The Religion Of The Ignorant

2-           When a wealthy person arrives, people's movements are quick and careful. Everyone is at great pains to ensure that everything is as that person would wish, to fulfill his every desire, and make sure that nothing untoward happens. When a poor person arrives, nobody generally bothers at all. Everyone behaves calmly, slowly and disinterestedly. When a wealthy person enters, everyone stands up, dusts himself off and pays attention to how he sits back down. Nobody stands for poor people, however, nor even glances in their direction, and nobody alters the position they're sitting in.

3-           Unlike poor people, the wealthy are generally addressed in very polite, formal language. A rich person entering a shop will be asked "How may I be of service?" in a very respectful manner, however a poor person will be addressed in a humiliating tone and will be asked "What do you want?"

4-           Wealthy people are paid the most careful respect. Even if quite young, they will still be treated with the respect normally due someone much older. People even give their seats up to very young individuals, and kiss their hands if they are in a country where such a custom applies. However, even if a poor person is quite elderly, he will still be treated like a child, and be addressed with expressions more appropriate to children, such as "And how are we today?", "you tell me now, what do you want?"

The way this discrimination is reflected in people's behavior can be clearly observed even when entering shops. As soon as wealthy regular customers enter a boutique, all the staff will head towards them. They'll be greeted with smiles, and be asked what they'd like. Whatever they ask for will quickly be placed before them. More will be brought out for inspection before the first have even been examined. The staff will have permanent smiles on their faces. If the customer has children in tow, compliments will be rained down upon them.

Assume that poor customers enter the same shop. If it is apparent from their clothes and general appearance that they have little money, no one in the shop will show much interest in them. Nobody will even approach them unless they ask a question of one of the staff. If they ask to see anything, it will be brought out very slowly and reluctantly. The staff will generally not produce anything else for that customer's inspection. In addition, the sales assistants will wear bored, irritated expressions, since the staff will want those customers to leave as quickly as possible. They will deliberately glance outside when fulfilling that customer's wishes or else chat with someone else in the shop. If the customers have children in tow, they will irritably ask them to keep an eye on them.

This example is most instructive in revealing the attitude of Ignorantism, because this logic and behavior can also be seen in bank cashiers, waiters, tailors, and grocers. Wherever you go in the world, you can see similar behavior in people who live far removed from proper religious moral values.

In the Religion of the Ignorant, for someone to be shown respect and interest, that person must possess obvious material means. The greater that person's fortune, the greater the admiration felt for them by members of Ignorantism. When you go to a restaurant, for instance, you see that wealthy customers are the subject of great interest and concern. Indeed, if they are best-known celebrities, it's unlikely that their money will be accepted at all. Their very presence in the restaurant is regarded as an honor, and they are not asked to pay their bill. Yet if a poor person hasn't have enough money, there will be a huge scene. He will be shouted at, humiliated and thrown out. In other words, no money at all will be requested from the wealthy, but the poor must pay down to the very last penny.

Wealth is the sole difference between these two people, meaning 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 commandments 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)