The Religion Of The Ignorant

Allah has made a metaphor for them of a man owned by several partners in dispute with one another and another man wholly owned by a single man. Are they the same? Praise be to Allah! The fact is that most of them do not know. (Surat az-Zumar, 29)

The different classifications among students in various forms in the Religion of the Ignorant may be summarized under the following names:

The rebellious type: Their most distinguishing characteristic is their being indifferent to everything and standing up for themselves. They are derogative in every word, incident and environment. They oppose their teachers, mock everyone, have an inordinate amount of self-confidence and constantly make jokes. They are actually sensitive and generally insecure, but seek to cover that up with untoward and difficult behavior. They never reveal their emotionality, speak coarsely and want to be seen as cold types. Since they have to behave in the manner expected of them, they never let their fear or sadness appear on the surface. These people are invariably invited to parties and social occasions, because they entertain others and make them laugh.

The angst-ridden type: These are pessimistic, always troubled and unable to adapt to any environment. They constantly complain about everything. Nothing pleases them, and they find something wrong with everyone. Introverted, they never reveal their true thoughts, and generally have no friends. Since there is nothing entertaining about them, they are not very popular.

The spoiled type generally comes from wealthy backgrounds. They always stress their wealth at every available opportunity. In conflict situations, they always involve their families as a way of overcoming the problem. This type tends to seek its own personality in its family's wealth.

The swotty type regards themselves as inferior to their peers because of various physical imperfections. In order to compensate, they emphasize their knowledge and concentrate on their studies. They seek to attract attention by establishing an expertise in specific subjects, such as electronics, computers or collecting. They take every available opportunity to bring these subjects up to demonstrate their knowledge.

Any high school consists of a number of types, a few of which we have listed here. When the value judgments of Ignorantism form in students' minds, the main ones are factors such as being entertaining, wealthy or showy. Young people learn to judge others not in terms of moral values like honesty, sincerity, altruism—or, most important of all, faith—but in terms of what benefits might accrue to themselves. As they grow older, their high-school interests such as being entertaining or showing off give way to more powerful ones.

In people who become accustomed to blind belief in rules whose reasons they are unaware of, the mechanisms of reason and conscience are relegated to the background and abandoned to atrophy, at just the most productive period for their development.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF "COURTING"
IN IGNORANTISM