Page 90 - The Debased Culture of Superficiality

88 THE DEBASED CULTURE OF SUPERFICIALITY

Someone who truly fears Allah will refrain from saying
anything or passing on information whose truth he’s unsure
about. He will assert nothing based on guesses or conjecture
and hesitate to make any comment about it, but will certain-
ly not hesitate to say he does not know. This is because he
will be held responsible:
Do not pursue what you have no knowledge of.
Hearing, sight and hearts will all be questioned. (Surat
al-Isra’: 36)
Another characteristic of superficial people is that they
exaggerate in order to draw attention to themselves. To
achieve their basic goal of getting people to like them, listen
to what they say, and make them laugh, these people do not
hesitate to give exaggerated accounts of interesting matters
whose truth is suspect. They have no hesitation in entering
a serious discussion with argumentative words. In their
desire to be noticed, they may tell lies to alter the truth in
order to satisfy that desire.
The purpose of these shallow individuals is not to show
a moral character pleasing to Allah, but to make themselves
seem more important. They want to gain the favor of others
and so, do not care that what they say is totally based on lies.
They present their exaggerations as harmless, innocent con-
versation. But as revealed in the Qur’an:
. . . have done with telling lies. (Surat al-Hajj: 30)
Lies, whether great or small, harmless or otherwise, must
therefore be avoided.
An intelligent person who takes pleasure in his good
moral character can notice false exaggeration in the conver-