage of the situation and pretend to be religious in order to deceive others. One of the effective solutions to this problem is to raise public awareness about these negative practices and show them that the external appearance should not be used as a criteria for judging and trusting others,” he said
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