Page 68 - The Religion Of The Ignorant

THE RELIGION OF THE IGNORANT

wealthy, but the poor must pay down to the very last penny.
Wealth is the sole difference between these two people, mean-
ing that respect and interest are not shown to individuals, but rather
to their wealth. This is one of the ugly aspects of the Religion of the
Ignorant.
In Islam, people are evaluated solely according to their moral
values. A person who is poor but possesses decent moral values is
many times superior to a wealthy person who defies the command-
ments of Allah. For that reason, there is definitely no discrimination
between people in Islam. Proper moral values count, not wealth,
status or power. In one verse Allah reveals:
It is not your wealth or your children that will bring you
near to Us—only in the case of people who believe and act
rightly; such people will have a double recompense for
what they did. They will be safe from all harm in the High
Halls of Paradise. (Surah Saba', 37)

11- THE CRITERIA FOR CHOOSING
FRIENDS IN IGNORANTISM
In Islam, the sole criterion for choosing friends is their moral
values. In the Religion of the Ignorant, the yardstick is very different.
Every culture has a number of rules peculiar to itself. For exam-
ple, someone from a pseudo-intellectual milieu will be careful that
the friends he selects are compatible. He will first look at external
appearances and prefer to establish friendship with someone who
dresses scruffily, wears a neckerchief around his neck, thick boots
on his feet, pays little attention to cleanliness, and has a goatee and
odd accessories, rather than someone clean and tidy who dresses
classically in well-ironed clothes. That is because in Ignorantism, ex-
ternal appearance generally reflects a particular culture. This erro-

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