The Religion Of The Ignorant

The Affected Character Is Built on a Facade

One of the main features of the affected personality is how the individuals who bear it never uses their true mindset or personality. Their entire lives are built on affectation. They never react to events in a genuine or sincere way. They never reveal genuine love, say what they really think, or speak to reveal their true state of mind.

Affectation is the principal trait of those who possess a false spirit. For example, a person with an affected character may appear to be very distressed in the face of an event which actually touches her not at all. Despite actually feeling nothing inside, she may try to give the impression of how upsetting the event was by such expressions as "Oh dear! Whatever happened next?" and "How terrible!" In reacting in that way, also affected are her tone of voice, looks, facial expression, gestures and even posture. Such a person may never once have revealed her true face, spoken with her true voice or reflected her authentic personality even to close friends with whom she has spent the previous 40 years.

Someone with an affected character never feels or displays true love for anyone else, because selfishness predominates alongside affectation. The person most loved by someone with such a nature is herself. She likes herself much more than she does anyone else. She believes herself to be more intelligent and cultured than anyone else, and attaches no importance to anyone else, including her children, spouse and parents. She is therefore unable to approach anyone with a genuine, sincere love. Any displays of affection are therefore a façade. She never, for example, embraces the person in front of her, compliments others, or mentions their positive traits in a genuine manner. People of this kind usually praise the other person's outfit, and ask where they got it and what it cost. Or they may like a particular hairstyle and ask where the person had it done. A piece of jewelry may attract their attention, and they will compliment that. Yet they never praise another's moral virtues, or the attractive aspects of their appearance. They never refer to humility, compassion, patience, conscience, fear of Allah or generosity. Neither do they wish to give people's physical features any pre-eminence. They are thus unable to show love and win people's hearts.

People with such a character always have two faces, two tones of voice and two personalities. One belongs to themselves, the other is the one they show to the outside world. They never, for example, possess the honesty to tell others what is in their heart at that moment. Even if they do not love someone, they may still put on a false show of affection. They may fraudulently talk about how cultured someone is, when they actually believe him to be ignorant, or rain down praises on an outfit they don't care for. It is generally impossible to have any faith in their words. One cannot seek their advice, because they will inevitably conceal their true thoughts and say what is appropriate to the circumstances. Neither is their joy natural and sincere. They smile not because something gives them genuine pleasure or because they are happy, but because they think they need to. They wear smiles though their hearts are troubled and distressed. They never let their happy appearance drop—if such is in their interests—even with people whose company they don't enjoy, no matter how bored they are. They can utter false laughter in situations where their pride is offended, when they feel belittled, or where they are disparaged.

People with an Affected Character

Pay Little Attention to Cleanliness

From the outside, such people may seem to be rather well groomed, because display occupies an important place in the affected personality. As in all matters, however, these people's understanding of cleanliness is directed only towards display. They live quite filthy lives in those areas nobody can see. Cleanliness is merely a troublesome chore performed to gain others' esteem. According to this mindset, therefore, there is no need to be clean if there is nobody around.

In the homes of people with an affected character, close attention is paid only to cleanliness in the guest room. Only the visible parts of that room are actually cleaned. At first glance the armchairs look very clean, but the backs have in all likelihood not been wiped down for months and everywhere is covered in dust. The radiator covers are clean, but when you remove them, the sight that emerges is exceedingly primitive. There may be places in such homes that have not been touched for years. Dirty areas include neglected places containing old furniture, cupboards, underneath the carpets and the bathroom walls, generally harboring germs.

Most important of all, however, is the lack of attention such people pay to personal cleanliness. One distinguishing feature of those people is how they seek to cover up the dirt on their bodies, that have not been washed for days, by spraying scent over them. Though accompanied by the scents of attractive and expensive perfumes, these people have generally not come into contact with water for days. After visiting the hairdresser, they don't wash their hair for some time, in order to avoid having to pay any more money and to keep their hairdo intact. Before going out, they wash only the visible parts of their bodies, and ignore the regions under their clothes. They are therefore frequently subjected to infections, but live with these illnesses for years without ever being concerned about them. They pay no heed to the cleanliness of the food they serve people, and they generally try to keep down costs by serving poorly-washed vegetables, ancient oils, and stale ingredients mixed with fresh ones. They don't hesitate to endanger others' health for the sake of their own interests. Indeed, it never even crosses their minds that this unclean food could damage people's health. Any such person eventually becomes used to filth, and regards this as the natural order of things.