Praying or Preying? What Happens When Islam Becomes Ritual Divorced From Conduct

By Saleem Ahmed

The following conversation took place between a former student (FS) and me (SA) during my visit to Pakistan some years back:

FS: Assalamo alaikum, doctor sahib!

SA: Wa-alaikum assalaam, How are you?

FS: I am very happy, alhamdulillah.

SA: Excellent! And what is the cause of your happiness?

FS: I have become very rich, mashallah.

SA: Congratulations! Do you have a high position?

FS: No, I have a low-paying job.

SA: Then what is the source of your wealth?

FS: Ooper ki aamdani bohot hai (Literally, “I have lots of extra income.” Euphemism for “I take bribes.”),

SA: I see. Doesn’t your conscience bother you?

FS:Why should it? I always offer my prayers!

FS explained that the number of his nafil (extra) prayers was correlated with the level of his daily aamdani. In fact, he proudly added that he was fasting the day we met, “in thankfulness to Allah,” because the previous day he broke his daily bribe intake record. And it was not even the month of Ramadan!

FS was perplexed at my dismay and disapproval of his behavior. He truly believed in the slogan Namaz zarya-e nijat hai (salvation lies in prayers), which was plastered all over the country on buses, trucks, billboards, etc. He also reminded me of the numerous times the Qur’an enjoins Muslims to pray and give in charity (Aqimussalata wa atuzzakata), proudly adding that he also gave a lot in zakat —with the amount correlated with his weekly bribe intake.

How did FS arrive at his questionable beliefs and correlations?

I got the answer the following Friday during congregational prayers, when the imam (prayer leader) made the following assertion in his khutba (sermon), “Brothers, do anything in life. Anything. But don’t forget your prayers!” With “anything” left unclarified, it is easy to see how some minds may misunderstand the message. Unfortunately, the same emphasis on prayers as the Duty to Allah—with no mention of a Muslim’s duties to other humans—was repeated in the khutbas of practically all prayers I attended in mosques in Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, and Islamabad during my six-weeks stay in the country on a United Nations Development Program-sponsored fellowship.

But this overriding emphasis on prayers is not the exclusive domain of the mullah (clergy) alone. From my childhood I recall my khala’s and phupphi’s (maternal and paternal aunts) always asking me, “Did you offer your prayers today?” When I would inquire why they didn’t ask me whether I told a lie that day, stole something, or caused pain to anyone, they would respond that prayers are supposed to cleanse our hearts, lead us on the right path, and protect us from doing bad things. But if that is true, what went wrong with FS? Somehow he seems to have missed the whole point; probably no one explained the point to him. Hence his wholehearted belief in the khutba, “Brothers, do anything in life. Anything. But don’t forget your prayers!”

Doesn’t it all boil down to our intentions? If intentions are good, the necessary cleansing probably takes place; but if our intentions are to pray “in thankfulness” for succeeding in doing something bad, then cleansing is probably replaced by clogging. After all, Allah does not need our prayers, we pray to get closer to Him.

Can we then blame FS for believing that praying purifies preying? How many other Pakistanis have this same belief? After all, Pakistan has the dubious honor of being ranked among the three most corrupt countries in the world (along with fellow Muslim countries Nigeria and Indonesia).

The unabated and unchallenged emphasis on ‘prayers-at-all-cost’ probably reached its apex in Pakistan in April 1996 when 1,100 intended Hajis (pilgrims) could not board their plane for Mecca—although all formalities had been completed several weeks earlier and their travel documents were in order. Instead, it is believed, some high-ranking government officials gave the quotas of these unfortunate souls to their own chumchas (cronies). Muslim’s April 22, 1996 editorial eloquently bemoaned this sad episode. How could any Muslim even conceive of crushing someone else’s lifelong dream of performing Haj and illegally maneuvering to go in his or her place instead? Allah will surely give both sides their respective—and well-deserved—rewards.

What has happened to honesty, equality, tolerance, righteousness, discipline, humility, and justice? Doesn’t the Qur’an, in numerous passages, also emphasize that belief and righteousness must go hand in hand? Were these not the hallmarks of the Prophet (pbuh), his companions, and early Muslims who helped convert millions to Islam? Is the spirit of Islam now limited to acts of ritual prayers and charity—even forgetting that, in a broader sense, zakat refers to purity of mind and soul, and not simply the mere act of alms-giving?

And now, are all those Shi’i and Sunnis also offering prayers of thanks at their own mosques on returning from the others’ mosques and graveyards after killing innocent worshippers?

Aren’t some Muslims turning out to be the worst enemies of Islam? As Allama Iqbal bemoaned after visiting Europe during the British raj, “In India, I see many Muslims, but no Islam; in the West, I see Islam, but no Muslims.”

How do we turn the tide? Shouldn’t an appropriate Council of Religious Scholars issue a fatwa (edict) emphasizing that, to be a good Muslim, prayers and charity must go hand in hand with honesty, equality, tolerance, righteousness, discipline, humility, and justice? Shouldn’t good Muslims start socially boycotting those friends and relatives who they know are getting rich through illegal means? Shouldn’t the media and our educational system also emphasize these points? Our society has sunk so low that only an honest and well-coordinated jihad against corrupt Muslims can help us raise our heads again. Following up on its recent refreshing assertion in Tehran that terrorism and killing the innocent are un-Islamic, the Organization of Islamic Conference should now issue a similar assertion against corruption and other forms of fraud.

Woe to those that deal in fraud (Al-Qur’an, 83:1).

Saleem Ahmed is a Pakistan-born, Hawaii-based consultant on agriculture, resources, environment, and policy, and a member of the National Advisory Board of the American Muslim Council. This article first appeared in the Muslim of Islamabad on March 6, 1998.