The Religion Of The Ignorant

- Atheism is bad, but being too religious is also unacceptable.

In addition, Ignorantism has produced a conception of Islam according to its own lights. According to that concept, and in contrast to the Qur'an, it is legitimate for someone to perform only those religious duties that suit him, in a manner appropriate to the time and place. Yet living the life described by Allah and abiding by all the laws of Islam is regarded as excessive and is regarded as not right. The Religion of the Ignorant has produced its own conception of Islam, based on its own logic.

THE CONCEPTION OF ISLAM
IN IGNORANTISM

The concept of religion is exceedingly misunderstood in many countries today. There is an enormous difference between the religious moral values revealed by Allah in the Qur'an and those perceived by society.

The most obvious indication is the way that besides referring to people's religion, one may also speak of their world view, ideology, philosophy of life or lifestyle. According to this logic, a person may be a member of any religion—a Muslim, for example—but there is no contradiction in their also adopting a philosophy of life or world view that is outside Islam. Being Muslims is concerned with their beliefs, but there are also the facts of life.

By far the greater part of the members of the Religion of the Ignorant do not openly deny the true religion. On the contrary, they all claim to be good Muslims, but they do not much appreciate certain rules of Islam according to their unhealthy mindset, and claim these need to be changed. They accept those aspects of the religion that do not run contrary to their own interests. While doing so, they still maintain that they are good Muslims. The fact is, though, that what they're doing does not represent the sincere features described in the Qur'an. In one sense, they are engaged in disbelief.

This situation is described in the Qur'an with the example of those who:

... Do you, then, believe in one part of the Book and reject the other.? (Surat al-Baqara, 85)

Here we need to accurately determine why members of the Religion of the Ignorant accept Islam only partially, and why this is so characteristic of unbelievers. Someone turns to Islam and lives by it because of his or her acceptance of Allah and submission to Him. If Islam is adopted for other reasons, then that cannot be true faith. The hypocrites—a human community mentioned in the Qur'an—is the best example of this. They appear to have accepted Islam and live the same way that Muslims live, but their aim is not to obtain Allah's approval but to put on a show for others. They calculate that by accepting Islam, they will obtain a better status and achieve certain advantages. These people are described thus in the Qur'an: