Page 70 - The Religion Of The Ignorant

THE RELIGION OF THE IGNORANT

are the warped criteria prevailing in Ignorantism.
Therefore, in the society of the ignorant, you seldom see groups
of friends from different classes with very different material means.
The rich establish friendships with other wealthy people, the mod-
erately well-off with other moderately well-off, the cultured with
the cultured, and the poor with others like themselves.
According to the morality of the Qur'an, there is one measure
for friendship; the person's sincerity, moral perfection and his fear
and love of Allah. For believers, possessions, the quality schools one
attends, one's profession or luxurious villa are of no meaning or im-
portance. That is because the friendship of believers is directed to
the real abode of the Hereafter, where material values have no im-
portance at all. The origin of the love of a believer for another be-
liever is Allah's manifestation in that person, an exuberant love for
Allah and a profound fear of Him.

12- OPPORTUNISM AND SELF-INTEREST
One of the most distinguishing features of anyone who takes
the Qur'an as his guide is exceptional altruism. Such a person knows
that all his possessions actually belong to Allah and have been given
to him in trust to seek His approval, for which reason they have to
be consumed on our Lord's behalf. That expenditure—in other
words, the giving of alms—is one of the main religious observances
in Islam.
Believers must give the assets they possess, to the fullest extent
possible, to those listed by Allah in the Qur'an:
The alms are for: the poor, the destitute, those who collect
it, reconciling people's hearts, freeing slaves, those in debt,
spending in the way of Allah, and travelers. It is a legal ob-

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