The Religion Of The Ignorant

Children brought up in such environments acquire such characteristics from an early age. For example, the offspring of a cultured, intellectual, wealthy family, but one far removed from Islam, will generally become the kind of adults who knows it all, undervalue others, and believe themselves constantly in the right and well-informed on every matter. Unless children who assume the appearance of a know-it-all from an early age are given an Islamic education, they will maintain such a character at all times.

Unbalanced Behavior

In the Religion of the Ignorant, the existence of people's eccentricities are seen as interesting and acceptable. While a great many people may actually have quite normal personalities, they engage in unbalanced behavior to obtain prestige and admiration from those around them.

Due to this distorted mindset of Ignorantism, some even risk their own lives to attract attention. Young people in particular put on irrational displays in order to show off their courage and win their friends' admiration. They drive at irrationally high speeds, and try to overtake the car in front, even on dangerous bends. They play "chicken" by driving towards oncoming traffic and pulling over only at the very last moment. Valuing their own lives and those of others at nothing, they want people to say, "He is insanely brave and isn't even afraid of death." The fact is, though, that he engages in such behavior not because he has lost his fear of death, but because he's fallen under the spell of the Religion of the Ignorant. However, if a young person driving at insane speeds actually has an accident, then that madness on his face will be replaced by an expression of terror. He will begin to pray for help and not to be killed. At that instant, Ignorantism will lose all its power and will be replaced by fear of Allah.

Another way to be feared and thus respected is to pretend from time to time to be unable to control one's anger. The most obvious manifestations of this, as required by the Religion of the Ignorant, are punching the wall when annoyed by something, by cutting one's hand by smashing a window, by covering one's face with both hands while waiting to calm down, or immediately resorting to alcohol. Many people even seek prestige by depicting themselves as half mad by making statements such as "I have a nasty temper," or "I have a dark side, but it doesn't always show."

Many sports that pose a risk to human life are also engaged in for the sake of projecting that image. Even though they fear being crippled, physically harmed or even killed, most people have a tendency towards such sports in order to show off to those around them. Thus Ignorantism manages to force a normally rational person to behave abnormally and to acquire a sick personality.

Feigned Incompetence

The Religion of the Ignorant demands an erroneous belief that the wealthy must be physically incompetent. This is based on the logic that wealthy people hire others to do physical work that involves expending energy. They don't prepare their own meals, for instance, but hire cooks. They do not clean their own homes, but hire staff to do the job.

They do not darn their own torn clothes, nor expend any energy on picking up the pieces up when something breaks on the floor. They give the address to their driver whenever they want to go anywhere and expect him to find the way. They have shops deliver goods to their home rather than go shopping in person. They call a private doctor to visit them at home when they are unwell, and have no idea of the hospital procedures. If their cars break down, have a flat tire, they delegate to their hired staff the task of putting matters right. These attitudes are all peculiar to the rich. These people have grown accustomed to support from others, and never feel the need to acquire any skills themselves.

This mentality leads many perfectly competent people to feign helplessness in order show off by giving the impression of great wealth. For that reason, giving the impression that one has never developed any abilities is particularly prevalent among women. That is the logic behind a young girl telling her friends, "I can't even boil an egg. I can't remember ever going into the kitchen to make something to eat. I've never sewn anything or even threaded a needle," though she knows how to do these things perfectly well. Such people seek to give the impression of being accustomed to having others do everything for them.