Living The Quran
From Issue: 927 [Read full issue]
Holier Than Thou
Al-Baqarah (The Cow) - Chapter 2: Verses 8-12
"Of the people there are some who say: 'We believe in God and the Last Day'; but they are not true believers. They would deceive God and those who believe, but they deceive none but themselves. Sickness abides in their hearts and God increases their malady. A painful punishment awaits them because they are false (to themselves). When it is said to them: 'Do not spread corruption in the land', they say: 'We are the only ones that put things right.' Truly, it is they who are spreading corruption but they perceive it not."
Hypocrisy, we are told, is both an attempt to deceive the community and to deceive God. It is, however, self-delusion, a 'sickness' that 'abides in their hearts' because hypocrites ultimately 'deceive none but themselves' because 'they are false to themselves'. The judgement of such people belongs to God.
The hypocrites claim to be the only ones 'that put things right'. We are all too familiar with those who insist they alone know the right way, people who argue, quibble and nitpick about the fine distinctions of piety. For some, these fine details seem more important than fulfilling the transformative purpose of religion, the spending and using of our resources to make a better world. The matter mentioned here is 'spreading corruption in the land'. This is the central concern in the Quran, the contradiction of its purpose to guide humanity to the eradication of injustice, unfairness, all that leads to poverty, exclusion, suffering and division between people; all, in short, that contributes to tyranny and oppression in the widest sense. Those who claim they alone know 'what is to be done'—as Lenin said, in a different context—often have narrow, self-serving and self-protecting definitions which leave the basic structural inequities in place and fall far short of genuine transformative change.
From those who would like the environment protected but nevertheless are NIMBYs—not in my backyard—when it comes to taking action, or wealthy nations that talk a great line about free trade and aid to the neediest, yet continue to benefit from the operation of an unjust and inequitable global economic system, there is pause for thought here. There are many ways to be holier than thou about the substance of practical religion.
Compiled From:
"Reading the Qur'an: The Contemporary Relevance of the Sacred Text of Islam" - Ziauddin Sardar